Sunday, November 27, 2016

Gratitude Is The Most Exquisite Form Of Courtesy

As we all give THANKS this week, let's not forget that feeling gratitude and NOT expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. So what are you thankful for?

  • True friends stopping to watch you change a flat tire
  • As you struggle climbing, seeing someone come back to give you moral support and ask, "Did you have a flat?"
  • The leader giving you hand signals that you can actually see before the chuckhole
  • Sharing energy bars and water because you ran out
  • Letting someone else have a KOM, even though they didn't' deserve it
  • Going on a route that provides totally NEW vistas and NOT complaining
  • Not having to pull on a cold morning
  • Riding a couple of weeks without having to take your bike in for repairs


These are just a few, but let's be thankful for the things that matter most, Good Family, Good Friends and Good Health

Happy Thanksgiving!

YIPPY SKIPPY!

Tip of the week = 10 Simple Things You Can Be Grateful For


 It's getting a little chilly

 There's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate gear 
~ Max Wood ~


 BIG MAN wanted to show Prez. Hale a BIG HOUSE, 
but he failed to follow AGAIN

 Some pictures come at a cost

Mr. MBA, don't ever complain it's too cold



  Has anyone seen my hands??? I can't feel them...

 BIG MAN finds the perfect gift and it matches his outfit!
(Don't tell Jodi)

 Always stop and say hello to the Old Folks 
LISTEN and LEARN!

What a treat to meet and listen to Lowell Hicks, 103 years old. Click on links below to listen and read about this amazing man...... WOW!


Sunday, November 20, 2016

Leading From Behind

The last couple of posts have discussed "leadership" and "followership". This week's Saturday ride was a true example of Leading From Behind. (LFB) The theory of LFB is one proposed and championed by Linda Hill of the Harvard Business School. The professor had the idea when reading Nelson Mandela's autobiography, in which he likens leaders to shepherds directing flocks from behind. Some sheep will move ahead, the flock following these trailblazers, (Max) but actually, it is the shepherd who oversees the flock. Hill says that today's business climate requires leaders who act similarly, allowing their charges to emerge, lead and innovate. The manager, meanwhile, supports these initiatives, yet stays ever mindful of the bigger picture and direction.

We compliment Prez. Hale for LFB this week to Big Mtn. However, how far behind can you be and still be a leader???  And, can a leader cheat on his Strava post and post the total of two ride as one?? And, if he truly loses the "best-of-ride pic", how many times does he have to ask a total stranger which picture is better??

Leading/Shepherding, in either case, is a difficult task at best with the PCRs. Some might say it's like herding cats, but cats are much easier than a bunch of OLD GEEZERS.

YIPPY SKIPPY

Tip of the Week = 5 Great Muscle Recovery Foods

 Hope you all saw the SUPER MOON!

Morning Sun greets the PCRs, 
which was welcomed since starting temp was 31

 Can I bring the baby trailer next time, 
I really need a better workout

 Who needs long paints, you wimps!

Do you think we should go back and get Prez. Hale?

LFB is a lot of FUN!

The debate still exists and so please cast your vote. Rank the following three pictures as BEST-OF-RIDE? Use the comment section at bottom of post. (Note how in one of the pictures the universe is declaring the importance of "L"eadership)





Sunday, November 13, 2016

Breakfast Without Brad Causes One To Think!

The political jungle that exists amongst the members of the PCRs is a microcosm of the macrocosm that exists in American politics today.  Some, like Big Man, are always vying to be leaders.  Sometimes he cheats by starting a race that nobody knows about until it is over. To be the leader he has gone to such not so subtle extremes as passing out literature to other members on “followership”, but in the end everyone wants to be a leader, nobody wants to follow--least of all Big Man.  Some members, like Mr. MBA, resort to name calling, hoping taunts will embarrass others to follow.  Still others, usually Mr. MBA, think they are clever by resorting to psychological gamesmanship by planting the seeds of their ideas into Big Man’s mind in so he believes them to be his own.  Others like Prez. Hale, just go their own ways, hoping the rest will see the wisdom of their ways and follow, which rarely happens.  Sexy Legs tries to influence others with his good looks, but alas the rest are so old they just don’t care anymore.  Dr. Hicks, on the other hand, tries to impress with bling, but if you are seldom in front others can’t even see your impressive attire.  Then there is Animal Bruner, who could care less about any of it.  He just wants to ride his bicycle.  Breakfast at the Ridge Market and CafĂ© on Saturday was no different.  The group ordered family style and bickered for half hour over what portion each would receive, and where the lines of demarcation of food on shared plates would be drawn so that pepper was not sprinkled where another did not want it.

But this week something remarkable happened during an early morning ride.  In the wake of political turmoil Mr. MBA, hereinafter (“Mr. Switzerland”), persuaded Big Man to follow Prez. on the first part of the bike ride and shamed Prez. to partially follow Big Man on the way back home.  You see Big Man, we did listen to some of your lesson on changing people by building relationships, listening, learning and communicating.  (Where does he get all of this stuff?).  It remains to be seen how long this group with diminished mental capacities can remember what Big Man taught and what can be accomplished through compromise. 

So went the political season this year.  The presidential race was a prime example.  If there was a coherent discussion on important policy issues that our country faces it was obscured by the invective coming from both sides.  One presidential candidate, now the President Elect, is taunted for being a misogynist, racist and religiously intolerant, and the other candidate Ms. Clinton was smeared by mistakes she made in the past.  In the aftermath of the election political pundits give us their analysis describing Trump’s supporters, in a seemingly derogatory fashion, as  “uneducated white men.”  But of course the fact that one is uneducated surely is not demeaning inasmuch as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Harry S. Truman never finished college, all of whom made significant impacts on the course of American history and beyond.  Some Americans took to the streets to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the results of the presidential election.  Fear mongering before and after the election was and is being used by both sides to describe the appearance of the landscape of American life if the other side prevails.  Of course all such apocalyptic scenarios are possible, but only as likely as the Big Man being a serious contender in the Tour de France.  The benefit of American politics is that the policies espoused by our leaders move at glacial speed, just like the PCRs.   

The cacophony of post-election political rhetoric overshadowed observance of Veterans’ Day this past Friday.  On that day we honor all brave American men and women who served in the United States military, especially those whose sacrifices beckon from their final places of rest: “When you go home tell them of us and say: for your tomorrow we gave our today.”  

Such calls come from remains of 9,387 American military dead lie, three of whom are women, most killed performing their duties as a part of the Allied Forces’ invasion of Normandy on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France.  There is a peaceful, orderly, solemn air about that sacred ground created by flawlessly aligned tombstones, and well-manicured grass and shrubs.  A bronze statue of the “Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves” depicts an American youth with arms outstretched, looking skyward centered within a colonnade at the head of the cemetery.  The serenity found visits feel visiting the site belies the terror, pain and loss that occurred on June 6, 1944: D-day.  During that fateful operation the Allied Forces suffered 120,000 casualties, our foes 113,000.  France granted America a perpetual concession to the land on which the cemetery is situated.  At the entrance way to the cemetery is inscribed these words written by General Mark W. Clark: “If ever proof were needed that we fought for a cause and not for conquest it could be found in these cemeteries.  Here was our only conquest:  All we asked … was enough … soil in which to bury our gallant dead.  General Mark W. Clark.  America suffered the loss of over 400,000 military personnel during that war.  It is estimated that over 60,000,000 people were killed during that conflict in just 6 years. 

Just 80 years earlier Americans struggled to keep their Union together which resulted in the Civil War.  From July 1st through the 3rd 1863, General Meade’s Army of the Potomac fought General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia on the now famous patch of ground Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  Each side suffered over 23,000 casualties in just three days during that battle.  On a Thursday afternoon of November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, just four and a half months after the Union Army’s victory, President Lincoln reminded those in attendance of the ultimate sacrifice the soldiers made in that heated battle: “that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”   In his first inaugural address, just three years earlier, President Lincoln, pleading with the Southern States to resist the temptation to secede from the Union, urged: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”  The South failed to heed his plea.  In less than 5 years the Union side suffered over 640,000 casualties, the Confederates nearly 300,000.

Like the PCR members this week, may we all be touched “by the better angels of our nature”, and seek to listen, learn and communicate with each other in constructive ways.  With the death of this bitter election may we seek a “new birth of freedom”, by learning and employing the art of compromise--no matter how painful it may be to follow in the slip streams of the likes of Big Man. President Lincoln stated, in his concluding remarks to Congress on December 1, 1862, a month before he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, that the world was watching what Congress would do to preserve the Union (and by the way the world is still watching) and that: “We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.”  We are still are the last best hope of earth.  We enjoy many freedoms most others don’t.  Let us not forget the sacrifices of all those who went before us to pay for those freedoms.  We should rejoice that we can speak freely and have the right to protest, as many do when Big Man attempts to tyrannize us.  Our differences do not make us enemies.  They are the spice of life.  Our cause is, as Thomas Jefferson so ably expressed on that day on which all American’s celebrate their independence: “that all men [and women] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  May we and all of our politicians should remember, as President Obama reminded us last week: “We are Americans First.”  Let us seek common ground and build on all that is good.  And if you need therapy, the best form of it is getting out on your bike with the PCRs!

This message is endorsed by the PCRs would be leader Big Man.  

YIPPY SKIPPY



 Morning Awakens


 Are you feeling the Gung Ho spirit?


 If the Men's room is full, go into the Women's
You never know who you'll meet

If these three guys show up on your front porch, call the police. 
They are dangerous!


Saturday, November 5, 2016

Followership - Creates Successful and Effective Leaders

Saturday's ride was a first for Mr. MBA and one that BIG MAN was excited to LEAD. Prior to the ride an email was sent to the group (note below) knowing that some were getting tired of BIG MAN leading. He had to remind them it was his birth-month and per the article, he was just trying to make them all "better leaders". After taking them to Porter's monument, two said we've had enough and left BIG MAN and Coach Craig in the dust. Determined to catch them before Prez. Hale ordered all of the Cinnabons at the Maverik, Big Man and Coach Craig rode like the wind and were little hot when they arrived. (4 layers was a little too much)

As they started to ride up Timpanogos Hwy, they were greeted with a beautiful sunrise and then started their climb to the summit. They again stopped for little treat at Suncrest Summit Cafe and made a quick descent down the other side.... Everyone made the turn at Mike Weir drive successfully and enjoyed the downhill past the temple. BIG MAN again was trying to lead the group on a scenic route home through Dimple Dell, but some wanted to ride along 1300 East with all the traffic and fumes... REALLY! Fortunately the other rides saw the wisdom in his route and "FOLLOWED"

YIPPY SKIPPY

Never be a follower; Always be a Leader! Those are the words we hear from parents, teachers, coaches, and employers for most of our life. To be a follower is at the least a weakness and at the most, paramount to failure! Yet how can everyone be “the leader”? There are naturally many more followers than leaders. Is this Majority, those individuals who are follower-people, irrelevant or insignificant? We are a society in love with leadership and uncomfortable with followership, yet the two are inseparable. Though much has been written about leadership, skilled and active followership is as vital to success as good leadership. The proficiency and quality of the execution of a decision is often as important as the decision itself. Followers have the greatest opportunity to shine and contribute in the way that pushes the business to new heights.
Followership is NOT:
  • meek and passive
  • subservient or compliant
  • inferior
Followership IS:
  • Being responsible, participating, and challenging
  • Dynamic and courageous
  • A collaborator
  • Critical to the leading process

 Porter Protects the PCRs

I'm sorry sir, your friends said three is enough

 The mornings are the BEST!

 Ron Hicks this is for you

 We're stopping again??

 This is how they used to climb Suncrest