Elicit Substance

When I first started Elicit Substance, it was supposed to be a news-trend blog. I found out very quickly that writing about dead actors and over-the-hill athletes is more boring than sitting in a cubicle and playing with spreadsheets. At least there's an end product with spreadsheets. Addicted celebrities never stop cluttering the news channels with their childish/sadistic/aggressive behavior.

So this year, I'm taking this blog in a new direction. I have signed up for a 100 mile bike ride called the Hotter n' Hell 100. I waited up until Midnight to do this. Last year, this would have not been a problem. This year, I get up at 4:00 AM to open a gym and nowadays, Midnight is a problem.

Funny thing is, after I signed up, I was so excited, I couldn't sleep. My mind was racing faster than I'll ever be on a bike with thoughts about preparation, the bike set-up, training, nutrition and optimal hydration.

For those who don't know me, I've trained for triathlons over the past 4 years but a nasty hip injury left me in serious pain for about 1.5 years. I'm very happy to be training again but I'm still apprehensive about re-injury.
I'll be turning 50 years old this May so I don't bounce back like I used to - or maybe I never did and just never had an injury serious enough to realize it.

The Hotter n Hell is definitely an A list event this year. I live in Massachusetts and will be visiting my family in the Wichita Falls area so I'll be training hard so I can spend quality time with them instead of having them visit me in some hospital with an IV stuck in my arm.

So I say farewell to 2010 and the Brett Favre posts and the Lindsay Lush posts and I welcome 2011 with more bike rides, flat tires, bicycle road rage, road rash, and a protein shake or two.