Chapel #3

Well it was sad to have the last Chapel race come to an end. It was a beautiful day. Caylin rides her bike more than I do at these races. Well this week was a different story I tried hard to get away and couldn't do it at all. I wanted Mike and I to go together but they wouldn't let us Orrville boys go anywhere. Then Rish and Stephan took off with me in tow. We worked the rest of the race and the chase group was on our heels. The Lord provided me with another victory. Thank you Jesus.



The best part of the night was eating my Chick-fil-A on the way home in the dark. I was to busy talking to everyone after the races. They sure are the best people to help out for a bike race. Thanks again to all that helped out to make this a safe event. See ya next year.

Tour De Burg

Last year this was my 2nd best race of the year and I loved this course. So from the start I made things happen quick. I was hoping to get something going early and it did. I rested a lot in this race after the first 10 mins but kept the pace high enough to help lap the field. I had another shot at winning this race but I couldn't pull off the double V. I made a mistake in the end of the race and should have taken off early but I waited and I may not have won it anyway but I felt great all day and should have put the pressure on the whole race. There was so many people there supporting this race and I just was so happy to be on the podium again with Caylin. Thanks to so many taking pics of me and cheering me on. I have a large support group out there.

I pray that God will be glorified because of my efforts and actions that took place this weekend. I pray that I am a good witness for Jesus Christ but I know that I am not perfect and I hope others will share with me my faults because I know I have them but am not seeing clearly enough right now. Please share with me if you have the time I will not be offended.

Troy

Troy is a great town with one awesome course! Today was Caylin's first bike race, July 21st 2007. The horn scared her put she finished by going real slow the whole way. As long as she finished that was ok with me. Then she even put her hands up before the line. Man she knows how to make her daddy proud. She also got a medal after her race.

Well last year for me I was upset that I didn't make the break so I had better plans this year. At least I could only hope it was God's will. Teaxas Roadhouse had 12 strong today and with on two maybe three A&F guys it was going to be all Roadhouse. One roadhouse rider got away then another jumped and I was in the front 15 so I went with him with another roadhouse on my wheel. So three roadhouse and me are up the road working hard to stay away. Well it worked cause we were pulling away and then one of the roadhouse riders got dropped as another roadhouse rider joined us. I think this break started in the first 10 mins of the race.

Any way I didn't go for any primes I just worked hard hoping they would help me get a great placing. As three other roadhouse riders were closing in on us I thought they would attack me for sure. Well they did and I was able to make them hurt enough that I dropped one of them because he helped his teammate get back up to me. So there are still two roadhouse and myself with three roadhouse coming on strong. I had no choice but to work and it made it easy for Kirk and Kevin to beat me. I will take third though.

I was very happy to get third with the riders they had today. As a matter of fact the most important part of the day was sharing my testimony with hundreds of people today. Also having Caylin up on the podium. I know the flyer said they were only giving out 3 watches. Well Kevin gave me the choice of which watch I wanted and I told him red matched his uniform and so he gave me the blue one. I think I saw Kirk with a yellow watch though. Yellow would have been so sweet since that has always been the best color for me.

I can't say enough about the whole day. I just give God all the praise for the great things he has done. I felt like I was hated in this race and it turned out to be very rewarding for God my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. My family was there from Miamisburg as well. Billy and Nicki thanks for coming out and cheering.

Chapel #2

This race was in the hard rain and the best Womens Pro racer was in our field. Brooke Miller, from Tipco pro cycling team. She started it off very fast for some of the guys that they got dropped she was in our break of 7 riders when the Hard rain hit the pavement. She thought she had a flat and could not catch back on. I was told she rode 3 hrs before doing this race so I was very impressed. I also thought I had a flat tire too and ran off the road twice. I got used to the wet pavement enough to take first for the 3rd race in a row. I had a big race coming up the same weekend so I didn't want to go hard at all that day. Others deserved it more than I did today. I didn't deserve any of the prize money but I took it anyway and gave back 20 in hopes that it would help out.

Harvesyburg Race 2007

Well it was another hot day but no where near last year. It rained on my dad's race and he did great that day. He took his Zipp 404 wheels off of his bike and gave them to me like they were mine. They are the best wheels ever. Nothing compares to these and I don't think any one can change that. I started the race slow and worked up a couple of hard efforts. Won a couple of primes and lost a close one to Jim Matson. I won a beer jersey again this year if any one wants it name your price and I will use the money for what I think would be a great expense. I gave last years jersey to Hekman maybe someone will give it to him after they buy it off of me. I haven't seen the festival tickets yet but they are going to Scott Moro if I get them.

So Brian and I make a two man break and are gone away from the rest and never to be caught. I won again 2 in a row. Thank you Lord. God is so good. This time I got to take Caylin up on the podium with me thanks to team Dayton. Team Dayton put on this great event thanks a bunch.

Church please forgive me

I am going to be honest with this post. I went to church before my Harveysburg race July 15th but can't remember a thing about the lesson. Hope someone can help me out. My blog's should be updated sooner so I can remember important things like Church. It is not funny at all! I can remember cycling from years ago but not Church. You know I have a problem when that happens. God should be first in my life and not cycling. I do however remember that day in church talking to some friends about new treatment for my friend. I have alot of prayer concerns on my mind and they are hard to keep track of but every morning I ride my bike to work I have continueous(sp) prayer with my Lord and savior Jesus Christ. The way home can be very hard to do so I am always looking over my shoulder just before I almost get hit several times. I am thinking about putting something at the side of my bike just so cars get over in the other lane to pass.

Chapel

One of my best friends Jim Flesher put this race together at the Chapel for 2007. He started these races in 2005. This year he put on the races for free. He paid us back in full for the whole series. You could even ride with the B group if you were an A rider for 10 bucks as well. Then he put all the money back into your race for a chance to get it all back.

This first race was hard. Great day and sunny with no rain. I tried to get away but couldn't do it. I ended up winning my first race of the year at my favorite race of the year. Jim and I always get together and pray when we see each other. It is just meant to happen, I feel like I can tell Jim anything he is such a great guy and a Heavenly Brother to me. I also got to see his Dad and Mom and I was so happy to see them. Jim's family has been such a blessing in my life. Vicki worked hard at the races too, Jim's wife. Vicki is the best and so nice. Thank you for helping out Vicki.

Hagerstown

Went to Hagerstown to see family and while I was in town they had a race, perfect! Well my Grandpa and Grandma got to see me race and I wanted to win so bad. I didn't cheat although the officials were tuff on my mom and wife about my Dads tubular wheel that flated.

Yep they almost took me out of the race. This rear tubular tire only had 200 racing miles on it and 200 more training at a 16 mph pace. Here is why they almost DQ me. As the race started 200 yards up the road riders got tangled up and went down right in front of me. I locked up the rear tire and avoided the wreck. Thank you Lord! Then half way through the race on the hardest turn on the course the tire blew. Right in the apex of the turn at 20 mph. Guys freaked out behind me thinking I was going to go down. I thought I was going to because I have never had a flat tubular before. If this would have been a clencher tire I would have gone down with no ?'s asked or I would have jumped the crub in the turn if I was lucky not to go down instantly which would have happened. Thank the Lord again, man God is so good.

Any way the women official looked at the tire and told my mom and wife that it was a old tire. What ever, she had no clue! We even looked at it after the race and you can tell it had more tread on it than a new pair of shoes, well maybe not that much. I cut the tire open and looked at it closely.

Back to the race, I didn't go for a prime all day and I played like I was hurting all day. After all know one knows me and it is a game. Our avg speed was less than my first road race in the cat 5's and this was a crit course totally flat and in the elite cat. I went with a break late in the race and six of us were out there and I thought I knew one of the riders. I looked up his name and he won the CSC elite race that year and I was going to stay on his wheel in the end. So I did and we left a rider dangle in front of us. I was hoping this guy would have a kick fast enough to get closer to the other guy but he had nothing. So I got 2nd place by maybe a half a foot and ten yards past the finish line I had 3 bike lengths. Thank the Lord I didn't go down that day and also thank the Lord I made a $150 dollar mistake, cause I sure did learn from that one.

Rhythm

Well in softball I got back into the rhythm I once had when I played 80 some games a year at the elite softball level. Yes softball has a pro level and they hit Homeruns every time they get to the plate. Those guys look like they are doing drugs too. I am sick of these sports having cheats. Especially cycling, yep we are bigger news now than ever. People using there own blood for transfusions how smart, but still cheats. To have more blood in there system helps them perform better. Cycling needs to crack down on these guys and have a zero tolerence for this stuff. Well back to softball were in our church league we may have a few cheats with bats to use but I hope not. The bat I used to hit my 320 foot Homerun was over 7 years old. That bat was used more than any bat I know back then and is used more now since we are hitting them out. Our guys on our church team are hitting the ball good and will be ready for playoffs even though our record doesn't show it. We lost by a close score and I missed one game thinking it was on another day, but I also had a race that night and last night as well. I hope my rhythm will still be there missing 2 games, I may have to go to the cages to stay on with my Homerun streak. Great times with church brothers.

Grandview 2nd race

Well this race has a hill in it and is very hard. I didn't know if I would be able to keep up with anyone going up the hill 38 times but I managed with 38 miracles from God. I was 195 pounds and the rest of them are less than that. I tried to keep up with them the first 5 laps and it was sooo hard but did it. As soon as the pace slowed down I went and know on else seemed to care. I was too slow and they caught me and attacked me of course. At least it seemed like it. A big group of 11 made the front group and I was stuck with the rest of the field. A couple of us worked together but couldn't quite pull them back. I was able to get 23rd on the day which I was more than happy with, plus I learned so much from this race. Thanks again to God, my family, and friends for all there support.

My Father

God is great! He has blessed me so much and I thank Him for everything. In Sunday School class at church our lessons have been on how to win others to Christ and the lesson today was on Father figures. It was horrible to see how fathers can be so cruel to there own children. I am so blessed to have 2 fathers in my life. My heavenly Father, and my birth Father. There was a questionnaire we filled out and my Dad was so close in everything a real Father should be like our Heavenly Father. The main differences are communicating with God compared to my Dad. I am finding out that my Heavenly Father gives me all the communicating I need, I just need to listen to him better. I broke down crying in class today when I shared personal things with them. I love my church family.

Grandview

Ohio Cup crunch time! Grandview was a flat four corner crit that was awesome! Becky Caylin and I got there late due to my bathroom breaks. I didn't feel great today but glad I did the race. Anyway Caylin was crying so I tried to comfort her before the race and the next thing I knew it was time to race. No time to warm up just get on the bike and go. I heard some one say 80 riders tried to race that day but only 25 finished. The pace was fast from the get go and a break already went. By the time I felt like chasing after it, it was too late. I was hoping for another break and it happened. Only Kirk, Paul and I worked the break hard and we caught the others just as they were lapping the field. After that I had nothing left and managed to get 9th with Nate in 8th tying me for the Ohio Cup standings.

Run Ruled

In softball we run ruled a team something like 13 to 1. I don't remember cause I was thinking about my races coming up for the weekend. I went 0-2 and took my self out of the game. So glad we won.

Westlake

My first race at westlake was hard! It always is. Tris Mike and I took off from the start and lasted for 24 miles. Tris did most of the work and I just wanted to ride an easy pace. After that I stayed in the field till the last couple of laps and we had a break of 7 or 8 riders. Dave like always, beat me in the sprint. Great to see all the guys there. A few to mention: Tony Smith, he raced with my Dad and I remember watching Tony in a race at Akron, Ohio. Jules or Julio, he remembered me when I was 3 foot tall. Alot of great memories, it was awesome to see those guys again.

Seeker, Pretender, or In-the-Rut Disciple

Seeker, Pretender, or In-the-Rut Disciple
by A.W. Tozer

. . . People in the rut never know when the last leaves are falling for them. Why are people in the rut? There are several possibilities. They may never have been truly converted at all, and this is one of our great problems now. We have a dozen ways of getting people into the kingdom of God, when the Lord said there was only one. They leak in, ooze in, come in by osmosis and get in by marriage--just get in by any kind of way. But there is only one true way. When people find that after being in the church for years they are not making much progress, they ought to examine themselves and wonder whether they have been truly converted. True conversion means radical repentance, a changed life, conscious forgiveness of sin and a spiritual rebirth. Genuinely converted people, as the old Methodists said, had a radical repentance, which eventuated in a changed life. Then there came a consciousness of forgiveness of sins and a spiritual rebirth. People in the rut may never have had that at all. . . . People in the circular grave, who are getting older without getting holier, may have been abandoned to the devil because of two things--some fleshly sins (1 Corinthians 5) or grave irreverence at the communion table (1 Corinthians 11). Protestants are altogether too much inclined to take things for granted. We laugh at those on the other side of the ecclesiastical fence because they bow and scrape and kowtow in the presence of the church. But we lack reverence--not because we are free in the gospel, but because God is absent, and we have no sense of His presence. We sometimes come to the communion table in a moral and spiritual state totally unfit for receiving communion, and yet we take it. Paul said, "We are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world."

Prayer
Lord, I want to do Your will. I want to get out of the rut and follow You. In Your name and power I rise up!

Scripture
Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.— Matthew 7:21

Thought
It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the sincere seeker, the "church member" pretender and the in-the-rut disciple. But God surely knows and the Spirit will reveal to us our own personal state. Or do we already know?