The Open Road Part Two

Well my road biking saga continues with a successful 80km ride to Richer and back to Steinbach. It helped having nice cool weather and some great & interesting people to ride with. Occupations of this assorted bunch included: a doctor, teachers, water plant technician, travel agent, professor, bike shop owner, etc.


I think at one point we were about 14 or so riders, riding in two lines taking advantage of the amazing effect of drafting behind each other. I don't have a speedometer on my borrowed Norco bike (thanks again Pat) so I wasn't able to keep track of my average speed but I would guess it would have been around 32 kms/hour - our last 6-8 kms had us tracking at a good 40 kms an hour thanks to a second wave of energy for me and a mild tail-wind.

I'm getting more into this sport but got a good taste of humility after trying to pull the group in the front during leg one and had to pull off & recover for a couple kms. But hey - its only my second attempt at this road cycling thing and at heart I'm still a mtn biker yearing for tight single track and hills to climb and descend. We did hit some faster kms on a hill - I think Pat hit 50kms/hour - I know I was riding with him at 45kms/hour for a bit but I don't know if I went any faster as he blasted past me. It is incredible to think how efficient a bicycle actually is - that I can propel my 185lb body that fast simply by pedaling a chain through a series of cogs. Each ride is getting more interesting and I love the sweet spot of drafting - reminds me of finding the sweet spot of surfing on a wave. We'll see how climbing the stairs is later today!

Another Study of Well-Being

According to a study discussed in this BBC article - Denmark is the happiest country in the world? Now where did my country of Canada score you ask? Ranked 10th in the world, Canada scored high on the map's three major measures of happiness - health, wealth and access to education.

A Happyness World Map has recently been posted and it reveals some of their findings - including each country's rank. Vanuatu (which scored #1 in the other study which took into consideration environmental sustainability & impact) scored interestingly scored 24th and Costa Rica 13th. This study clearly used different clarifiers than my previous post - including the following:

"When people are asked if they are happy with their lives, people in countries with good healthcare, a higher GDP per capita, and access to education were much more likely to report being healthy."

Also interesting is this article on the formula for happiness: Happiness = P + (5xE) + (3xH)

P stands for Personal Characteristics: outlook on life, adaptability & resilence, etc.
E stands for Existence & relates to health, financial stability & friendships
H stands for Higher Order needs, and covers self-esteem, expectations, ambitions & sense of humor.

I can see how ones' attitude, self-esteem, & friendships contribute to overall happiness but like my previous blogpost discovered - learning to be content with where one is at & has is key to finding joy!

The Open Road

I have to admit that when I first started mountain biking I thought "roadies" were geeks. In part, it perhaps was the bright colors and the skin-tight clothing but my I truly thought that the open road was boring compared to the challenge of obstacles and singletrack. Slowly, I've come around and come to appreciate the sport of road cycling. The Tour de France is something I've followed consistently over the past 5 or so years and I've come to appreciate the determination, the strategy, the speed, and the overall beauty of the sport.

This morning, I went on a "short" ride with my buddies Pat & Jason of 45kms that we completed in about an hour and twenty minutes (one of the perks of having a buddy own a bike shop is that I get to try out a $1400 bike - thanks Pat!). There is something about being on the open road early in the morning. The chill from the night is still in the air, and the air itself seems so fresh and pure. The big race around France comes to an end this weekend and so I salute the riders here on my little blog - still cheering for T-Mobile (even though I think we're currently in fourth with Andreas Kloden). I've been amazed by Floyd Landis' effort considering his hip problems - if he ends up winning his story will go down in history with the legends!

World's Happiest Country

I came across this interesting article that notes that Vanuatu is the world's happiest country. Where in the world is Vanuatu? Apparently 3/4 of the way to Australia from Hawaii - somewhere in the South Pacific (near Fiji). How was this study determined? Apparently, someone developed a tool that determined happiness based on people's well-being and environmental impact.

"The index combines life satisfaction, life expectancy and environmental footprint -- the amount of land required to sustain the population and absorb its energy consumption."

Columbia, Costa Rica, Dominica, & Panama completed the list of the top five. (I have only been to Costa Rica and I can verify that it is indeed a happy place to visit!) Where did my country of Canada end up in the ranking? 111, while our neighbor to the south - the USA came in at 150. Zimbabwe came in at last place 178 of the countries ranked. For full rankings & further explanations check these two sites: one world & independent online. Why are we so low on the happiness scale?

According to one of the Vanuatu locals - the reason they are so happy is that they are very satisfied with very little: "This is not a consumer-driven society. Life here is about community and family and goodwill to other people. It's a place where you don't worry too much."

Hmm - anything we can learn from these happier places? Contentment is not found in things - it is found in relationships & care for others; strangely sounds like something I read in the New Testament. The more focus we place on our needs, the less time we focus on others - and ironically the result is that we are never satisfied. It seems that we were designed to care for the needs of others - only then can we find contentment.

Exploring Happiness

I came across this interesting article that notes that Vanuatu is the world's happiest country. I explore the concept of contentment in reaction to the article at my other blogsite: Musings - drop by and leave a comment if you feel so led!

Movie Quote

Every now and then, I've had the pleasure of enjoying the classic movie of the 80's - Ferris Bueller. Here's one of my favorite quotes from the movie:

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." - Bueller

The Rise & Fall of the Hit

I came across this fascinating article that deals with the death of the so-called blockbuster or hit. I personally have never cared for the one-hit wonders or the mega-blockbuster type of movies (there are some exceptions of course) and have had some similar thoughts about the impact the Internet and other emerging technologies have had on radio, television, music & movies. What the Internet clearly has done has placed the control back in the hands of the consumer. It used to be that whoever had the money to promote a particular movie or album would determine whether or not it would be successful. You create a buzz about something and people through curiosity (and the need to fit in) will buy in. But now buzz comes from us - the average internet-savvy consumer who through exploration finds/discovers music or movies that we like.

I don't like anything that is too trite or simplistic. I don't always want the hero in a movie to survive - especially when the hero escapes what seems to be death inexplainably or unrealistically. The rise of reality television shows (it is debatable about how "real" these shows are) has in part been due to the audience taking back control through voting whether or not we actually like a contestant or not. I am not a big Canadian Idol fan but apparently, the celebrity judging panel were shocked by Canadian fans' choices of who should be eliminated in the most recent episode.

I like the closing comments of the article:

"The mass market is yielding to a million mini markets. Hits will always be with us, but they have lost their monopoly. Blockbusters must now compete with an infinite number of niche offerings, which can be distributed just as easily. Justin Timberlake still makes albums, but today he has thousands of bands on MySpace as rivals. The hierarchy of attention has inverted – credibility now rises from below. MTV and Tower Records no longer decide who will win. You do."

And it is about time!

Time For Change

Every now and then we need to make changes. It is something that is not escapable - in order to grow in any way we simply need to change. Every culture I've been exposed to has changed me in some way. It has made me more aware of my cultural understandings ; both the good and the bad.

Why do we fear change? Because sometimes change hurts. Deconstruction of ones' belief system is not an easy process. It is sort of like renovating a house. Somethings will need to be torn down before they can be rebuilt. It doesn't mean you have to throw everything away but you may have to set aside some things temporarily before you can reconstruct it. My understanding of God has changed many times over my life and I expect this will continue. My understanding of relationships with friends likewise has changed over time. When I reflect over the past ten years of marriage, I realize quickly that my understanding of love was very different than it is now.

What spurred on this thought of change? Well, I made some changes to my template and ended up erasing some things that I will have to rebuild. And that's okay! Change is good but it isn't always easy.

Mountain Bike Curacao?

One of my favorite spots in this planet that I've visited are two of the ABC Islands (link that compares the three) - Aruba & Bonaire. Both are amazing SCUBA diving spots and have a very different culture than most Caribbean islands - as they are Dutch! I claim my Dutch heritage as a Von Riesen (Friesen) and have always cheered on Dutch athletes - particularly in the area of football (soccer) or cycling! Anywhoos - the third island (and of the five islands that make up the Netherlands Antilles) that I've never explored is Curacao. And apparently has a well-developed mountain biking trail designed for a 2006 World Cup race this past April. Interestingly, that race was won by one of my favorite riders - Bart Brentjens from the Netherlands. So I'm thinking about exploring the possiblity of visiting this island for some diving & mtn biking some time in the near future. Anyone else out there interested in doing some cycling on a tropical island?

Pura Vida

There is nothing quite like sipping a cup of coffee sitting on the deck on a sunny morning. And I'm not talking about some watered-down Tim Horton's attempt or worse some office drip-brewed pondwater - I'm talking pure & dark Costa Rican premium bean coffee. Nothing beats a dark roast blend - pura vida! When you say "pura vida" in Costa Rica, you are saying all is right in the world! Sort of like expressing Shalom in Israel, that even in the midst of struggle or hardship Shalom can exist. It is more than simply saying "peace" - it is expressing purity, beauty, rightness, love, life, joy, hope, tranquility, exhilaration, perfection, connectedness, and a peace that passes all understanding all-at-one!

Pura Vida for me is: the perfect descent down a steep winding run on my mountain bike; surfing that perfect wave sitting in a whitewater kayak; the hugs & greetings of my daughters when I return home from a day of teaching; the warm embrace & kiss of my wife; the view at the top of a mountain just climbed; and yes, the rich bitter taste of a good cup of costa rican coffee in the morning! What is your pura vida?