2009 Cherry Creek Reservoir

Greetings Readers

I guess, I would have to say that this is the first day of my training for the Ride the Rockies

Although, I will not confirm that. Damn Straight!

I was totally expecting bad weather today, but somehow the day looked great and more importantly the temperature was pretty darn warmer than I expected. Once again - fucked up weather reports from Crystal Eggers and Angie Austin.

With that being said I decided to head out to Cherry Creek Reservoir and see what is happening out there. I have not been out to Cherry Creek Reservoir since last year and have no clue how the road/riding conditions are out there.

I decided to take the HED rims and Andrea and see out of shape I am.

I have to admit that winter has taken its toll on me and I was pretty out of shape going around the Reservoir. There was some head wind depending on which way I was riding inside the state park.

I knew that I was not going to be able to work on speed, since I have not been worried about my speed for the past 5 months. I decided to work on speed sprints through out the park on my circle.

I felt winded and slow throughout the 44 miles I covered in Cherry Creek State Park. I got passed by many riders (I estimate about 15 riders total) and I passed a riders few. Again, I was not looking to ride the fastest out there. I wanted to get the feel for riding out at the Reservoir since it has been a while. I did get the comments "Tight" and "Very nice wheel set" and the looks of other riders. There was some wind out on my course I road, but I would have to say that it was veru manageable, compared to last week when I was almost blown over. I have to admit after last week's wind I am now less fearful of the wind I thought was tough to ride in before last week. I now have more confidence and less worry on what the wind will do to my rims and me while riding.

I wore the Ipod, but I really did not listen to the Ipod, just the world and the occassional "nice rims" comment.

Climbing the little hills were not like last year, which means I am out of shape, so that is something I will need to work on. And I was still about to keep riding in the largest gear so that was good.

And that was that at Cherry Creek Reservoir this past Sunday.

Later on, I stopped by the Arapahoe Marketplace to get my post Coca-Cola drink and I saw the regular homeless person sitting on a nearby bench.

I got myself a Coca-Cola and then I thought why not. I took out another dollar bill and then point at the Coke Machine and guy nodded yes. So, I pushed the Coca-Cola button, got the Coca-Cola and then gave to him. He said "Thank you"

And there you have Readers - According to one blogger "that I am the rudest person ever known" - However, would the rudest person ever known do that for a homeless person? I know almost for a fact the blogger who called me the "rudest person ever known" would not do that if the positions were reversed. Gosh willing, the blogger would complain about why they would even contemplate on giving a Coca-Cola to a homeless person sitting on that bench on a Sunday. Matter of fact, I am also willing to assume that the blogger would complain about giving a Coca-Cola after the fact of giving the homeless person a Coca-Cola. Pure speculation on my part, but I only go by what I read in the past by that blogger.

Until the next time

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete

Being Rude and Being Kind

Greetings Readers

Something kind of bothered me in the past week or so. I know, I know what’s new – right?

You Readers think you “know” me, but in reality you only are reading about me since I probably do not know who you are.

Does that matter? No. Do I care? A bit, but I am not here to make friends with my blog.

So, when you say you know me, you really do not know me, but you only “know of” me. All you know of me is what I write and care to share with you Readers.

I am not looking for your approval. I am not looking for a new friend in my life. I am not looking for a wife, but am looking for a girl friend =). And the list of reasons could go on and on.

Almost three years ago I started the blog, not knowing where to go (or to begin) and it took a while for me to get into blogging.

What I have come to tell you Readers is the raw truth. Being Honest. And sometimes Honesty hurts. Sometimes being brutally honest makes me seem the rudest person you have read about – ever. I do not disagree.

And I can see how many of you Readers can come to that conclusion. After all, I make it no secret of my “rudeness” and my “issues” I come across and share with you Readers.

I share with the Internet my life and what comes across my path of life.

With us being Human most of us pick out the “bad” points of other people. Not all of us, but most of us do. Hell, I know I do. There are a few people, perhaps more than a few people that would pick out the “good” and say / comment something nice about that. But let us face the truth Readers, we like to pick and point out each other’s faults.

You faithful and new Readers have most likely read about my Grocery store issues, Light Rail Issues, Fast Food Issues, Bus Stop issues and so on. I do not have a problem writing about my issues.

Aside from all the rude issues I have written about I have written about some good deeds and things I have done that none of you Readers would even think of doing.

I am going to tell you Readers in the past year that I have done many good things that would not be considered rude.

I am sure that you Readers read that I used about 1/3 of my Tax Stimulus Refund check to help buy a calving table for my parents. I was not selfish and spend all the money for myself. How many of you Readers spent money on someone else that was not for personal gain? Perhaps like buying a gift for the boy/girl friend in exchange for a fantastic night of sex, which would be for personal gain since you are technically spending the money for yourself.

Did you Readers know that I baked over ten birthday cakes last year for my coworkers who are more than just co-workers? Again, no one asked me to bake a cake for his or her birthday. I did this without asking. I also asked the birthday person what sort of cake they wanted and it could not be a cake that was too exotic. However, when I am making a cake for the person’s special day – I add some alcohol to the cake to give it some essence of Kalhua, Amaretto or rum. How many Cakes did you make for someone’s birthday this past year? And buying a cake, cookies, and cup cakes from a grocery store is not really going out of your way since that is just buying something that you put NO effort in for your friends. And for this year I have made two cakes already.

Did you Readers know that even though I do not believe in Religion, in a manner of speaking (and I am not an Atheist), I still try to go to church once a month and I give a donation from 10 to 20 dollars? How many of you Readers can say that?

When I go and visit my parents in New Mexico at the Ranch I do help out at the Ranch. Even though I am on vacation - I am not on vacation. I work by either working on the dirt road, shoveling shit (cattle, horse, dog and guinea shit), picking up and burning tumbleweeds, feeding all the animals and more importantly I almost do all the cooking when I am at the Ranch. It’s my time to shine and do things for my parents as opposed to being selfish and do nothing while on vacation. I do have that option, but for me that is not an option. I ask many of you Readers how many of you do things for your parents when you visit them? And yes Readers sometimes I do not want to do any of those things, but after starting any of those things I forgot about not wanting doing them and actually start to enjoy about do them. Sounds crazy, but at the end of my vacation on the Ranch I feel damn proud of what I did on my vacation.

The homeless. Well, in my case I have one homeless person on my way to work when I bike a certain way to work. Just one. Every other week I try to give him some money. It may not be a lot, but in my view I have given him something, which is better than nothing. I do not know his name and I do not care, but at least I go out of my way and give what I feel like giving. Many of Readers probably see more than one homeless person and I have to wonder do any of you Readers do anything for any of them? Or even one the homeless – after all they are human too.

How about me giving twenty dollars (for gas) to a fellow runner after the 24 hours of Boulder? I did not mention this in my post story wrap up, but I was planning to take public transportation from Boulder to Centennial. However, as I was resting in the tent with “the bitch” I met and got know a fellow runner who came up from Colorado Springs and eventually asked him for a ride to I-25 and Arapahoe Road. He said no problem. Well, as he pulled in the Arapahoe Marketplace just off I-25 and Arapahoe Road I pulled out my wallet and forced him to take the twenty dollars even though he said no and do not worry about it. In my mind, he did more for me than he thought he did for me. For that - I was thankful and I had to give him money for his kindness. I ask how many of you Readers would have caved in and put away the twenty dollars in your wallet (purse) just because he said he wouldn’t take it?

Mike Shanahan was recently fired, which I did blog about. I was happy about that. I will admit yes I am happy that finally Mike is gone, but it is not entirely about him getting fired. I was and still am happy that there is going to be a new coach. Well, when I got my “Christmas Miracle” I bought a 12 pack of Moose Drool Microbrew beer and gave one bottle to each of my closest co-workers. That was me being nice and buying everyone a round of drinks. It was not the “cheap” round of pitcher beer for everyone. I wanted my friends to taste something new, or something they would not try on their own. That was not rudeness, that was I being nice. I ask how many of Readers would do that if the coach of your football team where you live was fired and was something that much needed after years of not making the playoffs? I am betting most of you Readers would just “talk” and not celebrate with buying the first round for people you want to share your happiness with.

Last month after giving my Qdoba girl her Christmas card I was about the happiest I could be that entire month. So when I saw my neighbor Mike in distress I asked him what was wrong and soon found out. I listened and then I said to Mike that I would go to the store to get him some Diet Mountain Dew since he could not do it himself. I ask you Readers how many of you would have done that for someone who is mentally handicapped after getting home from work?

Gift Giving – How many of you Readers give gifts when it is not their birthday, Christmas, anniversary, etc? I am betting most of my male Readers do not, at all! My Women Readers do since I know for a fact that I have gotten a bottle of Coca-Cola of out the blue. I give drinks (juice, water, soft drinks) out of the blue to fellow friends for no reason. Sometimes a person needs just that little gift to know that someone does care. And my brother – do you know that I give gifts to my brother each time I go and visit my parents? Bandannas, Playstation 2 games, Jack Daniels merchandise, and VCR tapes of taped shows I recorded to name a few things I give as gifts. And for my parents – I bring DVD’s, US Open Tennis merchandise, spices and buying groceries when I am visiting the Ranch to name some of the gifts I bring when I visit them. Again, are you Readers just as giving when there is not an event to give a gift?

Lunches – How many of you Readers received from your clients/vendors a “lunch on them” this past year? I received five this past year. If I am the rudest person you have ever “known” well you really do not know me. I ask again – how many vendor/clients have bought you lunch this past year?

And I could go on. I have written about “the Good, the Bad and the Ugly” My faithful Readers would know both the good and the bad. And if you are just tuning in you can access my history (archives) and catch up on my old blog posts.

What I just wrote I am not defending my stance/views, since there is nothing to defend. However, if you Readers think you “know” me you really don’t. I suggest that you take a long and good hard look in the mirror before calling and/or thinking that I am the rudest person you have ever read about. I know for a fact that your shit does not smell sweeter than mine. After all I know (or read) about what you have told me and I would have to say that celebrating one year (and perhaps two years coming this year) without driving does not make you special in my book. After all, I have been biking/commuting for about 12 years now. I do not need to state that. And I still have both of my vehicles, even though I get to drive them about once a year. So, you telling the world about how you rode a bike one year without almost any driving is not special. If you have to sell your vehicle so be it, otherwise I have no desire to sell my 86 Camero or 96 Amigo. One vehicle is a classic and the other has seven more years to become a classic.

In closing Readers, I am not perfect and I have never, ever made that claim. Yet, I have written about the good, the bad and the ugly, whereas other Readers have only wrote about the good. If you cannot write about “the bad” then perhaps you have some secrets. Or perhaps you are insecure about yourself, worried about how you may portray yourself to others, etc.

There is more I could add, but I think I have touched upon what I wanted to write about. Perhaps this is the year to blog about you to me and the rest of the world and let us read about you. Be honest. After all, we need to know if your shit is sweeter than mine.

Until the next time

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete

What's the Magic Word?

Greetings Readers

I know that this is will come to you as no surprise. Or you may even say what’s new, since I act like this every now and then.

I have been in a mood lately. Not sure what kind of mood. I have been cranky, but happy. I have a smile on my face and happy as a child, yet I am waiting. Perhaps hoping that someone will set me off so I can argue or get pissed off. I can only surmise that this sort of mood is because of the change of weather or just the time of the year. I do not know the reason why.

I have been telling people that when they ask how I am doing. I have no reason not to not them. I am pretty honest and forward on how I feel. After all it is more often than not that they have asked the million-dollar question to me. Whereas, I will more often than not leave you alone since I want to be left alone most mornings until I feel like talking. It is not because I need a Coca-Cola to start my day first, or get to work first. My morning more often than not is my time. I like the mornings that belong to me.

With all that said I was at King Soopers in Cherry Hills the other day and I was needing to buy some more Coca-Cola. That was the only goal for going to King Soopers.

As I got done with shopping I went to my bike and I see a person sitting on the bench that I locked my bike up to. He turns his head to me and then spots my 24 pack of Coca-Cola.

When I got near my bike and him I could smell his B.O. and immediately saw he most likely was a homeless person, a vagrant. I saw his state of dress and the condition of clothing. He was also talking to himself, or perhaps mumbling.

“Hey can I have a Coke?” He asks me

I turn and look at him through my Oakley’s and look at him for about 5 seconds or so and say calmly “I don’t know can you?”

He looks at me startled and does not say a thing at all.

I then say softly “What’s the magic word?”

He again looks at me kind of like “what the hell did I do to you” scared look.

I say softly “Please”

“Can I please have a Coke?” he then asks of me.

“See. That’s all you have to say.”

I slowly rip open the side of the Coca-Cola and pull a can out for him and then hand the can of Coke to him. He immediately opens the Coke and takes a drink.

I say to him “And?”

He looks at me startled.

I say to him “Thank you.”

He repeats “Thank you”

And I immediately reply “Your welcome”

Was I an ass? Perhaps. But with my upraising I was told to add the word Please and to say Thank You should I ever request something from someone. Perhaps this is a Southern thing since I rarely see this sort of thing of residents born and raised in Colorado. Again, I do not know. In my view I was not an ass, I just want to hear please and thank you and not just the word “Can.” I could have been an ass, in my opinion after saying, “can you?” Where I was raised when I ask, “Can I” my teachers would respond, “Can you?” then I would have to say “May I.” “Can you” is asking a question that is asking can you when in fact “May you” is the proper grammar to use when asking for something.

Obviously, this is all speculation. This sort of thing that I invoke on other people may be the way I was raised being in the upper class of society.

Who knows really. Why I bring this up is that I did not think twice about not giving up a can of Coca-Cola to someone I do not know. After all, I had 24 hours cans of Coca-Cola and lately I have been in a mood. So, with me doing a good deed, in my mind, I was offsetting the “other” mood I have been in.

Before any of you Readers pass judgment you need to think how you might have reacted to this situation. I do take responsibility that there could have been a whole different scenario that could have played out if I was not in this current mood that I am in. I am not indicating that I am better or worse than you Readers, but thought to share this moment in my life.

Until the next time

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete

Trying a quick update readers

Greetings Readers

Tis the second day that I am getting re-integrated into society once more.

Nothing much has really changed, but coming home to an abode that I had left in disarray is something that I did not want to deal with. So, tonight I will have to at least make an attempt of getting some furniture reorganized so my living and bedroom has some sort of furniture in place. Though, I have been thinking of rearranging my furniture so I do not go back in to the same rut. Change in this instance would be good.

Well, on the way back Monday night from New Mexico we had to listen to the Monday night Football game on the radio. I guess it was interesting, but not as interesting as the game was probably on TV. Needless to say, the Dallas Cowboy's did win with seconds left on the clock. How the Cowboys won - how in the fuck I know. Nor do I know how in the fuck did the Cowboys win in the first place. Holy Fucking Shit did Dallas worry me about bragging and strutting in the office Tuesday. I also was able to say "Oh the Broncos lost" Woo Hoo!

This past weekend the Albuquerque Balloon Festival started and for the second time in two years I was able to attend opening weekend. As like last year, I was able to see the lift off of the balloons from roughly 25 elementary schools over the Albuquerque area. What was new this year was a special shaped balloon from Belgium. Drum Roll please.... The Darth Vader Hot Air Balloon. Yes, I have to admit I was impressed, but not really impressed impressed. I am an avid fan, but not enough to get that excited about. Yet, I am glad to see that I was able to see the Darth Vader Balloon. The "Bees" did get up in the air on Sunday, but were unable "to kiss" in the air, but it was nice to see them aloft.

I did do something nice this past weekend. As almost usual. There was a "homeless" looking person outside Wendy's who wanted some money for coffee. I obviously said "sorry" as is my usual custom with being asked for money from a homeless person. Then, the man said "Well, okay then I guess I will have to drink alcohol tonight then." Like this line is going to work on me. Or make me feel sorry for the man. Not going to happen to this guy. Instead, since he wanted coffee I decided to buy him a coffee. yes, I do have a "kind" heart. As I have stated numerous times - I do have to stick up for the "little people."

More to come...

Until the next time

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete

The "other" people I know

Greetings People

I decided to stop by my Chick-fil-A last night since I was out of sweet tea and the evening was sort of nice to ride home in so I was in no hurry to go straight home.

Anyway, there was a young guy at the counter and he looks at me and says questionably "Sweet Tea?" I said "yes please". I immediately felt really good about the evening already. I once again have to admit that I was pleased about this and also this little thing was something I needed to cap off a day. I then saw my regular man at this Chick-fil-A sitting at one of the tables nearby. I appeared that he was on a break. So, before I sat down with him I made sure it was alright for me to sit with him. He indicated - no problem.

We chatted for about five minutes or so. Again, I was in no hurry and we just learned more about each other. He has been working at two Chick-fil-A's for the past five years. He has been seeing a woman for about 4 fours years. He asked where I worked, if I was single, do I bike a lot? It was a nice talk learning a bit more about this guy I do not know really. I have been stopping in every four days or so, which I was not even aware of.

This morning I decided to bike in another route to work. This way is shorter, but also from last year I noticed that there is a "homeless" man living on this side of town that I saw every morning. Anyway, I do not know why I thought of him this morning, but I decided to ride by to see if he is still hanging around. It has been a cold, heavy winter and I do not think he has hung around this part of town. Hopefully, he has migrated to one of the homeless shelters.

I did not see him nor did I see all his "stuff" at the place that he is at usually. I am sorry readers that I can not tell you the location. It is not your business nor concern about this guy. If someone complains/call the police on him - so be it, but I am not going to divulge the location of this guy in case anyone may stumble across the blog and decide to do something to him or against him for whatever reason.

I have given him change on occasion or nod my head in the morning to him indicating hello. Otherwise, I did check on him, from a distance, every morning that I did ride by his "area" to see if everything was okay or if he made it through a cold, cold night. Granted, there is nothing that I could have done, but in my view I see that watching out for him does give me something to be grateful for.

Before I forget, last Friday when I got out of work early I decided to stop by Qdoba's and see if anyone I know was there. Yes, I was looking for my Qdoba girl. I saw my other Qdoba girl, but not the one that I like. She said long time no see and I of course said hello, how are you? We chatted a bit, but let's be honest readers, I wanted to know if my other Qdoba girl was still working. I got a name - Debbie, but I am not sure if that is the same person. I did not want to upset this girl just in case she offended that I like the other girl and not her. Which I think she is under the impression that I also like her, but she is not my type. However, since I do visit here I do not want to rock the boat with any unnecessary conflict(s). LOL. She then said the other girl quit. Could that have been the girl I liked? I do not know - so guess what readers? I am going to have to go to Qdoba's on my lunch break to see if she is working the lunch shift.

until the next time

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete