Introduction

I'm a new member of the team having joined just this morning. I mentioned to Evan that I had seen the 53x11 kit at races and thought it looked pretty sharp, putting it in the back of my mind as a future purchase. I was surfing the web aimlessly when I ran across a link to 53x11 coffee. Checked it out, contacted Evan and was signed up in short order. Great to be associated with such a good group of like-minded people who value corporate and individual responsibility, qualities seemingly in short supply these days. Even better to be associated with fit men and women who like to tear ass around the countryside on bikes. That's a concept I can get behind.

A little bit about me, I am starting my 21^st year as a triathlete having switched my emphasis to longer stuff over the last couple of years. I just finished my 5^th and 6^th Ironman distance races this year. I have already registered for 3 for 2010; Idaho, Wisconsin and a non-sanctioned fantastic race, the Great Floridian (hilly if you can imagine). My training partner Katie and I, she being 46, me entering my 55^th year this January, emphasize swimming and biking over running since both sports are considerably less stressful on the body. This year to date, we have over 4k miles biking, 800 running and somewhere over 300k yards swimming.

I love cycling above all else. I am a bit of a Ludite when it comes to new technology – I will embrace the newest and coolest bike gear – give me carbon fiber any day, but trend away from GPS and power monitors. I know I would be a much better athlete if I went that route, but part of my love of human powered sport is getting away from the plugged-in world. This is especially important to me because I am an IT geek and have my fill of technology every day at work and evenings and weekends.....give me fresh air and an open road to make me happy. I live in Northern Illinois, 25 miles south of the Wisconsin border and was able to see hundreds of sandhill cranes flying south for the winter yesterday. I might have missed them had my nose been buried in power meter readouts as I rode along. Normative power or sandhill cranes – the answer is simple for me. But hey, this is a big tent and lots of room to fly your freak flag whatever it may be.

Glad to be here.

-Pete M