new beginning/taking advice from the onion

ROCHESTER, MN—In an effort to help working individuals improve their fitness and well-being, experts at the Mayo Clinic issued a new set of health guidelines Thursday recommending that Americans stand up at their desk, leave their office, and never return. “Many Americans spend a minimum of eight hours per day sitting in an office, but we observed significant physical and mental health benefits in subjects after just one instance of standing up, walking out the door, and never coming back to their place of work again,” said researcher Claudine Sparks, who explained that those who implemented the practice in their lives reported an improvement in mood and reduced stress that lasted for the remainder of the day, and which appeared to persist even into subsequent weeks. “We encourage Americans to experiment with stretching their legs by strolling across their office and leaving all their responsibilities behind forever just one time to see how much better they feel. People tend to become more productive, motivated, and happy almost immediately. We found that you can also really get the blood flowing by pairing this activity with hurling your staff ID across the parking lot.” Sparks added that Americans could maximize positive effects by using their lunch break to walk until nothing looks familiar anymore and your old life is a distant memory.

-Verbatim from the Onion (original article can be found here)

Tonight is my last full night at the Mayo Clinic.  I've fallen off on blogging recently as things have just gotten out of control time wise but that does not diminish the importance this blog has had in my life, or at least the things for which it serves as a record.  When I started blogging I had just begun to ride.  I was looking for something and had no clue what it was.  Over the years cycling has already taken me so many places.

Here

and here

and no where

 I started repairing carbon fiber parts nearly 4 years ago now.  I've been lucky enough to be able to carve out enough of a niche doing so that I am feeling great about making the leap.

I certainly never expected to work in the bike industry.  Frankly, I still don't feel like I do, even if it has been paying a decent chunk of the bills for a while.  I always had an idea what the bike industry was like and if you've followed my blog for long you know I never really liked it.  Maybe I was always wrong.  There are certainly still things going on that I don't like to see on a very macro level, but on an individual level people are seriously awesome.  It's impossible not to be grateful for that.

There are a lot of things I hope to have more time to do and tons of things I hope to be able to give my wife more time to do.  And although 40 hours a week seems like a lot of time but I'm sure it will go fast.  Totally stoked about attending group rides, the local Tuesday night bar ride, Tuesday night races in the Twin Cities etc. etc..  I'll be getting to spend a lot more time with this little person too.  Tired of having to tell her I'm going to work.  She always responds with "Daddy works hard".