Meta-Morphosis Part 6: ..and then came Cycling

In my element...riding in my home, Hawaii. Can't wait to get back there again.

Typical 'Alex-face' as Emily says....just I usually have a jersey on?

As a runner, it's common to fight boredom by doing things to pass the time between workouts; for example: stuff face with fruit, walk to beach, eat MORE fruit, make a salad, blend a smoothie [with yet, even MORE fruit], etc. Ya know, standard stuff really. But along came my first attempt to clip-into my bike and it was met with frustration and embarassment. I was clipped in on my cannondale bike when, at a stop light, I fell over [couldn't clip out] in front of the Japanese tour bus, the Oli Oli. Of course, I was embarassed and it didn't help they [tourists] all snapped photos of the doof that just crashed. Yea, safe to say I HATED my bike for the longest time due to emotional - and physical! - scarring! I literally had to eat dinner seated in a bike, clipping in and clipping out HUNDREDS of times, to get used to the damn thing! But when I did...whoa nelly, it was L-O-V-E it was love it was love it was LOVE [that's a song lyric btw].

My first 'LONG' ride [heh..save the joke] was 35 miles and man I was exhausted. I took no water bottles and just pounded myself. No bueno. And that's when I met my good friend Mikey Z. He has his own website but it's not on blogspot cuz that's for 'normies' I guess! ;-) Anyways, he took me out cycling the day I got back from my first marathon and bam he made me work. And how. After that, we started training together on some days and then it became the usual...5:30pm, fountains at Kapiolani Park, down to pound, bring your lunch. Rides varied in nature but here's a hint as to the intensity: there are no warm-ups, no 'idle period'. I think he realized how much I loved cycling and my new S-Works rig [at the time] and decided to let this punk 24 year old kid [we matured by 1 year] tag along. When we would have a 'lower wattage than usual' hill climb up Diamond Head, our typical conversations were like this:

Mike: So monkey boy...did you go running already?

Alex: Yep, put in a solid 6 miles in the AM before work.

Mike: [one of two responses here] Response 1: You just don't listen do you? Response 2: Damnit, give up that running shit once and for all.

Safe to say he's been telling me the same damn thing for months and months to this date. Anyways, he, along with some other very close friends [Kevin...Mike H and Mike A] pretty much taught me how to a) not fall off a bike and b) how to suffer. All of these guys can flat out POUND on a bike and it was humbling and exciting for me to ride with them...errr....near them I guess. Tehse people mean a lot to me and honestly, I feel blessed to have found the bike now. I feel like when I'm climbing and the bike is rocking underneath me, it's my heaven. That or when I'm ontop of Madeline on the aerobars hauling ass. That's my bliss. That's what makes me the happiest and that's what I feel like I was made to do. Get on my bike and haul okole. For me, that's cycling [and running]. For you, that might be art or building models. Whatever it is, I implore you to seek it, grab it and get obsessive about it. Because really, when we are passionate about something, we are in our element and that's when our truest representation shows. As Emily constantly points out, that's when my mouth is open and I look like I'm constipated [when I'm really suffering on the bike].

Consequently, my running took a nosedive and slowly but surely, my clean-shaven-legged cycling buddies started to incorporate me more and more [heh..I wasn't getting dropped as much probably!] when the inevitable happened. In January 2010, I took up cycling 'full-time' and committed myself to that. So for the past 6 months I've been racing my bike with some success. Quite frankly, there would be MUCH MUCH MORE successes had I not mechanicled out of like 5 races but well, that's bike racing. Meh...helps to switch to DuraAce :-) No more dropping chains like third period french!

And thus, Alex the cyclist evolved. My first glimpse at 'uber-coolness' was in the form of Damiano Cunego. An ex cross-country star, from italy, with a faux-hawk. From then on, I was possessed to be like him..sans his love for hello kitty [that's just weird]. I started following the ProTour, I am now OCD about cyclingnews.com and even doled out the $$ for the race bikes. And to really top it all off, I got the faux-hawk which has been greeted warmly. And wouldn't you know it...that's me now. We've come full turn and now we're at present day. But wait!!! Isn't there a part 7? Yes, that will come in due time. That too will be a very emotional post from me. So stay tuned for that one...promise it will be a good one. In the meantime though, go ahead and find out what it is your passionate about and get back to me ;-)