02/01/20: The longest ride of 2020 and the longest ride since surgery to remove a melanoma mole; on normal cranks.

Today was an even warmer day than the last two. However, since it was 10 AM and still only 50deg when I left the house, I wore a light under jersey and knee warmers. FOX@9:56: 51deg; calm. My legs were obviously tired after 2 strong rides in a row on PowerCranks (PCs). However, I did notice that my pedaling was much smoother. I went to try the usual 2-mile interval on Ave L between 70W and 90W. I saw a cyclist coming the other way – it turned out to be my ultra-cycling friend Eric “Red Rooster” Wilson. We stopped and chatted for 5-10 minutes. Close to where we stopped, there was a 5 or 6-year old riding his bike. His parents drove him to the bike path. His mom was walking on the path and his dad was leap-frogging in his truck. The little guy was having so much fun riding his bike. After Eric continued with his ride, I spoke with the boy’s mom briefly and she said he couldn’t sleep last night. He was too excited knowing that he was going to ride his bike on the bike path. I then rode up slowly to him. He said with a big smiley face: “Do you want to race?” I rode side-by-side with him for a bit. He was going as hard as he could. When I inched ahead he said, “no, you’re winning!” That was so cool seeing the little guy having so much fun!

Back to my ride. Riding west on L, I was already overdressed. I could’ve worn just shorts and a short sleeve jersey. I rode a steady pace to the Poppy Park to use the facilities. At the Poppy Park, there were about 12-15 local Adobo riders taking a break. Most of them were wearing Lackay team jerseys. We all left the PP together. They turned east toward Lancaster; I turned west. It was a beautiful, clear, blue-sky day. I kept a steady pace the entire ride. My legs were tired so my power was down. The first picture shown was taken as I was approaching 3 Points. The second picture was at the first summit after 3 Points looking back towards 3 Points. I really enjoyed the descents to Lake Hughes; riding down on the aerobars and on such a nice smooth road. East of Lake Hughes, I had a moderate headwind most of the way riding ESE on Elizabeth Lake Rd. The rest of the ride was uneventful. Today’s ride took a lot out of me. I felt very fatigued and tired when I got home. FOX@1:56: 69deg; E@5.

More About Me

The sections below provide a summary about me, my family, NASA career, bicycling history, and health history. The links on each section will send you to a more detailed page.

 

 

Me and My Family

I’ve been married to my beautiful and amazing wife Kristy for 37 years. I have 2 boys (Matthew, 35; and Jeff, 33 – neither of them ride ☹). I also have 2 grandsons, ages 7 and 5.

My NASA Career

I’ve worked at NASA Armstrong (formerly Dryden) Flight Research Center as an aerospace engineer and project manager since September 1976. I retired from civil service November 30, 2012 after over 36 years of service. I went back to work for a NASA contractor in July 2015 to be a Mission Manager for the two NASA’s ER-2 airplanes. My last full-time day was July 31, 2017. For one more year, I worked part-time, primarily from home, until I re-retired for good on Sept 30, 2018.

My Bicycling History

When I was a junior at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (SLO), I was co-oping at NASA Dryden at Edwards AFB. My first century was the 1980 Lighthouse Century. It was a week after I bought my first bike since high school - a Univega Gran Premio. I got to ride with the Cal Poly and San Luis Obispo cycling teams. It was an amazing ride and I've been hooked ever since. My first double century was the 1982 Tour of Two Forests (ToTF).

My Health History

During January, 2019, I was shockingly diagnosed with Stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL), a non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. I started chemotherapy treatments at the end of March. After three monthly treatments, a PET scan in June showed that I was clean. I went to the City of Hope to have a blood test called Minimum Residual Disease (MRD). That test came back negative confirming that I was in full remission.

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