I paused for a moment to reflect on 2006 and am amazed at what I found. A banner year for me. A lot of big accomplishments, announcements and milestones.

Here are just a few 2006 highlights:

• A third cyclist will be joining our family. My daughter. She’s due in April ’07 but learning that I am becoming a father made 2006 a very special year!
• I purchased a road bicycle, my Felt F-75, and hit the pavement logging over 1,000 miles.
• I successfully completed the Valero MS-150: a 150 mile bicycle ride from San Antonio to Corpus Christi, Texas and am still grinning about it.
• I enjoyed many wonderful rides with friends and family.

It’s been a banner year! I look forward to what 2007 holds and know it will be a year full of new experiences for me.

2007 here I come!

Just finished a big meal with my parents and my brother’s family here in Dallas, Texas. The weather is absolutely perfect! I should have brought my bicycle!

After eating a big meal here today and with yesterday being another bad day of eating…methinks the bicycle and I will have a date on Saturday and Sunday!!

Many blessings to you and your family!

We’re past the 10 mile marker and have a couple more hikes before we head home.

Our visit to Colorado has had its share of cycling moments and I’ll be posting some of those soon. Including capturing images of a cyclist on Trail Ridge Road (US Highway 34) the “highest paved road in North America.”

It was a hard picture to take since this sea-level dweller was breathing heavily just to walk around at that elevation!

A man can be an artist…in anything, food, whatever. It depends on how good he is at it. Marco’s art is speed. He’s about to paint his masterpiece.

That he did.

I joined Marco for what became another speed run of the 26 mile Helotes Loop. About 10 miles into the ride we discovered that we were beating our previous record breaking time.

As we turned right on Bandera road and participated in “hammer time” pedaling up the steepest hill on the route, Marco started smoking.

It was not that evident at first. But by the time I realized he was totally on fire, he was a good 1/4 to 1/2 mile ahead of me!

Marco broke his previous record with an amazing time of 1 hour, 32 minutes and 57 seconds. I tried desperately to catch up to him on Bandera road so I could draft, but my legs had lost most of their power making capability.

Despite this, I am proud to say that with Marco’s inspiration, I was able to roll back across the starting line with my own new record of 1 hour, 34 minutes and 42 seconds.

It’s amazing…how far ahead someone can be when they’re “just” under two minutes ahead of you in cycling! Wow!

A hearty congrats to Team Felt leader Marco!

This is a blog post about a great bicycle shop that, for my good fortune, is just a couple of miles down the street.

I’m talking about Bicycle Heaven. I dropped off my Felt F75 to get a quick tune-up and MS150 inspection. I also asked Matt and his team to check out my fit on the bike since I wanted to make sure it was damn near perfect in preparation for my upcoming Century.

As always, the folks at Bicycle Heaven were courteous and knowledgeable. They’re also consistent in delivering this great service to their customers and that says a lot about how they run the business.

But you don’t just have to take my word for it. Team Felt member Jennifer, who purchased her Felt F80 at the shop, has had nothing but good things to say about Bicycle Heaven as well. My parents are also happy customers, cruising the mean streets of Hollywood Park on their Electra Townies they purchased from the shop.

So…kudos to Matt, Branton, Colby and all the pros at Bicycle Heaven! Keep up the great work!!

On a whim, I sent in a small story about my experiences with the Garmin Edge 305HR and my cousin Joey’s use of his Garmin eTrex Legend for cycling.

Lo and behold…they chose my story!

Garmin posted the story on their blog and will be sending me a T-Shirt.

Too cool!

It’s official!

The Moore Family bicycle ride is back on after a brief hiatus. I joined wife Shannon, nephew Tanner (who named the route), brother-in-law David and father Jack on a fun bike ride.

We burned some calories, had some laughs and had some good, genuine fun.

Just as we turned the corner for the final stretch back to my father’s driveway, I challenged Tanner to a race. He put up such a good challenge that by the time I passed him, I’d picked up so much speed that I sped past the driveway. He pulled in and claimed victory.

Way to go Tanner!

Public Service Announcement : Consider starting your own family bike ride. It can be you and some friends, you and your spouse….your parents… the basic ingredient is getting those you care about outside and exercising. Have fun and ride safe!