Category Archives: Uncategorized

Hello Irma part 1

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I rode out my first ever Hurricane in Orlando waiting for it to pass so we could get to work. This was the first time I was going to actually be paid for helping after a disaster.

I flew into Tampa four days before the hurricane was to hit the west coast. Irma was a huge storm that was going to do damage wherever she landed. My job for 3 of those days were to stage all the rigs that were coming in from all over the country and as far as Canada. All sorts of trucks came in, from bucket trucks to pick up trucks and everything in between. All the rigs that came into Orlando were staging at Epcot. It was a huge effort getting everyone to go where they were supposed to. But the drivers and crew were all very pleasant to deal with. I met several people that day. The one that stood out the most was Donald Carter (DC). He was the lead guy for a company called Powersecure. I also met several guys and a lady from Florida Power and Light. DC and I hit it off and I was immediately pegged as a go to guy. If something needed to get done, they knew they could reach out to me and the crew and we would handle it.

So many trucks:)
Day 0, this is the day the hurricane hit and fortunately I was staying at the Hilton with hurricane proof windows. the strength of the hurricane came through the middle of the night and by morning the winds had died down to about 50mph. We made it to Epcot and the task at hand was to line up all the trucks for fueling. We arrived at 7am and started to line up over 500 diesel trucks and about the same in regular fuel trucks. It was 9am and the fuel truck was at the location but the team that did the refueling were not being released until the winds died down. The logistics of food, water and fuel that first day was a bit delayed but was cleared up fairly quickly. It was around noon that we finally got the fuel line up and running. Everyone was very understanding and eager to be fueled and heading to their rally points all through out the state. During the fueling process I was looking over the log and the remaining trucks that were to be fueled and asked the fueling team if there was enough fuel. One of them said he was pretty sure that we would be fine. My response to that was, I need a definite yes on this one! so, he said the only way to be sure was to get on top of the rig and measure. I replied, I need to be sure there is enough fuel. At that point I went through the log and looked at the last 25 trucks to be fueled and did a rough estimate as to how many gallons each truck was needing. the estimate was 26 gallons. then I reached out to my POC at FPL and asked her to come to the fueling location. This was not information you wanted to put out over the radio. If the drivers got wind that we were worried about not having enough fuel, they would be a bit angry. I also had one of my crew take the van and give me an exact count of trucks left to fuel. As I waited for the exact amount of fuel and the FPL logistic supervisor. I received my count, 132 trucks left. My fuel count came in at around 1400 gallons left. I talked with the FPL logistics gal and told her that, with my rough estimates that we would be out of fuel with about 75 trucks left on the lot. We were fueling with 2 lines and were moving quick so we needed to get the fuel here fast. The re-fueler was about 30 minutes out and the FPL supervisor made the call to bring it in. Right after that call was made we went down to one fuel line and the last tank in the tanker. this helped because it slowed everything down and gave us time to get the re-fueler in. What is amazing is that as we ran out of fuel in that last tank, the re-fueler had just finished fueling 1 of the 3 empty tanks in the tanker. As that happened I went through and counted the remaining trucks and the count was 81. Here is my take on this. Everyone has a job, mine was not given to me in a job description or was I handed an sop manual. I was told to manage the re-fueling and make sure fuel was logged. That is it, that was the extent of my directive. I new the urgency of getting all the rigs out in the field and what it meant to the power restoration process, but that was it. We were all a part of the big picture and that means you take on your part and know that you are as important as anyone in the process. Had we left 80 trucks on the lot and had to wait another hour or two then that could have meant that there would be hundreds or thousands that would have to go another day without power. So, when you are part of a team, no matter how big or how small, always give everything to that effort. The ripple effect could be more dramatic then you may think.

I was certainly praised for going the extra mile and had several FPL supervisors send my name up the logistics chain of command. Also DC had mentioned my efforts to the supervisors at Powersecure. Later that hour DC got an email stating that they wanted me and my team to head out from Orlando to West Palm Beach as soon as possible. It was 7pm and I had to get back to the hotel, gather my team, check out, eat and get on the road for a 2-3 hour drive. We arrived just after 11pm. Day 1 was to begin tomorrow.

Cannon Ball Run Race Report (Coffee Stranger)

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After 12 hours on the road, from Houston, to get to Kansas City to handle some business. I am in KC for about 3 hours then I head north to Mason City Iowa for a cyclo-cross race. For a total of 17 hours on the road out of 24. So, not the best way to start a race weekend. Not to mention, I did not ride a bike since last Sunday. Trudging through water for 13 hours is exercise right?

Prior to arriving in Mason city at 8pm my Air bnb host Crystal sent me a text asking if I wanted spaghetti or chicken with spaghetti squash. Since I only eat fish I was happy with the squash with butter and garlic. I thought it may have been a bit assumptive but, a closed mouth doesn’t get fed right? She actually made it and it was amazing. Man did I pick the right house. Not that there were a plethora to choose from. Crystal and I hit it off and as I ate we talked and hung out then finished watching a movie. It was very comfortable and she made me feel at home. Air bnb strangers are some of the best to meet.

This was the first CX of the year and I wanted to see how I stacked up against the Masters 45+. The course was awesome and very technical. I finished 9th out of 15, beating 4 guys that were higher ranked. I was 1st in the Cat 4.  After the race I sent a text to Crystal that I would return soon. Of course she asked if I was hungry. Once again, not turning that down:) Her friend had caught some crapi and thought that would be outstanding. When I returned Crystal helped with my laundry and we made dinner together. At this point, this is what I call a race wife:) It is a phrase I heard when I rode across Iowa 5 years ago. It is a person who takes care of the basic needs. A race husband is similar, but they generally take care of bikes, tent set up, you know more of the heavy lifting:) It is primitive yes, but it is very much an effective relationship and most needs are met from both sides. By the way I am an exceptional race/ride husband and father.

Sundays race time was at 12pm and I got to the course at 8:30am to ride around and just test out the course again. The direction changed and it was a bit more technical. after my pre-ride I rode over to a coffee shop that was near by. I sat down to finish the Harvey blog and have a veggie burrito and coffee. As I sat there writing an man came in and ordered a latte with soy milk and sat at the table next to me. I was pretty sure that once I finished writing I would look up and start a conversation. Just before I finished he sneezed, I said bless you and that was a perfect time to end my writing and indulge in my second favorite hobby, meeting strangers. He asked if I was racing and I said yes and I did yesterday too. His name was Garen and he went on to explain how he went over yesterday to race and after getting on the course and getting to the top of the flyover, which is a wooden structure you walk up and then ride down the other side. It is very steep and I even questioned riding down it, he backed out and went home. I have to give him credit for admitting that. Most men are to proud and would never mention it. We spoke a bit more about the course and cycling. I can tell he really wanted to do it. So, I encouraged him to go get his bike and I would lower his tire pressure and ride the course with him. I am both affable and manipulative but only for a positive outcome for all involved. So, Garrett went back to his house to get his bike and I prepared for the race near my truck. I was surprised when he showed up and actually had tires that would do pretty well on this course. I dropped his tire pressure and had him ride around in the grass with me. Not to bad for a virgin racing in the 65+ category:)  We rode the course a bit and on a steep hill I told him to use his rear brakes mostly.  Well, he grabbed his front brake and slid out. I asked if he was hurt he said no and then asked which one was the rear break? I laughed and said the one on the right and rode ahead. I was a bit concerned for his safety at this point and thought that if he raced today he might incur an injury. so, I let up a bit on the talking him into racing and went on to do some dismount and whole shot work. Just before our race I had enough time to ride the course. I lined up and here comes Jarrett. I look over and asked if he signed up. He turned a bit and showed me his number on his right side. I told him to be safe and said a quick prayer:) If he died in the race then at least I gave him the permission slip to enter into cycling heaven. I had lapped him twice so he had to of finished 4 laps. When I went through the finish line I half expected to see Jerry sitting on the side drinking one of the free Sierra Nevadas. But, he was no where to be found. Did he go home? surely not! After a few minutes I see his rainbow Campagnolo kit out in the distance. I filled a cup of water to douse him with and grabbed a beer to open to celebrate his victory!!! I was super proud to see him finish. I have to say, I have seen some good riders stop in the middle of a race because it is just to taxing. But not Terry, he was all in and not at all a quitter.

So many strangers this weekend. Remember, every friend you have today was once a stranger.

Gary and I

 

Charlie came down from WI
This lil guy challenged me to a race
Barriers

The Harvey Wallbanger

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This Harvey is not a drink that you serve in a highball glass. Although it will leave one hell of a hangover. This was Harvey who relentlessly banged on the walls of the Houston area for several days.

After seeing Harvey take form and hearing that it will stall over Houston, Corpus Christi and the areas around Houston. I struggled with the idea of going to help. After a full day of deliberation, basically with myself, I decided to make the trip. Well, actually I guess it was Elena and I discussing it Monday in the office. She knew and I knew that I need to go.

I left Tuesday mid morning to drive to Dallas and sleep a few hours at my friend Rich and Monica’s house then head out from Dallas around 1am. This would get me to Houston around 5am. Now to figure out where to go to. I am always sent in the right direction when I do something like this.  Whether you call it fate, God, Buddha, Allah or the Universe looking out for you.  I know it all works out. When I was about 2 hours out of Houston I started listening to the North Houston rescue channel on Zello. I heard that Port Author and Beaumont was getting pounded and water was rising fast. I punch Port Author in the gps and headed that way. An hour outside of Beaumont I saw 2 trucks with flat bottom boats and something told me to follow them. As I turned to follow they turned into a gas station looking for diesel. I got out and asked if they were heading to Port Author.  They were and I asked if I could follow them and help out. I introduced myself to the older man, his name was Jimmie.  Jimmie ran a pizza oven cleaning business in Houston and had a daughter who was married to the young man driving the other truck. It was 5am and we needed to get to Port Author fast. We tried two routes but had to turn around because the water was to high.  The last route we tried finally got us there. We had to get the trucks through about 2 foot of water. But we made it and were able to navigate through with help from the Zello app. Our launch point was a WalMart parking lot.

Port Author rescues

As Jimmie prepared to launch I grabbed my medical supply bag and rope. We dropped both boats in and I was in charge of listing to the call outs from dispatch. It helped to hear where the greatest needs were. I directed Jimmie to an area that had several high water emergency calls. Our first rescue was a family that was in a blow up swimming pool being pulled by two of the adult men. We loaded the family and swimming pool into the two boats and transported them to safety. Jimmie looked at me and asked “where to next”? I was listening to all the addresses and punched a few into GPS to see where to head. We drove toward one of the distress calls and as we were in route we came upon the coast guard trying to get to an area that was all senior citizens. The complex was called Legacy Senior Housing  and was about waist to chest deep. A major concern is if one of the residents had fallen or was stuck in a wheel chair. We were directed to start at one of the houses and to work our way down. Jimmie and I jumped out into the water and started to bang on the first door and try to open it. We went to several doors until we spotted one that was open but the screen door was locked. As we were banging on the door and about ready to pull it off the hinges, an older man came walking out of the bedroom area. As he came to the door Jimmie and I saw a flash from across the way. It looked like a light flickering behind the blinds. I told Jimmie that I will go check it out. I waded across the “parking lot” river and proceeded to knock on the door. I heard a faint sound coming from inside. I tried the door and thankfully it was unlocked. As I opened the door there sat an elderly woman in her battery operated wheelchair in the middle of the room. She had been there for about 13 hours and was so relieved when I opened that door. If the water had risen another foot or two she would have not survived. I yelled at Jimmie that we had a lady in a wheelchair and will be needing help. As he came over to me with the frail elderly man in the boat, I told him we are going to need several people to lift her in the boat. We looked around for the Coast Guard and yelled to one of them. In about 2 minutes we had 3 additional men to lift this large elderly woman into a 14 foot flat bottom bass boat. We carefully lifted her onto the bow (front end) of the boat. Once we got her settled in, she insisted that we bring her wheelchair. I tried to talk her out of it because another 100lbs in the boat was not a good idea. She was not going to let us leave her chair. So, we lifted it in the boat. The elderly man and I sat in the middle of the boat with Jimmie and the wheelchair behind us and the woman in front. My job was to keep an eye out front for potential hazards and on our cargo. As I was trying to look past the woman. I barely noticed a bricked in mail box that was all but fully submerged. I put out man right hand and yelled at Jimmie. But, at that instance we hit it just right of center and the boat went in the air and to the left. I jumped onto the woman and pulled her to the right and threw my legs over the right side of the boat. I remember someone yelling kill the motor and looking up and seeing a man running towards us through the water and thinking, if we go over I am going to have to try to keep this woman, who is twice my weight, from drowning. I was not letting this happen. After the motor was shut down we slowly eased off the mailbox and leveled out. I was a bit shook up by this and took a deep breath and said “well, that was close”. Looked at Jimmie and we both shrugged our shoulders as if to say we both messed that one up. We finally got everyone safe and to somewhat dry land.


We made another trip to Legacy and when we dropped off there was a sheriff and a lady needing a ride to a Cypress Glenn nursing home. They were not happy because the management was not allowing anyone to remove patients from the facility. My guess would be the liability that comes with moving ill or injured elderly people. This was a corporate ran nursing home and it was going to take the sheriff of this here town to order them to evacuate the residents. When we got there they just started to remove the residents. The sheriff was all ramped up and ready to put some handcuffs on someone if they lipped off to him. I’m sure someone made a call and warned them.  As we waded through the water, the entire place smelled of urine and feces. The facility looked to have between 50 and 100 residents. I started helping with putting everyone in wheelchairs and moving them to the front. Those that were bed ridden had to go in bigger boats or fan boats. Because we had to either keep them on their mattress or transfer them to a mattress that was on a boat. As Jimmie took the lady and the sheriff back to dry land, I kept lifting people and when a room was clear, I would put an X on the door with white medical tape and close the door. Of course we checked those rooms 15 more times. It was already into the late afternoon / evening and Jimmie and I took one more trip and then called it a day. It was dusk when we finally started to head back towards our drop point. We were both exhausted and hungry. You don’t think about eating when you are in rescue mode. We loaded up the boats and I said my goodbyes and walked over to my truck to make a peanut butter sandwich. After drying off and changing clothes it was time to find a place on higher ground.

I headed out of Port Author to find a church to drop supplies off to. I headed to Beaumont and found a church there to have dinner and drop all the supplies at. I finished up and felt like I needed to get a bit further out. Each main road I took was flooded and finally I decided to stay put and not risk going down a road that could be flooded in the middle of the night. So, I settled in at the Triumph Church parking lot in Beaumont. I just settled into the front seat and feel asleep. Waking up around 6am I noticed that the water seemed to have rose a bit. I listened to Zello and was looking at the map to find a way out. I kept hearing a few towns that were needing help. one of those were Vidor. So, off I went to Vidor TX, this is where my poor truck almost drowned. Any time I saw a gas station or dollar store open I would stop and load up on diapers, formula and dog food. With the gas and all the supplies I spent almost $2000. Good thing I have very good friends and family that helped raise $1520.00. Most of the day in Vidor was spent taking people across the rivers in the street. I stopped at the Baptist church in either Pine Forest or Vidor to drop more supplies, after running back and forth I couldn’t tell you where I was when I stopped and unloaded. I did stop for a while and let people in smaller vehicles that they would not be able to pass if they were trying to get to highway 10. My truck took on water up to the lights. So, these smaller vehicles were not going to make it through. After a bit of logistic work I settled in at an LDS church parking lot and tried to sleep. I was getting text from one of my contractors that one of my guys stole money from him and has been stealing from him for a while. this was the final straw, he has stolen from me, a tenant and now my contractor. It was 1am on Friday morning and I decided that I had to deal with this and fire him today. I knew there was more work to be done and that I would be back to the Houston area. So, I decided to head for KC. With a 12 hour drive ahead of me, I figured I would be back around 3pm with stops.


Thank you for reading and always meet new strangers, unless their name is Harvey.

The forgotten Monday Race report from 8/21/2017

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This weekend took me to Papillion, NE for the Papillion twilight criterium.  I have never been to Papillion before so I was excited to see how this race would compare to others. It did not disappoint. I made it to the race around noon and the volunteers were just setting everything up. I had a chance to meet Matt, the race director, and of course asked if he needed any help setting up. They had everything rolling very smooth. He gave me a few pointers about the course and the possible rough spots.

This was going to be my last road race for the US Military Endurance Sports team. I am moving my affiliation to a local team here in Kansas City called KCBC. I have had several guys ask me to be a part of their team, but I feel that these are the guys I can help and in turn they can help me move up. You will hear more about the KCBC team in the near future. I will be staying with USMES for the cross season.

My 1st race was the 40+ Masters. This race has all fields represented from category 1 to category 4. Being a cat 4 in this race is like racing a Chevy Corvette against a Honda prelude. Out of the 8, 40+ guys I finished 3rd. There were a total of 15 in the race and I was 6th overall. This was my best road finish ever. I actually only signed up for the race because there was another USMES guy that was supposed to race in it. His name was William O’Brien and he was nice enough to take the picture below. I want to thank William for not showing up, and giving me 3rd place:) My guess is that he would have been right there with me. In this race I worked much smarter than harder. This really was my only option because the majority of the guys out there were faster than me. So, instead of spending any time out front, I had to sit in and tail gun. This basically means hold on for dear life. I did get dropped during the prime lap, but was able to work with one other guy to catch the small pack that broke away. That took almost everything out of me. I did have about one match to burn in the sprint and I actually used it to pass one guy and go head to head with my fellow dropee. in the last turn he was in lead and I pulled up next to him and just laid it down. We both worked hard in that last 100m. At the last second I did a bike throw and just beat him by a tenth of a second. After the race we congratulated each other on a hard fought race and of course I had to make sure he was a 50+ racer. He was, I laughed and thanked him again for all his work to catch the pack. I didn’t realize that I took 3rd so when the results came out, I said out loud, “I took third”? Totally surprised by that finish. I say that because I always know where I am in a race. You have to or you might miss a guy go around a turn and break away from the pack. I was working so hard to hold on, the only thing I could pay attention to was the wheel in front of me and the turns.

The next race was about 2 hours after. I had to eat and try to keep off my feet. Both I did with some success. I was surprised to see several cat 4 guys from KC show up. Actually, KC had about 10-15 racers show up. I will post a link to the results later. In the cat 4 race I knew what I had to do and I knew the course. The one thing I did not know is would my legs hold up. I also was 100% that I was mentally all in. Not that I am ever not:) This race had a cat 4 national champion in it and of course he was 14 years old. His name was Luke and both him and his father were very pleasant to talk with.  During the race Luke and I ended up in a small group behind a 6 man break, that are very tough to catch. I worked as much as I could for him. He sat in for a bit until he knew that he could bridge the gap. When he took off I tried to hang on but since I was just in the wind pulling for him, I was dropped. I did manage to hold on to two of the guys with our 4 man pack. This meant that there were 7 in the pack ahead and 6 laps to go. Want to guess the odds of a 3 man pack catching the 7 in the pack ahead? Slim and none. So, I worked hard with 4 laps to go then 3 laps to go. As I came across the finish line and saw 2 laps to go, I noticed a shadow behind me. These two guys were on my ass and having me drag them around the course. I sat up, dropped my speed to 15 and they were still behind me. I moved to the left and dropped my speed even more and insisted that they pull through. Then one of them jumped and jumped hard, they almost dropped me with 2 laps to go. I made them both pull for those final laps and in the sprint I had the choice of taking 8th, 9th or 10th. We all went into that final turn at top speed and in the sprint I took 2nd out of the three of us and secured a 9th overall out of 25. The legs did well!

After the cat 4 race I sat with Chris from foodys and watched the 3’s race and then the pro 1,2. By the time the pro 1,2 race started it was Chris, Zach and Finn (son o

f Shad, cat 1 racer) sitting around. This is why I stick around the races. To support those guys and girls out there but to also hang out with people I may have never had the chance to meet. Out of the 4 of us we had a span of 4 generations. Finn 11, Zach 26, Chris 33 and me 48. I think that’s pretty awesome. We sat around, watched the race and watched Finn do his BMX tricks, poked fun of each other and, for me at least, just enjoyed every ones company. Racing is fun, but hanging out with these 3 was way more entertaining. After the race, Chris and I were going to grab a bite at the local brewery and asked Zach and Jordan (cat 2 racer from KC) if they wanted to join us. We all met at Nebraska brewing and had a beer, ate dinner and cracked jokes all night and just relaxed. I did tell a few war stories:) I might share some of those here one day.

Thank you for reading. Now go out and meet a stranger and be nice to cyclist:)

 

Monday Race report 8/28/2017

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This weekend took me back to the great city of Hutchinson KS for the state time trial. Overall the showing was fairly low, under 50. The race was delayed 45 minutes because of a storm front that moved in rather quickly. This was a great idea. It cooled it down and cleaned the roads for us:)

The night before the race I decided to go to the Olive Garden, since it was right across the street from the hotel I was staying. As I was sitting at the bar eating a salad, in walks the guys from 360. 360 is a large, mostly masters racers. They sat down at the bar with me and we had some great conversation. It was great to sit and chat with Jessse Brown and all the guys.

A time trial is basically, you ride 40k as fast as you can on your own. They stagger the racers 1 minute apart and if you catch the person ahead of you, you can not draft off of them. My goal time was 59:51. That meant I had to do 25mph for the entire 40k. I ended up doing 24.5mph and missing my goal by only 47 seconds, although still taking 1st place in the Cat 4 mens race.

I worked hard and looked at my goal of 59:51 everyday for a week and I wrote it on my forearm before the race. I was very focused. I think sometimes people want something in life and they go at it half hearted or sideways. It has to burn inside of you. I was not striving for 1st. I was going for something bigger than that. It was to beat a number that seemed impossible to me a year ago. Now it is going to happen.

A dream with out action is just a dream. Strive to be the best and great things will happen.

Thank you for reading.

“Two in the chest”

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What do you do when a young rookie Kansas City Missouri cop is yelling at you to drop your weapon and your a 41 year old white male with your foot on the neck of a 16 year old black male and the barrel of your 9mm IWI baby desert eagle is pressing into his skull just above your left foot. That is where I found myself 7 years ago. That moment stands frozen in time in my memory. Although that is not where this story begins.

In spring of 2010 I was managing about 50 properties, trying to buy a house and was getting ready to file for divorce. I was 41 and had 3 children ranging from 8 to 13.

It was a cool April night and I was awaken by the ringing of my phone. It must have been midnight and Tyrone was calling me. Tyrone is a tall slender and muscular black man that was in his late 40’s, served in the US Army as a Ranger. Although Tyrone was getting thinner by the day because of his drug use. He was always reliable and a good person. So, when he called, I always answered. “Tyrone whats up”? “Mike, you need to get over here, there is some shit that’s bout to go down”. I sat on the side of the bed and gathered my thoughts. “What do you mean”? “I mean, there’s a bunch of thugs out back and shit is going to get hot”. I told Tyrone to hang tight and I will be there shortly. I was at 57th st living with my beautiful Hungarian girlfriend and had an ex-meth addict living in the basement, that’s a whole nother story). By the way meet Kenny “Fuckin” Farmer (KFF). That is how he always introduced himself. Hi, I’m Kenny Fuckin Farmer, who are you? I think it was actually his given name. Either that or every time he got into trouble his mom would yell “Kenny Fucking Farmer get your ass in here”. So, he took on the persona. As I said, we were living at 57th and the Tyrone was living in the 8 plex I managed at 9th st.

As I jumped out of bed, I went to the top of the stairs and yelled at Kenny. “Farmer, you up”? Of course he was, it was only midnight. “Shit is going down at Tyrones, we need to move”. I’m sure you are wondering why? Why are you going out to rescue Tyrone and a building? Why not just call the police, crawl back into bed and get cozy with your beautiful Hungarian girlfriend? Why? Because that is what I do. I can’t leave it up to the police, I have to be there to make sure my people are OK and the building is all good. Especially Tyrone, he is one of the good guys and would hate to see anything happen to him.

I grab my 9mm baby eagle and the mossberg 6 round pump action.

babyeagle9mmMossberg 500 Cruiser 12-6-5

As Kenny comes up the steps I hand him my shotgun and say “do not use it unless they shoot first”. I say that because, as a general rule, most of the thugs in the area can’t shoot for shit. They don’t train, or clean their weapon and they use ammo that has been in their pocket for weeks, if they even have ammo. So the advice don’t shoot unless they shoot first is pretty sound advice. As we went out the door A2 (Hungarian GF) kissed me and said be careful. She didn’t question the why, she always stood by me and said “go, but be careful”. She understood the why and who I was. I digress, we hopped in my 1979 ford Econoline with the 351 Windsor motor in it and took off. As we were on the way I did make the call to the police and specifically told them that there were young men with guns behind the building and to use the driveway on the 9th street side. It must have taken us minutes to get there, because as soon as I got off the phone with the police I was at 12th st. I went to 8th st and waited just around the corner from the building. I knew that the cops would either be coming down 8th st or the street in front of me which was Indiana. I sat there for about 3 minutes and then I see a patrol car pull around and in front of me and then another one stops on Indiana just before 8th street. As the cops stage their vehicles I put the van in drive and hold the brake down. The car in front of me takes off around the corner and the patrol car behind him follows behind with me hot on their six. They stop out in front of the building. Did I not tell the dispatcher to tell them to use the driveway on the 9th st side? Yes, yes I did. As the police are stopping out front, I fly around them and go up the 9th st side of the building. Now, this driveway is basically made of gravel, dirt and mud and is a steep incline up and then levels out. When I came up the driveway at 40 mph and then threw it in park, the van slid about 15 feet in the mud and before it stopped I was out of the van and running towards a group of about 8 young men yelling at them to stop. Kenny was somewhere behind me. one of the men ran towards me and then turned to run back to the building. I gave chase and he went towards the back stairs of the building and I remember being on the bottom step and the young man I was chasing had to be on the 3rd or 4th step because if you stopped everything you would see me with my 9mm in hand and the man I was chasing reaching in the back of his pants and pulling out a chrome plated 45mm pistol. That’s all I saw. A flash of chrome and his hand coming around to the front of him. Now the young man I was chasing was Akuru Chan and was 16 almost 17 years old. When he pulled the 45 pistol out I had a decision. Get to him before he turns and shoots me, turn around and run or shoot him in the back. I decided to go after him. Listen, I know it was not the greatest of choices, but the other two choices were not in my playbook at the time. As I went up those 7 or 8 steps it felt like someone grabbed me by the back of my shirt and threw me up the steps. As Akuru Chan went around the corner, I grabbed him by the back of the neck with my left hand and put him to the deck at the top of the stairs. As he went to the ground I put my left foot on the back of his neck and drove my 9mm into the back of his skull with my left hand fanned out next to the barrel of my pistol as if to shield me from any blood that might fly if I had to pull the trigger. As I have Akuru Chan on the ground and clearly he is no longer a threat, a young rookie cop is at the bottom of the steps yelling at me to drop my weapon. How did I know he is a rookie? Well, in Kansas City, as a rookie trainee you are in a grey or lighter blue uniform. This rookie yelled at me to drop my weapon. I yelled back “fuck you, get me some handcuffs”. He repeated his request “I said drop your weapon” I then repeated the same “I said fuck you, get me some handcuffs”. At that moment a familiar face came around the building and says “Hey Mike whats going on”. It was as cool as that, no yelling, no weapon drawn. Just a friendly, hey, how ya doin, can we take that thug out from under your foot, kinda cool. I calmly said ” I could use some handcuffs”, “Not sure what he has on him but he did have a 45 somewhere”. I took my foot off Akuru Chan and holstered my weapon. As the two officers took him down the stairs, cuffed him and brought him around to the front where the patrol cars were. As I was walking toward the cops Kenny yelled at me and said that they missed the weapon and that it was in the stove on the deck. I called to one of the cops and brought him up the stairs to where the weapon was. They had Akuru Chan and one other guy. They found some drugs, a stolen Xbox 360 and the weapon with the serial number scrapped off. I thought that was not to bad of an arrest. But then I was told that Mr. Chan was only 16 and would most likely not do any time.

AkuruChan-1270125

I stood around talking with one of the tactical officers, I think he was part of the narc unit at the time. As I am re-telling the story I asked him what would I have done if I made the split second decision to shoot him in the back? He said to me, with a straight face, “you turn him over and put two in his chest” To this day I hear those words and just cringe. Two in his chest? I have made some last minute decisions in my life, and thank God, they have all turned out spectacular, but “two in the chest” has never been close to one of those decisions and will never be.

Akuru Chan is now 24 years old and serving a 12 year sentence in a Missouri prison for 1st degree burglary and attempted robbery. I really would have like to have looked up his name and seen the he graduated from college and was working as a youth advocate in the system. We have all failed the Akuru Chans of our community. I blame his parents, his immediate family and friends, the system, the community. Somewhere, someone could have been a better role model and or influence.

By the way Kenny “Fuckin” Farmer is no longer using meth and is living with his “old lady” who is in the legal profession. Which is good news for Kenny! As for the beautiful Hungarian Girlfriend? We were together for over 8 years and she is now living in Portland with her awesome dog Sodapop and cat Indie.

Sometimes a stranger needs a friend. I always say to go out and make new strangers. It’s also OK to be a friend to that stranger and leave it at that.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Monday Race report 8/21/2017

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This weekend took me to Papillion, NE for the Papillion twilight criterium.  I have never been to Papillion before so I was excited to see how this race would compare to others. It did not disappoint. I made it to the race around noon and the volunteers were just setting everything up. I had a chance to meet Matt, the race director, and of course asked if he needed any help setting up. they had everything rolling very smooth. He gave me a few pointers about the course and the possible rough spots.

This was going to be my last road race for the US Military Endurance Sports team. I am moving my affiliation to a local team here in Kansas City called KCBC. I have had several guys ask to be a part of their team, but I feel that these are the guys I can help and in turn they can help me move up. You will hear more about the KCBC team in the near future. I will be staying with USMES for the cross season.

My 1st race was the 40+ Masters. This race has all fields represented from category 1 to category 4. Being a cat 4 in this race is like racing a Chevy Corvette against a Honda prelude. Out of the 8, 40+ guys I finished 3rd. There were a total of 15 in the race and I was 6th overall. This was my best road finish ever. I actually only signed up for the race because there was another USMES guy that was supposed to race in it. His name was William O’Brien and he was nice enough to take the picture below. I want to thank William for not showing up, and giving me 3rd place:) My guess is that he would have been right there with me. In this race I worked much smarter than harder. This really was my only option because the majority of the guys out there were faster than me. So, instead of spending any time out front, I had to sit in and tail gun. This basically means hold on for dear life. I did get dropped during the prime lap, but was able to work with one other guy to catch the small pack that broke away. That took almost everything out of me. I did have about one match to burn in the sprint and I actually used it to pass one guy and go head to head with my fellow dropee. in the last turn he was in lead and I pulled up next to him and just laid it down. We both worked hard in that last 100m. At the last second I did a bike throw and just beat him by a tenth of a second. After the race we congratulated each other on a hard fought race and of course I had to make sure he was a 50+ racer. He was, I laughed and thanked him again for all his work to catch the pack. I didn’t realize that I took 3rd so when the results came out, I said out loud, “I took third”? Totally surprised by that finish. I say that because I always know where I am in a race. You have to or you might miss a guy go around a turn and break away from the pack. I was working so hard to hold on, the only thing I could pay attention to was the wheel in front of me and the turns.

The next race was about 2 hours after. I had to eat and try to keep off my feet. Both I did with some success. I was surprised to see several cat 4 guys from KC show up. Actually, KC had about 10-15 racers show up. I will post a link to the results later. In the cat 4 race I knew what I had to do and I knew the course. The one thing I did not know is would my legs hold up. I also was 100% that I was mentally all in. Not that I am ever not:) This race had a cat 4 national champion in it and of course he was 14 years old. His name was Luke and both him and his father were very pleasant to talk with.  During the race Luke and I ended up in a small group behind a 6 man break, that are very tough to catch. I worked as much as I could for him. He sat in for a bit until he knew that he could bridge the gap. When he took off I tried to hang on but since I was in the wind pulling, I was dropped. I did manage to hold on to two of the guys with our 4 man pack. This meant that there were 7 in the pack ahead and 6 laps to go. Want to guess the odds of a 3 man pack catching the 7 in the pack ahead? Slim and none. So, I worked hard with 4 laps to go then 3 laps to go. As I came across the finish line and saw 2 laps to go, I noticed a shadow behind me. These two guys were on my ass and having me drag them around the course. I sat up, dropped my speed to 15 and they were still behind me. I moved to the left and dropped my speed even more and insisted that they pull. Then one of them jumped and jumped hard, they almost dropped me with 2 laps to go. I made them both pull for those final laps and in the sprint I had the choice of taking 8th, 9th or 10th. We all went into that final turn at top speed and in the sprint I took 2nd out of the three of us and secured a 9th overall out of 25. The legs did well!

After the cat 4 race I sat with Chris from foodys and watched the 3’s race and then the pro 1,2. By the time the pro 1,2 race started it was Chris, Zach and Finn (son of Shad, cat 1 racer) sitting around. This is why I stick around the races. To support those guys and girls out there but to also hang out with people I may have never had the chance to meet. Out of the 4 of us we had a span of 4 generations. Finn 11, Zach 26, Chris 33 and me 48. I think that’s pretty awesome. We sat around, watched the race and watched Finn do his BMX tricks, poked fun of each other and, for me at least, just enjoyed every ones company. Racing is fun, but hanging out with these 3 was way more entertaining. After the race, Chris and I were going to grab a bite at the local brewery and asked Zach and Jordan (cat 2 racer from KC) if they wanted to join us. We all met at Nebraska brewing and had a beer, ate dinner and cracked jokes all night and just relaxed. I did tell a few war stories:) I might share some of those here one day.

Thank you for reading. Now go out and meet a stranger and be nice to cyclist:)

 

When a friend becomes a stranger

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Most of what I write about is the good in when I meet people and the fun that is had. Sometimes, as we all know, there is pain in meeting strangers. You know, the stranger you may have met 8 or 9 years ago or maybe just 6 months back. Either way, that stranger became your friend and you went all in to be theirs. When I make new strangers I don’t think of when will this turn into a friendship and or when will it end. I hope it never does, but I understand that everything has an expiration date. We will die, a relationship will end and your guacamole will turn brown. When this happens there is pain from that loss (maybe not the guac). So, how do you handle that? Do you sit around and feel sorry for yourself, angry, bitter and or blame yourself? Obviously there are many stages and we all go through them at different times. All I know is that time heals all wounds. Here is what I have heard and learned. If you were involved with someone romantically for 10 years, It will take about 5 years until you are fully over that and have moved on. It’s not magic and at midnight exactly 5 years from your break up all will be well. It’s a gradual slope. When a friend or family member dies it is no different. I don’t think you completely forget or am I suggesting you should. We will generally remember the good times and those will stay with you. I know how I deal with loss and although it may seem that I don’t have any feelings to some:) It is just that I look at the positive and try not to be selfish. If you think about it, when a relationship ends or a friend dies, we are wanting that person back so we can feel better, right? This is a general statement and I know that is not always the case for everyone.

So, If you have had a friend, lover or family member become a stranger. You are not alone and all will be right with your part of the world. Maybe in a few days or years it will come back around or maybe you will never cross paths again. Either way, what is meant to be will be and you never have control over that. 222-logo-325-x-325

I hope that all of the strangers you meet become friends and are with you until you breath your last breath.

Monday Race Report 8/7/2017

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No races to report on. I was going to go to the Missouri State championship crits but decided with all the rain on Saturday and the potential rain on Sunday, I would stay in KC and see what I can get into on a Sunday afternoon.

Here is what it did all day on Saturday. I did get in a 25 mile ride in the morning and half way through it started to rain and did not stop until late that night.

Here is what I did most of the day on Saturday. Did some work, listened to music and hung out with the most loyal of friends, Ponyboy! Pony is one of 36 rescues. No, I do not have 36 dogs. Him and his brother Dallas are the only two that I kept. Dallas is now with Ellana and comes to the office everyday to annoy his brother.

Sunday, after some work, I finally got to ride. Sometime you just have to go and let whatever happen, happen. No plans or agendas. My only plan was to ride to Torn Lable Brewery and see where that takes me. I met a couple from PA and a young lady from D.C. that was in town on business with Sprint. She told me to drink water and eat something. She sounded like my mother:) I also met Porter, a super cute, high energy mutt of a rescue. Then this crew arrived and all hell broke loose!!!

This was the second stop of the day. This is the Sunday morning coffee and beer ride. That Sunday consisted of Jen, Amy, Nick, Bern, Adrian, Dave, Jay, Eddie and me. Such a motley crew. I have to say, this crew can make your side hurt from all the laughing. When ever I am not racing, this is where I would rather be on a Sunday afternoon. I love these guys and gals. They are all very strong riders and also like to drink a beer or two.

Thank you for reading and always Make New Strangers! Especially ones that like good beer.

Monday Race Report. The Truman Cup

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The Truman cup is a series of races that start with a 5.6 mile time trial on Friday night then on Saturday there is a 3 mile circuit race that is a 4 lap race. Sunday is the 45 minute crit. All of the races took place in Independence MO this weekend.

During my race weekend in Lacrosse, WI I met a few fellow cyclist. One of the guys I met that weekend was Ryley. We hit it off immediately. Ryley was a new cat 5 and was fast, I mean, I would put him up against or in any cat 3 race and he would easily beat half of the field. So, Ryley decided to make the 9 hour drive down to KC for this race, and I am glad he did. Here is a picture of Ryley and I tooling around the city. 

Another friend that came in for the race is DK from San Diego. Of course she did not drive:) DK and I will be doing the RAGBRAI this week. RAGBRAI is a ride across Iowa. Not sure why it’s not a race, seeing how you probably want to get across it as fast as possible. I am kidding, Iowa is pretty cool and so are the folks that call it home. You will hear more about DK over the next week. We have way to much fun and will hope for no injuries and or arrest this coming week. Thank you DK for all the cheers during the race.
Friday – The Truman Cup Time Trial. This is a solo event so you have to go as fast as you can for 5.6 miles. The last 300m is basically where you empty the tank. Ryley and I headed out to Independence a little early to get the legs warmed up and check out the course. Fairly flat and a pretty good road. All start times were just after 6pm and each racer would start 30 seconds after the next. My goal is always to catch the rider in front of me. After that 9 hour drive I knew his time trail would suffer, and it did. He placed 11th and I took 6th with a 13:26 time, Fastest I have done on that course. During the TT we met some guys from St. Louis that were in town for the entire series. Super nice guys from a few different teams. To celebrate we decided to head out to Lulus. Possibly my favorite Thai restaurant in KC. So, while we were at the restaurant Ryley and I were talking about dating and how I find cyclist attractive. He was explaining how I should ask out a non cyclist. So, with out hesitation I point to a server and asked Ryley if maybe I should ask her out. As he shrugged his shoulders she walked by and I politely asked if she would give us a moment of her time? She stopped and said “of course, whats up”. I proceeded to ask her if she would like to go out on a date. I think Ryley may have been a bit uncomfortable with this whole experiment. Me? on the other hand, I was eating it up:) She was in a relationship and was super nice and went on to explain how when she was in roller derby a lot of the dating happened in the roller derby circle and that most of those relationships didn’t work after they left the sport. I don’t believe I will be leaving cycling anytime soon. 

Saturday – The Truman Cup Circuit Race. This is a 3 mile course that has a 1 mile climb, 1 mile of flat and a mile of down hill. I does seem to favor the climbers. Saturday’s heat index was like 300°. Ok, that is a bit high, but it felt like it. This race took it’s toll on several of the strongest riders. I went for a break in the flat of the first of 5 laps. Not the best idea but I wanted to spread that field out.  The break did not stick and they caught me on the hill because of a mechanical issue. Ryley crushed this race and took first and $100 for the win. Super proud of that dude. We hung out and chatted with the St Louis guys as DK continued to drink free beer at the Bier co tent. She is possibly already drunk but took some awesome pictures and maybe got some digits:) 

Sunday – The Truman Cup Crit.  With less than a mile loop, 6 turns and 45 minutes of racing, this is never a dull moment. This race had 51 racers in it and was as fast as it has ever been. We did 18 miles at about 26mph and it looked like the island of misfit cyclist. There were about 30 different teams. Ryley and I held on to the front most of the race and possibly worked harder than we should have but, that’s racing. He took 6th and I placed 16th.  Overall we were 4th and 10th in the 3 day Omnium. I was proud of us both! 

Always have to give props to the women’s free state team. They always win and look good doing it. Great job ladies!