Great Blogs on TrailCentral

The blog referral system has been operating for a couple weeks on TrailCentral. I gotta say, I don't know if anyone else is enjoying them, but I sure have enjoyed reading the posts by bloggers and visitors of TrailCentral.com. It has given me a chance to get to know a few of the sites frequent visitors.

I encourage you, if you have a blog, to please add it to the TrailCentral Blog directory. I sure will enjoy reading them!

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Five blogs currently on TrailCentral.com:

Redstone Underground
Author: Redstone
Multi-authored blog that has great info for bikers interested in Lyons, CO.
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Stories From The Front Range
Author: Joel White
Stories and tales of my various biking/hiking/skiing/etc activities.
Visit Blog

bIKE cLUB
Author: Beer Drinking Robot
Misadventures of a score of bike/ski addicts in Boulder/Ned
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Slip Angle
Author: Chris
Life is short, get out and do anything with it. Be creative, push your limits and take risks because otherwise, what's the point? This blog is about what I'm doing with the time I have and covers pretty much any topic imaginable. Don't be "meh!"
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Racing Green
Author: dmc
This year I'm focusing my cycling goal on raising awareness about Global Warming, so I'm writing about Riding, Global Warming, work and family.
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What's next???
I've done some more work and I will be allowing visitors to add their own trails (Anywhere in the US) to the Trails Directory on TrailCentral. More details soon to follow!

Walking For My Dad In Cheyenne

Friday evening I called my mother. She had extended an invitation to attend the MS Walk in Cheyenne at least a month earlier to show support for my father who has been living with MS for years.

It is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life and while talking to my mother I had a least a hundred reasons in my head as to why I couldn't come; I'm renovating my bathroom, the yard needs a lot of work, 9:30 am is really early and Cheyenne is really far away, etc, etc...

I finished the conversation with my mother with the understanding that I most likely wouldn't be attending. However, if by the off chance I'm awake and motivated to travel, I'll give her a call and let her know to expect me.

I handed the phone off to my wife who then talked to my mother for another hour. I had pretty much made up my mind that I was going to sleep in the following morning.

When she was done with her conversation we sat down to chat about the day. She mentioned that my mother told her that my father was really starting to show obvious signs of MS.

My father has had MS for years. It started with a numb feeling in the tips of his fingers and it has slowly started to take over his body. I saw him several weeks ago, the first time in quite a while and noticed that his walking was a bit labored.

My mother told my wife about a recent episode at work, when he lost feeling in his legs and was unable to stand for about a half hour. When my wife told me that it hit home pretty hard. He really does have a disease...

I always thought of my dad as a strong man and I started thinking about how this disease is slowly starting to strip every bit of that strength away from him.

I started thinking that maybe I could do a local walk in his honor, a walk that is closer to home, still being a bit selfish in my thinking. That didn't seem right.

Before going to bed I went into my sons room to check on him. At that moment I totally knew what I had to do. If I were in my fathers condition, I would hope that my son would be willing to come walk with me for a short mile.

The next morning I woke up bright and early, packed up my son and headed to Wyoming.

Once there I quickly registered and found my dad and the other family members that were able to attend. We started the walk around the park, which was approximately a mile in length. My dad started out strong, needing little help from his cane, by the end of the walk he really starting to rely it. He finished and he did a great job! I couldn't have been more proud and I couldn't have been happier that I came to the walk in support of him.

Admittedly, this walk made me see my father in a different way. Not a bad way, but different. It made me realize that MS is more than just a diagnosis. It is a disease.

Today, as I write this, the hustle and bustle of life is really insignificant compared to the life altering disease that my father has. A disease that I plan to learn more about so I can continue to support my father even when we aren't walking.

No Golden Ticket Here...

I forgot that I haven't given an update about the techstars application. The short of it is that the answer was pretty much what I expected... "NO!"

OK, they didn't use an exclamation mark. They were in fact very polite with the rejection letter. You know what? It is probably for the best. If I had been selected I would have had to change my blog summary from:

Random thoughts and observations by the creator, owner, and webmaster of TrailCentral.com. A website that makes no money and is all about mountain biking in Colorado. So what is this blog about? It's not about the bike... OK, most the time it is, but sometimes it will be about random stuff I think about or am working on...

to

Random thoughts and observations by the creator, owner, and webmaster of TrailCentral.com. A Colorado mountain biking website that had a bunch of money given to it and now has to prove its worth. So what is this blog about? It's not about the bike... OK, most the time it is, but sometimes it will be about random stuff I think about or am working on...

Which would have been a huge pain in my ass anyways... So it is just as well I didn't get selected. It actually saved me some site maintenance. ;)

In all seriousness, it would have been a great opportunity and I hope those that did get selected take every bit of advantage that the mentors and the network offers.

13th State Added to GPS Maps Directory

Pennsylvania is in the house! Blackjack Trail was recently added by Private Jackson. This is currently the only trail listed in the state, but that is all that is need for Pennsylvania to be the 13th state represented on TrailCentral.com!

13 down.... 37 to go!

States Represented on TrailCentral.com:
Arizona
California
Colorado
Florida
Maryland
Montana
Nebraska
New Mexico
Pennsylvania
Utah
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia

What good is having a tree if it doesn't offer shade...

This past week the neighborhood sidewalks have been worked on by teams of workers. Teams ripping out old sidewalk and making new sidewalk. Our sidewalk isn't the only one being replaced. It appears the winter has been hard on a lot of the neighborhood sidewalks and I'd guess that about 10% of the neighborhood sidewalks are being replaced. That means that a lot of houses have teams of workers in front of their house.

Interestingly, at lunch time, the teams come to our front yard to eat. I know some of my neighbors and I know they would throw their nose in the air and ask why those dirty workers were eating in their front yard. However, I have a different outlook. I'm of the thinking that a tree that is only looked at is a lonely tree.

We have a great big tree in our front yard, surrounded by red mulch, and trimmed with sandstone. It looks great! Maybe it is the rock trim that offers them a nice place to sit. Maybe it is the large tree that offers them some shade from the sun. Maybe the hours of work I've put into the yard has made it look nicer and more inviting.

I'm not sure what the motivation is for them, but I'm proud that they have chosen my front yard to hang out in. For some reason my front yard is comfortable. And making others feel comfortable, whether inside or out, is what makes a great home.