Pressing down on orbiting pedals, lifting weight with linear sight, I work...More than just my body!  To fulfill my personal expectations of myself I must look hard, far beyond my shell of perception, and deep into my own shadow; the parts of my being I know to be weak and powerless; full of fear, doubt and ignorance.  This personal taboo shows its self disguised by way of anger, frustration and restlessness.  Recently though, my self exploration via; hard sweaty miles aboard our new KHS bicycle, and thousands of repetitions in a musty gym, I am merging slowly, consciously, with my faceless self on the wall.  I have shared before my belief in the power of self induced suffering.  The kind that provokes after thought.  Not in a sadomasochistic way, but rather a healthy "push your limits" kind of way.  This is again the way in which I began the month of November... From the seat of a bicycle and the grip of a barbell.  Last week I inevitably began to feel slight effects of an illness after spending Halloween night with my sick girlfriend.  Fortunately my body remained strong enough for our scheduled cycling event in Solvang California.  The Solvang Prelude was a preparation race for the upcoming Solvang Century race held in early 2007, and was sponsored in part by KHS Bicycles, the manufacturer who provides our bicycling equipment.  The small, authentic Dutch town of Solvang is a community located North West of Santa Barbara nestled down in the Santa Ynez mountain valley.  Among sprawling vineyards, beautifully fenced ranches with livestock and lush, ripe orchards the bike race wound.  We rode well, amidst the peleton of bicycles, slotting single file on single lane ranch roads (paved of course).  We finished at a respectable 2 1/2 hours, ending the tear between joy and pain (the contradiction of long distance cycling).  My body is still recovering from the ride, and to my surprise has yielded off the sick bug I was exposed to.  To assure complete recovery and immunity, my stretching, resting, eating and yes! Workout program are of utmost importance.  I look to share more frequently my thoughts and process of my life with spinal cord injury.  Here's to hopes of sanctity.

An afternoon in the garage...  Generally when one thinks of a garage, they think; Car, clutter, tools, boxes and bikes.  Well, my garage does yield all of the mentioned, minus the car, but with the addition of some very specific exercise equipment.  I have always used the garage in my previous homes as a place of function, a room filled with organized utilities and modalities for fun, health and work.  As a motocross racer, the garage was my world, everything revolved around the equipment in that room, i.e.: "dirt bikes".  And even to this day I find myself happy to be working on or working out in my garage (see VIDEO section).  Today while in the midst of a workout routine I paused to answer a phone call from a very unfamiliar number.  My caller ID showed a digit pattern I'd never seen before - (+346675....) The location of the call turned out to be from Barcelona Spain and was dialed by a fellow motocross racer named Oscar.  Oscar mentioned he had suffered a spinal cord injury while riding and was introduced to my story by a mutual friend.  This is when I get excited and when I'm at my best!  Speaking with like-minded individuals who seek to overcome their adversity (any type of adversity) and who share openly their struggles, desires and achievements.  We spoke candidly about racing, training and the future of SCI recovery.  I look forward to meeting Oscar formally on his next visit to the U.S. and I'm eager to introduce him to Taylor Isaacs and the possibilities of furthering his recovery.  During our conversation Oscar spoke of a man named Heinz Kinigadner from Austria who's son "Hannes" sustained a high level spinal cord injury.  I recall the name from other conversations with friends in the action sports world.  But what was new to me, was the incredible Foundation and website resource Heinz has developed called- "Wings for Life".  I strongly believe in working together towards a goal, and by uncovering and sharing hopeful and useful resources like Wings for life, we can together fight the fight to overcome paralysis.  (see RESOURCES section).

...Not fast enough!  Awesome! Is the word I'll use to describe the exhilarating experience I had last weekend.  No, I didn't get to drive the land speed car named "North American Eagle", but I did meet the owner/driver "Ed Shadle",  and I did race along side the jet car, down the flat, dry lake bed in my Jeep only a mere 50 yards away while the super sonic car blasted past at over 300 mph.  For as long as I can remember I've always had the speed bug.  As a little boy, one of the very first books I ever read was about Gary Gabelich, driver of the "Blue Flame" land speed car.  Every time I was in a library as a boy, I would check out books and articles about super sonic cars and their drivers.  It must be the fierce, intimidating image of a land-locked missile, the mystic of super sonic speeds, and the heroism of the men that brave unpredictable outcomes that really interests me.  It's a highly unique and highly dangerous way to discover new limits in one's self, as an individual and as a team, and to thoroughly test Sir Isaac Newton's three Laws of physics.  I am seriously attracted to the moonscape surface of a dry lake bed, for what?  I'm not sure yet, but I bet it has something to do with traveling beyond boundaries across the earths surface, going really, really fast!  My blood gets pumping when I think about this sort of stuff.  Even while sitting here writing this journal I'm excited.  Anywho, when the dust settled and I returned home, it was back to reality and back to the bike.  I've been feeling pretty good lately, my training is consistent, appetite is good and my weight is right where I like it.  Maybe all my rehabilitation and bike riding is preparing me for some super sonic seat time some where in my future... I sure hope so ;)