Birthday, and a book review

My 38th birthday was last Monday, and, of course, this whole month will be a month of reflection and contrition. As a personal rule, I never regret past acts, as I cannot change them, but I always try to learn from each days' mistakes.

I have been happily busy, as work is going well, opening opportunities for the future as I continue devoting huge efforts in order to build them. That is awesome if you are not trying to train for an Ironman distance race.

For the Full Vineman in July 31st, my goal became to be able to complete it despite less-than-optimal training while building my future. Part of the job description of being a working young adult... And my wife is already complaining I am always away training for the race.

As part of my efforts on trying to renew energies and recover out-of-work reading, I joined http://www.booksneeze.com/ as book reviewer, and I gladly came across with The Map, curiously very opportune for a birthday month (or maybe I am biased...).

Below is my book review:

The Map: The Way of All Great Men, by David Murrow

Every book has equal chance to influence the reader, but it will all depend on reaching the reader at the right opportunity. Even an award-winning bestseller depends on that golden moment in the reader's life to best deliver its message. This book has hit me at the right moment, and I recommend this book as a challenge to readers in order to dare to question the author’s diligent work.

Murrow is an award-winning television producer and writer, and employs all his skills to describe an elaborated story of suspense and drama about the search for a mysterious ancient map hidden in the Bible that would lead men to a life of greatness. Using this exciting tale as a parable, Murrow brings his findings and conclusions of many years of studying the Bible.
More than just the first bright of suspense book that the editorial reviews advertised about, I was interested in learning Murrow’s message, as the author of the 2005 bestselling book Why Men Hate Going to Church, and director of Church for Men, an organization dedicated to restoring the masculine spirit in Christian congregations. I wanted to see how an engaged religious man could write a suspense book, or even a self-help book, for that matter.

The Map is an interesting book with a bold proposition, in two parts: a fictional suspense story and a non-fictional argument presenting Murrow’s proposition. It showed me a different way to understand and live my faith, and maybe it will really serve as a guide to greatness and living life to the fullest.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”



"Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or to lose." - Lyndon B. Johnson

Love your bike, part II

I have already written about how much I love my bike, but this post is about tough love. On March 7, 2010 I went to San Diego to once more take part of the Gran Fondo Colnago San Diego, on his second presentation.

Of course, I registered for the century, 101 miles with about 4157 ft of ascent on a beautiful course around San Diego, outstanding organization, and this year offering a 53mile and a 32mile courses. And, of course, it was raining the whole course. Sorry, no pictures this time, the Iphone was in a plastic bag.

Instead of skipping to the shorter courses, I tried to complete the century, as it was the only one to offer a challenging KOM segment that killed my body last year. Unnecessary to say I paid for my audacity. The ride started under pouring rain, with 10 minutes delay waiting for the Amtrak train to pass, with all riders soaked to their underware. The extent of the damage was just felt at the first stop at mile 15: my computer had died, and I was uncontrollably shivering at lower efforts. I even took a wrong turn going into the shortest ride, when I decided to continue the daring enterprise.

I happilly did the KOM segment: 6.75 miles, grade 3%-12% (averaging 5.2%), total vertical of 1,858 feet, in 1:10:37, still very slow for a real ciclist, but about 20 min faster than last year (of course because of multiple rest stops...). But right after the KOM I noticed that my breaks weren't working properly, and when I had to stop with a flat rear tire, I saw my break pads were almost complete worn down, probably because of the sandy wet course.

At mile 67 I had to stop, as I was going to face more downhills, and I couldn't trust my breaks. That, and I had to wait for an hour in the rain for my wife to come to pick me up. At least I was able to complete a metric century, and do the KOM once more.

Now I know why, even if it is fun, the pros don't like to ride in the rain. And my love for biking killed my computer (now working again after drying for a week), my break pads (switched to higher quality ones) and my drivetrain (now switched to a real Shimano Ultegra).

My tough love to myself upgraded my bike, and taught me new lessons. Waiting for the next year's new lessons...