Why I Ride....

Bicycle! Bicycle! Bicycle!
I want to ride my...
Bicycle! Bicycle! Bicycle!
I want to ride my bicycle!
I want to ride my bike!
I want to ride my bicycle!

Hello, my name is Sean Vincent and I started riding bikes at 2 years old, when I rode my tricycle down a flight a stairs, not just once, but twice. I guess I had so much fun I had to do it again! 

Since then the only thing consistent in my life has been my passion to ride. I’ve wrecked more bikes than I can count, and have broken every conceivable part on a bike! 

Whether it was when I was twelve years old and took my Murray...that’s right I said Murray down a 100 foot drainage ditch trying to jump the bottom 3 foot stream, let me tell you that ended in a disaster and a long walk home! But it seemed like a good idea at the time...



To when I was in college and rode 60 miles just to see a girl, that actually worked out pretty well....or that time I decided if i could ride a 100 miles in a day just on a dare!

Then came marriage, I always drove my wife nuts because all I wanted to do was ride!






Then came divorce and two broken frames later.... Both my Weyless frames broke, I don’t know if it was me riding harder or just riding more but at the end of the day the frames couldn’t be salvaged...All I wanted to do was ride....



One thing that has always been a constant is the friends I’ve met and ridden with over the years...There’s a group of us today that have been riding together for almost 15 years...

They've always been there whether it was for the Thursday night ride, to let’s go take our race bikes down the downhill course trips... We've always had two things our friendship and our passion to ride.


For some bikes are just transportation, for me a bike is a lifestyle.



Here’s a picture of me finishing my first Whiskey Row Ride in Prescott, notice everyone else has been done forever and has showered and changed, me I literally just got done riding the hardest event of my life, that course kicked my a$$ and still does to this day!



Here’s me a year later putting in one of my best times ever on this course, it's amazing what happens 
when you actually train for an event, versus just show up and ride! Look I even have a smile on my face!


Man Down! This was the first trip I took on my new Enduro Pro, my friends thought this was the perfect bike for me, something I couldn’t break. So what do we do, I don’t even have the bike for a week and we drive to Moab and Colorado for seven days of riding!






Now remember my friends thought this was bike I couldn’t break by the end of the trip I’d blown the rear shock and broke the derailleur hanger! But over the life of the bike it actually was pretty good for me!



Before I got remarried several years ago, my wife and I sat down and put everything on the table about what is important to us and rules we live by.... Mine were pretty simple. 

1. I procrastinate, deal with it....(usually cause I'm too busy riding or thinking about riding...)
2. I have a love of everything on two wheels!

I can tell you since I was a young adult I’ve never had less than three bikes in the house. About once a year my wife always ask, why do we have to keep them in the house? Because to me their part of who I am....I’m not leaving them outside or in a garage where they collect dust and rust.


I’ve been lucky, my wife while she doesn’t always understand my love and passion for riding, she’s always supported me. Whether its my crazy trips out of town with friends or my decisions to line up at the starting line and push my limits, I’m thankful for her support.


This past couple years has been great, I’ve gotten both my sons introduced to mountain biking and we are slowly getting them out on the trails...





Where would this story be complete but without friends, we’ve ridden together for years, we always had one rule when we went for a ride, don’t talk about work. I think it allowed us just to relax and get away... Here’s a few shots from our adventures...





Let's not forget with family and friends it always helps to give back, that's why I have supported IMBA for many years and just recently joined their Mountain Bike Patrol along with the City of Phoenix Park Stewards program. If you have some time you should definitely give back to the community because without these organizations we wouldn't have nearly as many trails to ride!

Now originally I thought I would write an essay on why it would be so awesome to participate in Foundry’s new bike program, but the more I wrote and looked at pictures, this isn't about the ride program, but more about the lifestyle. While I would LOVE to help test and ride new bikes, if I don’t get it, it doesn't change who I am or why I ride. 


I ride for those moments where everything is in harmony and I’m cruising down a trail a full speed and everything is flowing perfect. I attack and punish that hill that usually destroys me, I fly over that rock garden that has eaten me up more times that I can count, I flow through that tight corner I usually over-shoot, these are the moments I ride for....  




PS. If you get a chance check out Foundry Cycles, their a subsidiarity QBP or Quality Bike Products which distribute a ton of supplies to your local shops, and are doing some great thing for affordable bikes! http://foundrycycles.com/

The Roller Coaster of Life...

I look at the journey I'm on called life...

So many questions....

So many answers...

Yet the more I learn, the more I questions I have...

I looked back at my blog post dating back more than five years today...

I started this as an outlet...

But really its become a reflection of who I was and how I've grown...

If I were to leave this world today,

I am completely comfortable with who I am, what I believe, and what will happen to me...

I look back at these entries as the only outlet I had besides my bike...

When I couldn't ride or was too frustrated, I could always write...

Now I don't fancy myself a writer in any stretch, however I do love technology & what it has allowed me to do....

Would I have been able to actually write this in a journal...

No, that's just not my style...

So as I continue to grow and continue to learn, I think this is something I keep coming back to...

Why is that...

It causes me to stop and process...

When's the last time you stopped and smelled the roses?

Things To Make You Think...

This was sent to me today in an email and I think its perfect for the day!

Adult Truths

I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

Was learning cursive really necessary?

Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

Bad decisions make good stories.

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.

I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!

Time - In A Blink Of An Eye

Its funny, I look back at this blog I started so long ago and I see patterns....

Life is good and Life has challenges....

While the only constant in this mortal life is change.....It makes me stronger and challenges me...

So many times I find that we are just progress through this journey and never really stopping and smelling the roses.

I find I keep trying to slow down and enjoy the journey....

Along this journey, I've grown and become the man I am today....

I'm proud of who I am and for the things I believe in...

I am a Servant...
I am a Father...
I am a Husband...
I am a Brother...
I am a Friend...

I walk through this journey with my eyes open...

Remembrance

As I turned the calendar to September I started thinking about this day...

Where were you on September 11, 2001?

Do you remember what you were doing when you heard the news?

How did your life change on that day...

Very rarely in our lives can you point to one specific moment and be able to identify a time when things will never be the same...

For my generation this was that day...

Whether you agree or not, things in our world changed forever that day...

So many of the images of that day were captured so purely by a video artist in New York who took the song for the band Live called Overcome. The band was nice enough to give it songs use after the video went viral.

It took a little digging but this is an amazing video that brings a flood of emotions back even now.

Live Overcome 9/11 Tribute

For those of us that remember that day....

We Will Never Forget....

Perspective...

I was reflecting in a earlier post about the challenges I've faced so far this year. Its been an interesting couple of weeks since that post...

I'm done working for a company that I've given almost 10 years too and at the end of the day I look back and think, did I make a difference?

To be completely honest when I walked out that door for the last time I would have thought I would have a wide range of emotions and yet I simply felt one...

Relief

To anyone that has worked at this company, we've seen them struggle for some time. We've all attempted to do our part and help correct the issues, unfortunately the culture has morphed from a place of accountability to a place of blame...

In the past several years I've seen some of the brightest and most loyal people I've ever met either leave by choice or forced out...This of course is Corporate America and this happens all the time, but what was probably the most disturbing was not that the decsion was made, whether right or wrong, but simply how it was handled.

At the end of the day this was probably what hurt the most. The company always talked about being an,"Employer of Choice". Well if you want to be an," Employer of Choice" then no matter what the business decision, you should treat people accordingly and treat them with respect and diginity, yet all to many times over the past several years I have seent his not to be the case.

A true test of a company comes not from what they do in good times, but from how they react in the bad times and in my humble opinion the company has failed.

This of course is Corporate America and at the end of the day it doesn't really matter....

It's quite sad, but very true....

...but with this reflect.

To all those that have been my friend, Thank you.

To all those that have supported me, Thank you.

To all those that have argued, disagreed, and vehemently challenged me, Thank you.

10 years ago I was an eager kids running a 100 miles a minute running anyway I was pointed...

Now...I have direction

Now...I have purpose

Now...I know who I am

Now...I know who I'm not

Watch Out World, Here I come...

Life...

Its funny how life goes...

Talking to a friend the other day he made mention of coming across my blog and said I had posted anything in a while....

I was thinking...Hell its probably been two years...

Life been busy and its been a rough year...

• Family drama
• Child with a broken ankle
• Child with a blown appendix
  
• Wife diagnosed with a major life impacting disease
  
• The educational system (Do any of these people live in the real world?)
• The love of people who play dumb
• Great career move turned swan dive
• More family drama

What doesn't kill you is supposed to make you stronger, but this is getting a little extreme...

Its funny...Stress is something I typically thrive on...

It typically drives me to ride more...

But not this year...

I haven't nearly put the miles on the bike I usually do...

So I've set a goal...

A solo ride - in fact a 12 hour solo ride...

The hope...Chaos Controlled or better yet Chaos Managed

So here's to Chaos and the dance that goes with it....