it's funny what we write about

i realize that for the most part here in this blog i write mostly about my bike and what i do on my bike. Over the last year with the addition of some of the other crazy events that have occured i've added a bit about other things going on, you know, like being diagnosed with cancer and getting my leg cut off, but for the most part, even now that i'm an amputee, i write about riding my bike. I throw other things in here or there, i.e. something about the garden or a little complaint about the papers i have to grade, but i mostly write about riding my bike. The irony of that really hit me this week, see, i'm not really all that good at riding my bike. Actually let me rephrase that, i'm not really all that good at riding my bike fast. T-dub is good at riding her bike fast, but i'm not. I love riding my bike, even though at some point in every race i feel like i want to puke, i love riding my bike. But it's not something i excel at. I excel at teaching. I am an excellent teacher. and i love teaching. The irony, then, that so much of my blog is dedicated to something i'm not really that good at and i almost never write about something i am really good at, hit me this last week when i found out i have been awarded two awards for my work as an educator at the University of Utah. It's a little goofy right, that i don't mind posting my results in the local crit race (i did move up form last place in the first crit to 18th out of a field of 50 or so this last week), but i'm a tad bit self-conscious about posting my teaching accomplishments and recognitions. So, here they are. This year i have been awarded the University Equity and Diversity Award and selected as the UofU Honors College Distinguished Professor of the year.

Ashley, Yamila, me, Heidi, José, Alonso, Marti at the award luncheon for the Equity and Diversity Awards.

I am deeply honored by these awards. They are a tribute to the incredible colleagues, mentors, and students that i have the privilege of working with every day. My heartfelt thanks to those who nominated me. Thank you very much!

Double Century Weekend

Today marks seven months since my amputation. I'm getting used to life without my right foot. With the prosthesis I can get around and do pretty much everything i did before. Going down stairs is still a little awkard, and it doesn't always fit quite right because my leg is still reshaping itself so by the end of the day sometimes my residual limb gets a little sore, but overall i can't complain. I can still do most of the things i love. Case in point, this weekend i went down to St. George with the artist, Cousin Kevin, and a few other guys to do some riding. Friday we rode from St. George to Zions and back (98.5 miles), and then Sunday we did the Old Highway 191 ride from St. George to Mesquite and back (110 miles) for a double century weekend.


The weather was perfect both days: 70 degrees, light winds, and blue skies. Friday i felt pretty good and even put in a couple of hard efforts to keep up with the artist and Mitch on some short climbs. Saturday was a different story. I was dragging a bit from the get go. It didn't help that Cousin Kevin didn't ride with us friday, so he was pushing it on the front from moment we left the house. I got dropped pretty quickly once we hit Utah hill heading west. On the way back, however, i got a little second wind, and settled into a nice pace up the world's longest, straightest climb. It's only 2-4%, but that damn road heading east from Littlefield to the summit goes on for stinking ever. I was feeling pretty good though, settled into a nice cadence and HR and kept the legs cranking, then about 4 miles from the top I cracked. It took all the energy i had to get to the summit. Fortunately the last 30 miles or so back from the top back to the house were mostly down hill. I definitely found the limits of my fitness and endurance. It felt like Utah Hill was harder than it's ever been, but the artist and the others thought the same, so we surmised it may have been because in the past we've always done the mesquite ride the first day and the Zions ride on the second day.
I was so beat by the time we got back i fell asleep in the tub until I heard kevin yelling at me that we were 30 minutes late for dinner.

The artist in his new DNA Cycling body mapping bibs and jersey. The orange contrast stitching matched the red rock and sand.

R3 on the Utah Hill climb.

Regrouping at the Utah Hill Summit.

My least favorite part of the whole ride, the 15% hill back up to Cousin Kevin's pad. It's only 300 meters or so, but at the end of a long ride, it sucks!

Race season officially started last weekend with the first crit. I rode out with the artist and raced with the B-flight. I felt pretty good for the first 30-minutes, then started to fade a little near the end. With two laps to go i made a stupid mistake, and got caught off the back around the 180 turn, then got stuck in the wind, couldn't close the gap, and got dropped. I placed dead last in the B-flight, but the upside is the only place to go from last place is up.

In contrast to my last place, T-dub had a great first race of the season at the Merco Cycling Classic with her new team Peanut Butter & Co./Twenty12. Her teamie Alison Starnes held onto the the best time for the overall GC after a great TT, and T-dub took 6th overall.

Putting it down in the TT.

T-dub leading out the Blue and White train in the Almond Blossom Road Race.

An open letter to representatives urging them to oppose HB 191

Dear Representative,

I am writing to urge you to oppose HB 191: Nonresident Tuition Waiver Amendments in the House Revenue and Taxation Committee meeting this friday. If passed, this bill would take away in-state tuition for undocumented students who have attended at least three years of high school in Utah and graduated from a Utah High School. As an Associate Professor/Instructor in the University of Utah Honors College I have had the privilege of teaching and working with quite a few undocumented students over the past several years and can assure you they are not the criminals they are often made out to be. Just this last week in committee meeting testimony we have heard undocumented immigrants referred to as a bacteria that is rotting our country, as invaders, and as criminals.
My experience, however, has been quite different. The undocumented students I know are bright, intelligent, hard working, and engaged young people with dreams and goals just like any of our other students. Most of them did not come here by choice, but were brought by parents who moved here to be in closer proximity to the LDS church, for jobs, or even to provide better educational opportunities for their children. And the students I know are honoring the commitment of their parents by pursuing the goals and dreams for which their parents have sacrificed and worked.
Passing HB191 will not make these students pick up and go back to their home countries, countries with which many of them are unfamiliar. It will only make the dream of getting an education that much more difficult. Please support these hard-working and dedicated young people by allowing them to pursue their educational dreams by maintaining in-state tuition for those who qualify. Please vote against HB191, it does nothing to solve the immigration issue. On the contrary, it only creates more obstacles for the very capable and bright young people who could actually help us develop some sensible immigration policies that address concerns of border security, labor markets, and family stability.

Thank you,

Dr. Matt Bradley
Sandy, Utah

A Valentine's Day Poem

Here's a poem from a few years back, written as a "bad love poem" exercise (t-dub wanted me to clarify that)!

zero to sixty

overcome am i
beholden to your eyes
searing through my soul
puncturing my heart
spewing the blood of my love for you
over a million pieces of
fragmented dreams shattered in the
aftermath
of the wreck
we called a
relationship
which was really much more like
gunning the engine thinking we could do zero to sixty in a matter of
seconds
and not seeing the brick wall
against which our love
shattered
into a million pieces of
fragmented dreams
and
exploded hearts
bloody, stinking, burning love
in the wreckage of my heart.

Mt. Lemmon

After spending a little time in Tucson a few weeks ago i couldn't wait to get back to enjoy the warm weather, so with the Martin Luther King Day holiday coming up i booked a flight to go back down and spend the long weekend with T-dub and Trigger and Reggie. When i was there over New Years T-dub and i had attempted Mt. Lemmon, but could only ride the first 14 miles on account of the road was closed beyond that because of the snow and ice. In retrospect that may have been a blessing in disguise. With warm temperatures (high 60s and low 70s) this past weekend, however, we would not be deterred. It has been five months since my amputation and i thought what better way to celebrate than to climb Mt. Lemmon.

Mt. Lemmon is a great climb. Twenty-one miles of pretty consistent climbing with only a few let ups in pitch and a few sections of 10-12% grade to make up for it. It's a beautiful climb that transitions from the desert valley floor up to the ponderosa forests with incredible panorama views in all directions. After you hit the 21 mile mark you've got four more miles of up and down before descending about a mile down to the famous "Cookie Cabin."


I got in friday afternoon and we went out saturday and did the Saguaro National Park loop, then Sunday morning we set out to ride Mt. Lemmon. I felt pretty good the first six miles or so, but as we hit a steeper pitch between miles 6 and 7 i started to fade a little. I kept at it though, and was glad for a few spots between miles 7 and 12 where the slope ease up to 1-2%, even if it was for just a few hundred meters. At about mile 12 the pitch picks up to 8-9% up to mile 14, but i had ridden this before and so was able to set into a fair pace (for a one-legged gimp at any rate) up to mile 14 at Windy Point. Moving past Windy Point we had a few sections of the steeper 12-13% slope, but they are through beautiful hoodoo rock formations that elicited unknown stores of energy from my tired body.


After the hoodoo lookout, however, i was done, but i still had a good 5 miles to go before mile 21 and 10 miles to go before the cookie cabin. T-dub peeled a banana and some fruit snacks and handed them over to me and i managed to slowly work my way those last few miles to the summit. From there we descended down the backside to the Cookie Cabin where Reggie and Trigger and the kids came up and met us for some king size cookies.


After the cookies we jumped back on the bikes and made our way back up to the summit, then started the 21-mile descent. I brought my gopro camera along so we got some footage that i'll try to post up in the next few days, but suffice it to say it's a great, fun descent with some wide, fast turns and curves—a nice reward after the climb up.

Monday we rode out over Gates Pass and out into the desert enjoying the warm temperatures and bright western skies, then rode back into Tucson and enjoyed each others' company at the outdoor seating of a coffeeshop which will remain nameless until we had to head back to Trigger and Reggie's so i could pack up my bags and bike and head to the airport. A short trip i wish i could've extended, but i'll be grateful for what i get!

Bringing in the New Year Tuscon style

As is tradition, i spent the new year with Trigger and his family. Well, it's not really tradition, but this is two years in a row now that i've spent New Years with them, so maybe it's the beginning of a tradition. Last year i went down to the Baker Ranch to help Trigger look for a bull that i don't think really exists, but a few months back Trigger took a new job as a horse trainer at the Bandalero Ranch, and T-dub was going to Tucson to train for a few months, so it worked out nicely that T-dub and i could drive down together and spend a week with Trigger & Co. before i came back. I was excited to get to some warmer climes and get some miles in, especially when i saw the forecast for the big storm that was supposed to hit SLC. Turns out that same storm front rolled through southern AZ with freezing temperatures, rain in the valley, and a lot of snow up Mt. Lemmon. Despite the relatively cold temperatures and rain, however, 45 degrees still beats 7 degrees, and T and i got some good riding in before i had to come home.

The view west from Gate's Pass

T-dub at Gate's Pass

T-dub at the bottom of the Mt. Lemmon climb

About mile marker 6 up the Mt. Lemmon climb.

By the end of the week the skies had cleared and the temps were climbing again. By Sunday we were able to get out and climb Mt. Lemmon with near 60 degree temperatures. The road was closed at mile marker 14, however, and the last 3 miles from MM 11 to MM 14 were a total clustermuck of bumber to bumper cars on account of the snow, but not in the way you might imagine. It was three days after the storm had rolled through, the roads were plowed and dry. There wasn't a traffic jam high on a mountain road because of nasty weather conditions, rather, it was because all those folks from Tucson who only get to see snow once or twice a year, if that, had decided to drive up the mountain to fill their truck beds with snow to take it back down to the valley. I kid you not!! They were building snowmen on the top of their cars, on the hoods of their cars, in the beds of their cars. They were stringing snowballs on their car antennas. They were sledding down 3 foot road cuts. They were shoveling loads of snow into the beds of their trucks, onto the tops of their cars, and anywhere else they could pile it. T was amused that something that gives Utah drivers so much angst was providing so much excitement and euphoria.

Loading snow into the back of the pick up.

Grid lock at mile marker 11

Overall, however, riding in Tucson, at least this time of year, is great. Although one guy rolled down his window at a stop light to tell me that riding on the white line of the bike lane was illegall and i should ride further toward the curb, Tucson has a great network of bike lanes and biker-friendly road improvements including crosswalk buttons that are actually on the side of the road, within reach of cyclists, rather than all the way up on the sidewalk, and specific bike lanes and bike traffic lights. It's nice to see SLC take some initiative in this direction, but the rest of the valley is appallingly bad for cyclists, either in terms of encouraging cycling as a simple method of transportation or for recreational cyclists. We could learn a few lessons from Tucson.

We spent New Year's Eve playing Rumikub and drinking sparkling cider, then on New Year's Day Trigger had to feed the cattle, so we went over to his work and Riddles got to experience cows for the first time in his little super-suburbia life. He was all tough like he thought he knew how to herd cows, but Dally dog, his mom, had to show him what to do, and even then ultimately he was still kind of a wuss. Too bad Trigger's not on the ranch anymore where we could really teach Riddles what a cow dog is supposed to do. He thinks herding chickens and chasing the other dogs around the back yard is a big deal, but when he came face to face with a bunch of hungry cows, he wasn't quite so sure of himself anymore.

T-dub bucking some hay, she says she bruised her leg lifting that thing up.

Trigger, Dally, Remi, and Cass

Riddles barking at the cows (from a safe distance).

Remi helping feed the cows.

All Riddles needs for fun is a hole in the ground. He loved the fire pit in Trigger's back yard.

Monday morning we loaded up T's stuff and dropped her off at one of her teammate's houses, then the dogs and i hit the road to head back to SLC. I was excited that we were on the road at a reasonable hour because i hadn't driven the stretch from Flagstaff to Panguitch in daylight for quite some time. We only made it to Page before it got dark, but weren't disappointed by the scenery or the sunset. Back when i lived in Indiana for grad school i really missed mountains and big open spaces, and specifically the cloud formations that both of those physical features influence.





We rolled into SLC at about midnight on monday, then tuesday night i went back up to the UOP for some bobsledding. Big change from 60s and sunny to 10 degrees and icy.



And then today i reacclimated myself to winter training in Utah: bad air and ice.

"Red Air Day" in the SL Valley.

Five or six days after the storm, my street is still full of snow and ice.