Glad I'm Not There

I've been officially out of the Marine Corps for 3 years (4 years from end of active service). Every time I see a video clip of the fighting going on in Iraq it makes me so very thankful to be out of the service. I couldn't imagine the stress of being in a combat zone. Being in a combat situation (real or exercise) is similar to being in jail. You're told what to do and when to do it. There's hardly any free time, and there's no excuses of why you can't get something done. It's tough, both mentally and physically.


Army Live Footage From Iraq - Watch more free videos
Watching this video really makes me glad I was lucky enough to dodge the "activation" bullet. The whole time during the troop build-up for Operation Iraqi Freedom I was in a state of purgatory. I had no clue if I was going or not. Every time my phone rang I thought it my be my unit telling me to "pack my trash and report for duty".
The worst part was not knowing what's going to happen. Being unable to plan your future leaves you feeling anxious and scared. Luckily I never received the call to active duty. I was able to get out about six months later when they ended "Stop-Loss". I was even luckier to get completely discharged, honorably, about a year later, which removed my name completely from any lists for possible call-up.
My unit ended up being called-up for deployment three months after I was out of the Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR).
I'm not sure if my unit suffered any causalities. All I know is my close friends made it home safely, but not before having there whole view of life and the World changed drastically.
So when I see videos like the one above I am thankful. Thankful to be home, and thankful to be able to do what I want when I want. This mindset helps me get out the door on hard training days. Whenever I'm feeling lazy or in a funk I think to myself how I could be in some foreign country acting as a bullet sponge for our Politicians, with no idea when I will be able to come home or if I will ever make it home. This usually gets my ass out the door and on my bike.

Those Crazy Japanese

This is the craziest movie trailer I have ever seen. It's so over the top I'm not even sure it's not a joke. Check it out for your self.

Rock Star does it again

The new GTA4 trailer is out and it looks like it's going to be an awesome game. Hopefully it will be better the last one.
The graphics look amazing, or at least the cut scenes look amazing.




I wonder how many times it will be pushed back.

A cold day of riding

I had a really good weekend of riding. Saturday started off really cold (High 30's is considered really cold to a Californian native). I made sure to put on a lot of layers, including a full face mask, and I finally got to use my thermal vest.
I met up with the P1/2 team and rode with them around the Polhemus loop. The ride was at a "social pace". People still went for the town-sign sprints, but for the most part the pace was pretty moderate. I made sure to sit in as much as possible and shoot the shit with as many people as possible.
Once we got back to Woodside we split up. Most of us headed up Kings Mtn., bypassing Huddart park :( . I kept a steady zone 4 pace for most of the climb. I was the first to the top, but I'm sure if anyone else could have caught me easily if they wanted.
From there we took 32 to 84E. I was suffering on 32. My legs were starting to fatigue, but not to the point where I would have been dropped.
On Sandhill Rd. I was almost dropped. I was taking a pull and started to fatigue. Everyone passed me pretty quickly on the downhill and my legs didn't have much "pop" left to jump on the train. Lucky for they hit a red light.
The rest of the way home I maintained a zone 2 effort. My legs were just about done at the 3:45hr mark. I'm sure if I had done a better job of fueling during the ride my legs would have felt better. Fueling is something I really need to work on.
By the end of the day I ridden for 4:15hrs and 80 miles. Not bad for a quiet Saturday.