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Stories of Triumph, World Transplant Games 2019 episode 08 - Day 3 Cycling, sometimes starting is finishing "Der Reifen ist geplatzt" is the first sentence I learned in German a long time ago. It means "the tire has burst" and while my bicycle tire didn't burst "Der Reifen ist platt" -- the tire is flat -- is how my day started. After leaving yesterday's time trial competition with a bruised hip and mechanical mishap, I woke up early and the first thing I noticed was that my back tire was flat. With little time to process another flat tire in three days, I walked my bike to the pickup point for the start of the World Transplant Games bicycle race knowing that the mechanics who had worked on my bike the day before would be able to help me fix it. When I had my first flat, I pumped some sealant into my tubular tires, agitated the wheel, put air into the tire and voila it worked. The second time was not a charm. The mechanics put sealant into the tire which looks like white moose for someone's hair.  They inflated the tire and then I quickly took some practice laps on the course. When I came back, the tire once again went flat. It's hard to come half way across the world with a bike and have access to extra wheels. At this point, I had to look after my bruised hip so I went to the next flap in the tent to the physical therapists, which were two women from London who had volunteered to serve and pay their own way to serve at the Games. They iced me and gave me a leg massage. When I excited the tent, the mechanic offered to take me to the nearby city of Sunderland to a bike shop with better equipment to quickly and effectively help me. He said it was 10 minutes away. It was 12 noon. After 10 minutes of driving it was clear that it would be a 20-minute ride, 22-minute to be exact. Granted, I did get to see the Stadium of Light

Stadium of Light Sunderland   but my bike needed repair for a bike race starting in 40 minutes. When we arrived at the bike shop, the mechanic, like the mechanic three days prior felt obligated to lambaste me for having tubular tires. "In this country, we don't use ... " After signaling his annoyance that he didn't like to look at tires like mine, he went to a shelf to look at his various sealants. After taking some time to consider which sealant would be best -- murmuring under his breath "this one is better ... oh no, but for this tire, I think this one will do the trick" he returned to begin his operation on my tired tire. 27 minutes to go. When he opened the package with valve he realized the sealant he opened was meant for a mountain bike. "Oh right, I needed the other one." 26 minutes. At this point, I handed him the sealant out of my back pocket and said, "Here, use this one. I'll take responsibility for it." The white mouse color sprayed out of the tire. "I hate this product." So much for a friendly mechanic. He had the man who brought me to the store pump up the tire and we left. While we driving back, I was calculating my arrival (12.55) but with traffic I had to keep moving back my arrival time which turned out to be 12.57. I jumped out the car and ran to put on my helmet and shoes while the mechanic put my tire on. As I whisked it away, the chain got stuck ... again and the mechanic rushed over to get the chain back on. I arrived at the start line in time to see that the previous race had one lap to go. I made it. Once the previous race ended, I quickly set my goals. Stay with the first group. I didn't notice that I had no warmup time but I figured I could stay with the leading group. 1 minute to go. I reached down to touch my bike tire. It was soft. 3-2-1. I got in my pedals quickly and made it into the first group before the left turn descended and then I felt the softness of my back tire. It felt mushy while I was suddenly going 30k. Still I kept up till the first small punchy climb but during the climb it was obvious that the low tire pressure affected my climbing. I felt 10 pounds heavier. Change of plans: "complete one lap before my tire went totally flat." When I made it to the end of the first lap, I stopped briefly to check the tire pressure. It was lower but it was still rideable. New goal: "Finish three laps." After three laps, I repeated stopping, checking for air pressure, and continuing. New goal: "What is a number of laps I would like to finish that is meaningful? Nine I told myself. It was half of 18, my favorite number. At lap 6, my American teammate yelled out to ask about how many gears I had. "11" I shouted. At the end of my 7th lap, my friend Tim Hartman from Holland help up his long arm with a tire. He and his Dutch friends stopped me and proceeded to put a new tire on my back wheel. I immediately noticed a difference going downhill but uphill the shifting creaked across the teeth. Still, I was at least "rolling" and so at the end of every lap, I decided to stand while climbing the final straightaway toward the finish line as a way of thanking my Dutch friends and my American teammate. I was also appreciative of an Irishman, American supporters, who cheered each passing lap. They had supported me while I rode on a flat tire and now that I could dig a little more, I was going to show my appreciation. Toward the final two laps, I developed some rhythm. During my ride, I thought about my donors, my parents, my preparation, what I could do better for 2020 and 2021, and the 11 months that had led up to this day. I felt decent. Yes, I was disappointed, but not angry because I just felt that I had some bad luck. As the race finished, I returned the tire to Tim, then found the winners of my age group, and got a picture with Gavin, one of my fellow competitors (see below), then climbed back in the bus for the 30-minute ride back to Newcastle.

Stories of Triumph, World Transplant Games 2019 episode 07 - Day 2 Cycling, small falls, big bumps .For 11 months, I knew today was coming and I prepared for year to be here. But as the famous quote goes "Man plans and God laughs."   The day began magically. I arrived to the start line the cycling time trial competition, checked in, and headed out to the course one hour before the event. A swirl of colors on top of people's rotating legs were cycling around the bicycle course. 30-40 countries were represented on the cycling course that started on the Newcastle side traversed a draw bridge to the Gateshead side, rode next to the Sage (see below), next to the River Tyne, then back across with the Millennium Bridge (see below) and the Tyne Bridge in the background (see below)   Once the course was closed to begin the competition and I found my spot between the French, Italians, and the Canadians.  After some friend chat and with an hour before my start time (11.50) I found the mechanic's who were part of the event organizers (MLS) service. They put a bit of oil on my chain which was a bit dry and better aligned my back wheel. I had put my bike together upon my arrival but the rear derailleur was off by a few millimeters. After a few minutes, I was back on my back and I found a nice track to warm up my legs. Coming from Arizona my legs have always felt tight in the cooler temperatures of the north but they were getting warmer as I felt a mist of water blow off the Tyne River. It felt like rain for a few seconds, then it dissipated. Fleetingly, I wondered about how the water could interact with the oils on the ground and how together they can develop a thin layer of slickness on top of the street. It didn't bother me as I kicked up my speed from 28-34 kilometers per hour. I felt good with this speed as a warmup. When I came to the end of a street there was a turnaround in front of a food truck. I slowed down to turn and while going under 5 kilometers per hour, my tires gave out and I fell on my right hip. The workers shouted asking if I were alright and except for the sensation of the impact, I got on my bike after putting the chain on, and continued. While riding back, I thought for a second about going back to the mechanics but the bike seemed fine though the shifting seemed a tad off, but not enough to affect me while I rode hard around the course. I thought. I also didn't know if I had enough time and I didn't want to interrupt my rhythm.   I was right. By the time, I got back to the starting line, it was my turn to line up with about 6 minutes to spare. I shedded a couple of extra layers that were keeping my muscles warm and seemingly in an instant I was off. I had visualized my race early in the morning and for the first two kilometers, I felt strong while I strategically took the corners to maximize my speed. I navigated Turn 1 successfully, then picked up my speed. When I crossed the road

Stories of Triumph, World Transplant Games 2019 episode 05 - What is like to hang out with a transplant athlete world champion? It's been a few days since I recorded a podcast because I was traveling across England (Oxford and Cambridge) prior to the start of the 2019 World Transplant Games in the United Kingdom. In Cambridge, I had the opportunity to spend time with one of the greatest athletes the World Transplant Games has ever seen. Called the "Michael Phelps" of World Transplant Swimming, Liam Barnett has won 7 swimming medals in three consecutive world championships (2013 South Africa, 2015 Argentina, and 2017 Spain). Spending time with a world champion gave me insight into habits that produce this level of success. The overriding perspective I can share is that being a world champion takes daily dedication in terms of training, nutrition, diet, stretching, sleep and a magic ingredient that some may call "zest." Zest isn't an ever-present effervescent happiness necessarily, but it is a daily love for one's activities. I've seen it before in other athletes' eyes and there are usually three qualities visible. First, there is a focus that always seems to have a gaze in the distance (the next improvement to make, the next training session, the next competition). Second, there is a lightness which seems counterintuitive. But athletes who train regularly seem to have a calm that comes not only from regular exercise, but a deeper satisfaction knowing that they are doing something they love. Three, athletes seem to have a discontent. Maybe they could have put in another lab, another five minutes, completed one more set, or slept a little earlier. What is remarkable is that often one eye seems focused and discontent while the other eye seems more relaxed. Liam seems to have ample amounts of these traits.

Stories of Triumph, World Transplant Games 2019 episode 03 - gift of life and gratefulness Day three. It was my first day waking up in a time zone eight hours ahead of my previous time zone (Arizona). For anyone who has traveled, the first day waking up is when jet lag hits the hardest. Fortunately, I had pushed through the day before to exhaust my body in order to get a full night's rest. My goal for day three was to find a bicycle mechanic to make fine-tuned adjustments to my bike. Like all great adventures, my goal did not succeed. In fact, I can verifiably say that I rode in circles for 90 minutes covering 18 kilometers. Although I found the mechanic's, they wanted to charge 25 pounds for their "bronze service" to turn a wrench on my bike a few times. It seemed like overkill so I turned around to find my way back getting stuck in loops of roundabouts as an American who isn't quite used to roundabouts would and who barely knows the streets and who is trying to navigate the streets while listening to a GPS voice that itself is trying to catch up with the curves in the road. It was a blast.  

Backyard Newcastle, United Kingdom  

Bike paths, Newcastle, United Kingdom  

Neighborhood Newcastle, United Kingdom  

English countryside Newcastle   After an afternoon nap, I was able to go to a local gym and take a spinning class (I teach a spinning class in Arizona so it was fun to compare notes), then do some core and weights, followed by a swim. The ride to the gym was also scenic.

Ride to the gym Newcastle, United Kingdom   But the sunset after the workout was even better.