athletes and medicine

I can speak from experience when I say, as an athlete, I think we may be the hardest type of individuals to convince of the need to be on medications. We feel it is a sign of weakness, or of not being able to win in the fight to make ourselves better. We also typically tend to be very intune with our bodies and notice such things as side effects or differences in our bodies much moreso than the typical person. I learned this the hard way a number of years ago, but thank God have bounced back and my health improved thanks to the marvels of modern day medicine. I now find myself faced with another medicine taking decision dilemma. I've been on the fence rearding the outcome for quite a while but have said or typed little to nothing regarding the situation. It's funny, I no longer race at the competitive level I once did, and to be honest, I don't see the opportunity to race that way anytime soon for number of reasons. I also can only find the time to train on my own when time permits. Regardless, I still concern myself with the possibility that taking a new medicine may hinder my training performance, not racing results but fitness levels. I can honestly say I take pride in my personal quest to get in shape, and am proud of all the work I've done to get where I'm at in my 40s... It's a bit crazy but it's true and it's NOT an easy decision for me to make. We sometimes fall into a trap of defining who we are by how fast or how far we can go, and again, for some like me, not against others but against ones self. SOOOO, it's time for some deep personal reflection - maybe I should go for a run or ride to clear my head...

Hey YOU!!

A phrase taken from the opening song on Chickenfoot's new CD. Sammy where the FCU%$K have you been?! I seen them live this past week and all I can say is the band Hagar put together makes it clear why Sammy fronted the MIGHTY Van Halen, and why I have been a really big Hagar fan since first listening to the album Standing Hampton when it was a new album. The band was excellent. Totally dug the entire show. New CD is one of the first new releases I have kept in constant rotation since Velvet Revolver's debut. Satriani on guitar gives the songs a lot of opportunity to showcase some great tone and licks, and Chad Smith on drums has to be seen live to enjoy. It's like your watching Will Smith on drums manerisms and all. Sammy, welcome back dude!

"suddenly you wake up in a sickened panic"

Lyrics from a GREAT song by one of my favorite bands - REM... I woke up about an hour ago in a "sickened panic". I have to go back to work tomorrow (after a wonderful week off), and the number of things I have to do started running thru my mind.I'm completely overwhelmed, and have no idea how I'm going to get thru this. Needless to say I'm up in the middle of the night stressed out. THAT SUCKS! Right now I don't see how I'm going to be able to jump on the stuff that needs to be addressed, and then there is all the emails and "stuff" that I will be hit with because I was out last week. No wonder I have been short tempered, and frustrated for the last 2 days. In the back of my mind I knew this was coming, and of course the flood gates of being overwhelmed had to let loose at 2 in the flippin morning :( NOT good. The bad thing is I'm not the only one here who is going back to work with concerns and that REALLY SUCKS! Yes I'm greatful to have a job, but the stresses it causes REALLY makes me wish I could walk away and do something else. JEEZ I wish it were that easy. So here I sit with another edition of work related insomnia. What to do? :(

1000

I had made a goal in the beginning of the year to get 1000 miles on the bike this summer. This past week for all practical purposes was the end of my summer as far as vacation time and evening fee time is concerned. coaching football will now take up a majority of my evenings, so after work rides will be pretty much out of the question. No complaints just a fact... So this morning with about 950 miles in my legs I set out to reach my goal. Windy and temps supposed to be about 97 which is probably the hottest day of the year. Mission accomplished :) I decided to put together the hilliest route I could to make it worth while and as epic as I could - something about that last big one had to be special. In one resoect I'm bummed that summer went by so quickly, but on the other hand I did ride (and run) myself into some pretty decent shape. For those of you that race, 1000 miles is not that big of a deal, and as a matter of fact it is recommended that you get that many miles in the small ring before hammering thru summer(old school training). For me it was indeed a big deal, and that magic number seems to be the point where I feel the snap back in the legs. I'm feelin pretty good today, thanks to 2 wheels and plent of open road.
Allez....

just pulled off a great family getaway

I never spent a vacation with my entire extended family, and this past week we did just that. With 3 different families it could have gone either way. The way it went was in the direction of wonderful. Precursor -I don't talk about it much, instead it unfortunately "ate away" at me for the better part of the summer, but my mom has been sick and I was terribly worried about her health. Thank God her and my dad, my brother and his wife and kids and my circus all got together in a summer home in Michigan for a brief trip. It was great, I have zero complaints. I probably had one too many burgers, and steaks, but "when in rome"... I hope everyone had enjoyed the time together as much as I did, and it really seems like that was indeed the case. I think I mastered the art of golf cart driving as well. I was going to bring the bike to get some miles in but decided it wasn't necessary, and landed up getting a good 7 mile run in with my brother instead. His marathon training is really paying off, and it shows in the quality of his workouts. It's too bad he can't touch me on the hills ;) The only bummer was I brought my scope up there (after I cleaned off the dust from it laying dormant for far too long) but the full moon washed out what could have been some nice dark skies. Not a big deal, and if anything reminded me that my interest in Astronomy has been neglected for too long. I think it's time to rekindle the interst and reaquaint the boys to a fun hobby. I'm really greatful that we were all together for this trip. It was tricky to plan, and all things considered, THANK GOD we were able to pull it off and have it turn out so nice. To all my regular long time readers, be sure to call your moms, dads, brothers and sisters and tell them you love them today. The todays go by quickly...

going out with a bang

well not necessarily a "BANG", but this week is my final full week of vacation. It is also the first week of football, which means I will be on the field coaching almost every night of the week. I had a goal to get in 1000 miles on the bike this summer, and going into this week I was at about 750. I took advantage of my time off by getting in some good rides. It's been great being able to get a good 50 miler in almost every day :) I even turned yesterday into a big workout day by running a 10 miler with my long time personal manager AFTER getting a hilly route in on the bike. EPIC! All my laundry this week has been workout clothes LOL. Feelin good....
I also finished the chocolate strat, and I have to say it came out GREAT. I'm extremely pleased with my work. I can honestly say that my trial and error thru the years has finally got me to the point of really knowing how to not only finish a guitar body quite nicely, but equally important is the fact I have honed my skills at the all important art of guitar setup and adjustment.


So last night I had the THRILL of playing with "the boy", it was EXCELLENT. He reaffirmed the fact he can really play well, and he makes everything look way easier than it is. When we found a song I could play along to, (Aerosmiths Mama Kin) it sounded great. I am thrilled that we did that. It sounded really good, and I've been really hoping this would happen. Hopefully it's just the beginning of the dual guitar attack of "Ray squared".
So a lot of cool things have been going on this week, and the timing of it all is pretty good. Forget about tomorrow, go for it today...

Truss rod adjustments

So many of my regular readers (LOL) who play guitar have asked how to adjust the relief on a guitar neck. Since I am at that stage in my current guitar building project I thought it would be a good idea to provide some instruction...

Checking Relief

Check your necks relief- Here is a simply way to check the relief in the neck if one doesn't have a straightedge handy... the instrument strung to pitch fret a string on the 1st fret and where the neck meets the body.

Checking Relief
By fretting a string on 2 points we can then use the fretted string as a type of straightedge and get a visual as to how much relief is in the neck.

Measuring the gap between top of fret and bottom of string gives us an indication of how much relief is in the neck.

Now observe the space between the fretted string and the point of greatest relief...usually the 6th or 7th fret depending on the length of the neck. This gap can be measured with a feeler gauge if need be (you can place a capo on the first fret to free up one hand). If there is no gap, this is an indication that the neck is either dead flat or in a backward bow.
If the gap is substantial the truss rod may need to be tightened to reduce excess relief.

Determining the ideal relief The ideal relief for your instruments neck will depend on string gauge, playing style and the instrument itself. Light pickers, jazz musicians and the like may find .004/.006 gives the neck a very fast feel. The necks stiffness and willingness to flex can sometimes interfere with our desires though.
Those who have a moderate to heavy strum, like flappy extra light gauge strings, have a rounder f/b radius etc. may come to realize more relief (say .008-.012) may be necessary so that the strings can avoid buzzing.