Lesson Learned

So...daylight savings SUCKS!!

I haven't been able to ride after work for the past few days, but today, I was itching to get out on the bike, even though I was on call at the hospital tonight.  BIG MISTAKE...do you realize that the sun is actually setting at 17:30 these days?  Where in the hell have I been?  I got 5 miles into my ride and BAM it is dark!  Guess I will have to it the road BEFORE going home after work.

THANK YOU KAREL

So today I have been feeling QUITE a bit off kilter, not at all my perky self, and several people at work had noticed.  I don't think I had smiled all day.  So I head home and decide to do something so mundane...I laundered my bed linens.  I couldn't even muster the motivation to get my bike out and ride in today's gorgeous weather in Dallas.  That is, until I logged into my ALC fund raising site and and found a $150 sponsorship from Karel Koppen.  I don't know Karel at all.  He lives in the Netherlands.  Last night I linked my blog to my Linked In (www.linkedin.com/in/michaelwilkesen) page and while I was there, I posted a letter to a couple of professional groups I belong to.  I knew it was a LONG-SHOT, but hey, when one is trying to raise thousands of dollars for charity, you utilize every tool available to you, right?  Well, Karel is also a member of one of these groups and he said that he was "inspired" and wanted to help me realize my goal.  A complete stranger an ocean away felt inspired by me.  What a terrific gift.  Thank you Karel for TOTALLY making my day and upholding my faith in humanity.  Together we can truly make a difference!

Damn....wtf...I'm tired!

Wow...it has been nearly two months since I have been out on my bike and I sure felt it today!!  But I have to admit, I am pretty proud that I was able to ride and not pass out!

10 miles
40 minutes in duration (which includes a 7 minute break at mile 6)
Top speed 22.1 mph
Average speed 13.2 mph

Not too bad.  It won't take long to get back on track!

LET THE JOURNEY BEGIN

Well...I've talked about it long enough!

So I have finally did it!! I have officially joined my many hundreds of riders for the AIDS/LifeCycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles to help put HIV/AIDS behind us...make it a disease that is only studied in history books.

Please check out my rider page at www.tofighthiv.org/goto/mikeyindallas and please by all means feel free to leave a donation while you are there!

Please keep checking back often to follow my progress and to read about my grand adventure leading up to the big ride!!

I DID IT!!!!

Yesterday I was finally able to pick up my new Jamis Aurora Elite road bike!! The guys at Adventure & Wheels were completely AWESOME! Not only were they knowledgeable, extremely nice, and more helpful than any other shop I visited, they actually wanted my business AND return business! So much so that they were willing to finance my bike for me so that I would be able to start riding today and not four months from now! Rob & Bobby are terrific to work with and you can tell they actually love what they do!

Anyhow, I picked up my bike and just fell in love with it. Perfect fit, lightweight, and very sharp looking. It was 7:00 pm by the time I returned home to Dallas and just couldn't wait to take it on the road, so I changed out of my scrubs and headed out to White Rock Lake and rode for 8 miles! Quite a feat considering the last time I was on two wheels was probably 1993! Oh it was such a smooth ride and effortless to pedal that it didn't take long to understand WHY Bobby insisted on ordering me a carbon forked & steel bike...I didn't feel ANY road vibrations! I actually felt as if I were riding on a cloud! NO JOKE!

Needless to say I am VERY impressed with both the guys at the shop and the bike! They WILL be getting ALL of my future business!

Check them out!

https://www.adventureandwheels.com/

108 E US Hwy 80

Suite 140

Forney, TX 75126-8663

I have been shopping around for just the right bicycle to purchase. I had thought about spending just a couple hundred dollars and getting a bicycle to start riding just for the sake of having a bike. I thought this would be a good idea since a lesser quality bike would be much heavier than an actual high end touring bike would be, so I would (in my head) have to work a little bit harder while riding thus increasing strength and mass in my legs just a little bit sooner. Also, it would give me time on a bicycle while I saved up enough cash to make the big purchase...upwards of 2,000 USD! Yup…I even found a bicycle that had a price tag of just over 7,000 USD! Needless to say, after seeing what I would have to spend on a bike to have a positive, less exhausting ride, and reduced vibrations while riding 70-100 miles a day, I was VERY depressed. I was ready to call the whole thing off and admit defeat. How could I come up with that much money in time to purchase the bicycle AND still have at least 9-10 months to train? Then there is the issue of actually finding a high quality bicycle that was actually small enough to fit me…size really does matter!

Anyhow, I started off at the big Dallas bike shops like Richardson Bike-Mart. Not only was I disappointed in the high prices (these guys are the MOST expensive of all the places I explored) it took almost half an hour to find someone who would actually stop and answer some of my questions. One person actually walked away from me when I said that I wasn’t looking to purchase that day, but was doing research so that I could make an educated purchase in the next “few months!” Yup! Just said that he “didn’t have the time” to spend with me because there were “regular customers” in the store! As you might have guessed I will NOT be spending ANY of my hard earned dollars in that store!

The other shops I visited were MUCH more courteous and helpful, but the trend seemed to be to “hard sell” the Specialized line of bicycles…those are the ones with the high dollar price tag. I explained that line of bikes, though very nice to look at, was just too far out of my price range. Most said that was “really the bike I should be shopping for.” That is until I walked into Dallas Bike Works (6780 Abrams Road # 107 Dallas, TX 75231 214.341.8921) I met the owner and he was REALLY great to work with. He answered ALL my questions, gave me 100% of his time and steered me in a different direction. He showed me a line of cycles that were of exceptional quality while not being overly inflated in price. Actually the bikes he recommended for me were priced at less than 1,300 USD. I was impressed with this guy. He listened to my financial needs and didn’t try to hard sell me on anything! The only problem, he didn’t carry the bikes in my size and became wishy-washy when I asked if he would order the bike in my size when the time came. This seemed to be a reasonable request to me, but….

So, taking his advice I began researching the Jamis brand bicycles. (www.jamisbikes.com) A family owned business based out of Fountain Valley, California (my old stomping grounds) and while they have the technology and quality, they aren’t in the business of overpricing their products NAME as is the case with most of the other big dogs in the bicycle world! I love the way they look, and their steel touring bike still weighs less than 27 lbs which I find remarkable. To quote their catalogue, “If you want to experience the cyclist’s version of backpacking you’ll want an Aurora, arguably the last of the true loaded touring bikes. Our Auroras use legendary Reynolds chromoly steel, with air-hardened 631 in the Aurora Elite with our SST frame design so every size rides like it was custom-built. Aluminum might be lighter, but that half-pound you’d save is nothing on a big our, and steel’s smoothness won’t leave you fatigued the way you’d be after 100 miles of aluminum road buzz. Load up an Aurora and you’re ready to hit the road for weeks on end.” Needless to say, I’m sold on the Aurora bike! Now, I just have to find another dealer. Let the adventure begin!

The decision is made....

Ok…so this past year I decided that I would commit myself to doing “something of substance and meaning;” something that would not only have a lasting impression in my life, but would give to others who are in need. I searched for something that spoke to my heart, something that made sense, something that would make a difference, something that would help me become a better person. I had thought about volunteer work at a hospital, but since I already worked in healthcare, I felt it would just be an extension of my job. I contemplated serving meals at a “soup kitchen” or a “meals on wheels” type charity, but then thought to myself, “How much of a difference would my presence truly make?” After weeks of searching my heart still felt nothing then, one afternoon in August, I was watching on the Logo Network the film Long Time Companion, a film that chronicles the journey of friends who are forced to deal with the dawning of the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. As I watched this film I began to recall my own journey in the 1908s as I began to understand that the threat of AIDS was a very real situation for my generation to face. I remembered the months of research I conducted in 1988. Literally hundreds of letters were written by me to doctors all over the world asking for journals, statistics, anything published or unpublished. I was writing a research paper for Junior English class in high school. I chose this topic because I lived in a VERY small town in conservative Utah and felt that small minds needed to be expanded…I had NO clue that I way gay at the time.

As the movie progressed my memories moved onward to my first real love…Kirk. I was 22, living in Southern California and completely confused and scared of my own sexuality. I had many gay friends at the time, but still I wrestled. That is, until I met Kirk. He and I had met at an audition and hit it off. We became the best of friends. He loved my friends and they all loved him. He made me smile, laugh, and feel like I had never felt before. Then one night while watching the film, The Bicycle Thief at his apartment he told me how he felt about me. Although I couldn’t admit to it, I felt the same, and then it happened…that first stroke of his finger along my hand. My heart was racing, but still, I could not disclose my feelings for him. After the movie had ended and it was time for me to leave, he asked me if he could give me a hug… then he kissed me. My knees buckled and my head felt so light and I was oh so very happy. That’s when I knew. We dated for a few weeks in secret until one afternoon on the 405 I finally came out to my best friend at the time. She was elated and all she could say was, “Finally!” Anyhow I was dating a wonderful man who was HIV positive. We were together for almost a year and in many ways, it was the happiest time of my life. And now, 15 years later I still think of him fondly every day. He was the great love of my life.

Well, the movie ended, I was crying and looking at old photographs and feeling rather reminiscent, and a documentary came on the television the topic of which was the AIDS/LifeCycle. An annual event that not only raises money for AIDS research and resources, it raises awareness and visibility. A bicycle ride nearly 600 miles in length, spanning an entire week, from San Francisco of Los Angeles; 2,000 + riders, GLBT, straight, positive, & negative all coming together for one purpose. That’s when it hit me; THIS is what I can do to make a difference. My mind was made up.

In the days to follow, I began to look at bicycles, talk to friends who were riders, read profiles of participants of previous ALC events, and began to work out again. I was motivated and inspired. But shortly thereafter, my heart was broken. My partner of 5 years dropped a bombshell…he was no longer in love with me and wanted me to move out of the home we built together. I was, and still am, devastated. I lost all momentum as my life seemed to crumble down around me.

Well now it is the first day of spring in a new year and I have found new motivation! So as part of the process of preparing for a years worth of training ahead of me, I have decided to start this blog which, hopefully will be interesting enough for people to actually read! I hope that my Journey to AIDS/LifeCycle will be informative, humorous, and inspirational to others. I have big plans for this year and I hope you will join me in my journey of self discovery, awareness, and education. I hope to see you in San Francisco on opening day or at the finish line in Los Angeles!!