Why?

Hellyer War Cry

Hellyer War Cry from Steve Pelaez on Vimeo.

Perspective

While battling the stomach flu the other day, I was struck with two thoughts. First, thank God, the cleaners were just here yesterday and left me with a fresh clean bowl to say my prayers to the porcelain gods. Second, this really sucks! Every bathroom run was an emergency session. The dry heaving, the sharp pains, the cramps, the runs, all left me begging and praying for life to end. But then I told myself - "Nope, don't run away from it (it's actually best to just stay near the toilet=). Seriously, I told myself to remember how miserable I was. Remember this! Because tomorrow when this stomach flu has passed, will be the happiest day in a very long while. Suffering gives you a great perspective.

Happiness is all relative right? All I know is that the day after the stomach flu felt like Christmas morning. I was so happy to be back with the living. I was ready and willing to do my fatherly duties, deal with the remodel, pick up slack at work, and just happy to be.

My life is a blessing that I at times I take for granted rather than appreciate. Life is great and I sometimes don't know it. But then I'm brought to my hands and knees by my kids' stomach flu, which btw, I thought I dodged like the matrix. Then all at once, I am reminded that I have a lot to be thankful for, least of which is the toilet paper and running water we seem to just take for granted. Try getting sick in India - squat toilets and hand washing. Yeah, that'll give you perspective.

As my buddy Ray said to me let's just take a trip to India to remind you how good we have it here. Yeah, I admit, we're spoiled here. Life is too good here in the great US of A and we don't fully appreciate it all the time.

But for the moment, as I'm writing this without the urgency of running to the toilet, I'm happy and thankful for the perspective. But I hope the next reminder won't be this dramatic. But if it is, I won't run away from it. I'll accept the misery and listen to the lesson she has to teach.

Crit Racing is our version of the Hurt Locker

You gotta love crit racing. It's a bit harrowing as it's happening. When you watch the video, you can hear the nervousness in people's voices/profanity and also sense the tension build as the finish line approaches. As a crit rider, you relish these moments. When you're in the zone, everything is in slow motion. You can see the gaps opening, your breathing is heavy but not labored, and you're cool under pressure. Then when you cross the line, hopefully in one piece, everything suddenly starts to speed up again. You get this rush and you have to yell to release that tension. It's a sigh of relief that you survived. Personally, I prefer to pound my chest like king kong. It's so much fun that I usually sign up for a 2nd race and take the risk again. Unfortunately, this weekend, the 2nd race didn't turn out so well. I crashed and had a flat. Despite whiplash and road rash, I can't wait to line up again next week.

PS. I thought I had the accident videod but my camera battery ran out. I was hoping to see who plowed into me.

Wente Criterium 4.25.10 from Steve Pelaez on Vimeo.

Back on the Saddle, Again

Easter came 2 weeks late for me, but now I'm certainly feeling alive again after 2 rounds of antibiotics and lots of rest. Interestingly, you know you're feeling normal simply b/c you enjoy riding the bike again. And you enjoy it most, when you're making yourself hurt. The enthusiam to suffer is back. Time to race again.

A Hellyer tradition in the making...

After being sick for over 2 weeks and not having ridden a track bike for over 6 months, I really didn't have any business being on the track for the 1st Get Ready for Summer race of 2010. But since it was a beautiful sunny day, Payton convinced me to go down to the race. It's quite comical, really, that my 5yr. old urged me to race. But I suppose, he was incented by alterior motives. You see, it's a tradition of ours to get a burritto lunch with Horchata (cinammon sugar rice milk) and cap it off with Mango ice cream. Of course, he wanted to go down to the track. He also gets to play around in the heat which is foreign to us San Franciscans. Plus I feel like he's buddies with many of the riders now too, who give him Clif Bar treats, etc. It really is a great time at Hellyer in Spring. It's a fun time to catch up with friends I haven't seen since last year. But most of all, it's quite precious to me to now have this father and son tradition.

Here's a video of the racing, filmed from my Nano mounted on the handlebar.

All at Once

The things that matter most in our lives are not materialistic or grand. They are moments when we are IN the moment, when we are present in the most attentive or caring way.