The Singing Cyclist

My wife has been bugging me that for a blog titled "The Singing Cyclist" there hasn't been much posted here about either topic. What can I say? I suppose she's right. The last few months have been pretty crazy with work and family and I haven't been as active with my singing or with my cycling - and therefore haven't had much to say. That's changing.

• "Have Yourself A Merry-etta Christmas"
• "We Need A Little Christmas"
• "Happy Holidays / It's The Holiday Season" medley
• "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer"
• "You Ain't Gettin' Diddly Squat"
• "The 12 Days After Christmas"
• "Christmas Auld Lang Syne"

• "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen"
• "Oh Holy Night" - featuring Rufus Massey
• "O Come, O Come Emanuel"
• "Do You Hear What I Hear" - featuring Ray Taylor
• "Have Yourself A Merry-etta Christmas" (reprise)

This is one of the better techniques I've discovered for doing B&W in Photoshop:

I returned to singing a little over a year ago. I had sung in high school and college choruses and have always sung in church, but really hadn't done any public singing since college. I've always been a fan of acapella four part harmony - be it male, female, mixed, SATB or TLBB. There's something about the sound produced when four voices mix together in just the right way that is simply... magic. I attended a Christmas show for the local chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society and determined that I would not let another year go by without returning to sing. Since then, I've been an active member of the Big Chicken Chorus. The chorus is named for a very predominant landmark in my hometown and for more information on the origin of the landmark, feel free to click here.

Now on to the cycling part. In the winter of 2008 I was experiencing breathing difficulties that were severe enough that I sought out the care of an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialist. After surgery to correct a serevely deviated septum (which I've had for years and had repaired once while I was in the Navy), the Doc set me up for some sleep studies. The result of those studies was a diagnosis that I have sleep apnea that was severe enough that the Doc talked with me about a variety of treatment options - one of which was additional surgery (not a fan). He also mentioned that if I lost a few pounds I might be able to avoid the surgery (great idea). By this time we were marching into spring and gasoline was marching toward $4.00 a gallon. I decided that my 7 mile commute to work was easily bike-able, and so set out to refurbish my aging mountain bike and make it a little more road friendly. I peddaled to work 3 days a week for most of the spring and summer and that, along with paying attention to my diet, allowed me to drop 40 pounds by the end of the fall. I continued riding through the winter as often as possible (which was most of the time given the climate in Atlanta).

In the late winter a friend of mine who is an avid cyclist and frequent participant in charity rides mentioned to me that she was forming a team to ride in a 2-day 100 mile charity event in Savannah for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. This event was to encompass 65 miles on Saturday and 35 miles on Sunday. She cajoled me into singing up for this event and now I needed to get busy getting my body accoustomed to the idea of riding 65 miles in one shot.

During my training for the event I re-discovered just how much I enjoy road cycling. I started road cycling when I was in junior high school and was an avid cyclist all though high school and college, but after graduation I allowed my assignments in the Navy to distract me from my passion. I so enjoyed what I was doing that decided to invest in a road bike - which made my training that much more enjoyable.