Brown Family Adventures

My parents were Christians and good people in every way that I can remember.  They valued the important things in life.  My great-grandfather on Dad's side and one of his sons were Assembly of God preachers. My mother's family were Methodists and church-going people. While we attended church my brothers and I weren't raised with a focused education regarding a Christian belief system.   I was desirous to know about eternal things and did believe, but I didn't know who or what God was from a theological standpoint. Our family attended Methodist and non-denominational churches on a sporadic basis when I was growing up. My mother died when I was eight. This caused me to wonder about God, family relationships, what the truth was and where we went when we died.   My earliest recollection of God was from the front page of the church program at the Methodist church in Caldwell, Idaho.  It showed a picture of a Christlike figure without a body but a trail...

Tour de Park City Utah 173 mile Gran Fondo August 2011 A few months back Jesse mentioned that he was thinking about doing an event in Park City. I think he told me it was a 70 mile or so ride at higher altitude and it sounded like a fun place to get away from the Arizona heat. I didn't think about it much after that and went about business. A few weeks ago in an email, there was a description of the event and I thought about it more seriously. There were three distances, 50 miles, 100 and 170 as they advertised them. For some reason, the 170 seemed to appeal to me and within a day or two I was seriously considering it and a week later registered for it. I had not been training for anything like that distance but since I had done the 70.3 Ironman in Boise in June and was riding hard for short distances the previous 3 weeks or so I would go for it. I talked Betty and the kids into going as well with a trip through Vegas and a day at Lagoon. We had a two-day complimentary stay a...

I started riding about a year ago and set the goal to ride in this event at that time. It is a 72-mile route. I rode the route two times as training rides in recent weeks and had a good idea of what to expect. I did make a novice mistake in the actual race that I avoided in the Tour de Tucson which was a much longer 109-mile event. I did not get the proper hydration today and "bonked", lost my energy for the last 15 or so miles. That is when you have to revert to sheer willpower to keep your legs moving, especially when you are going uphill. I really knew what I could do it in as a rookie and this ride was sub-par as to what I think my abilities are. I was slower than my potential and still hit my goal almost square on at 3 hours 24 minutes. Average speed 21.1 mph. The winner finished in 2 hours 51 minutes. I rode well for the first 65 miles because I saw how many people passed me in the last 7 miles when I couldn't peddle after my legs cramped up along with my bonk. ...