Today I received a call from a Mr. Jim Elliot, President of Dive Heart, an organization that has introduced many-a disabled individual, as well as injured Veterans, to Scuba Diving. They are a 501(c)(3) charity out of Chicago, Illinois that specializes in teaching disabled individuals to Scuba Dive.  

I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Elliot a few weeks ago while Dive Heart was down in the Keys.  My father is somehow working with the Dive Heart Military Wounded program, DMW.   I’m not that familiar with the details on how my father is involved with them, but after having the chance to sit down and snack with the the Dive Heart team, hearing the story of how they were founded from Mr. Elliot, this is an organization I’d be interested in helping out.

I’ve offered my web-design expertise, or more like web-design amateur-ise, to assist them in any way possible.

A few days ago I spoke to my coach regarding Nationals, the race that qualifies one for Elite status and grants them the ability to race Internationally for the U.S. Team, and it looks like it is going to be held in Bend, Oregon this year. Bend is a few hours, maybe 1 or 2, car drive from Portland, Oregon. I’m assuming the airport we’ll be meeting at (we, as in U.S. Paralympic Cycling) is PDX (Portland International).

I would presume that the race for qualifications for the U.S. National team is going to be the Time Trial held on Friday, July 31st. I have to achieve, in time per Kilometer, above that of what the average of the last 2 International races plus the 2008 Paralympics, divided by 3, is to qualify for the U.S. International racing team (atleast, that’s what I think it is). That time should be something in the upper 1:40s or lower 1:50s, I would think.

Who can say for sure if the minimal amount that I’ve had to seriously train this year will allow me to be fast enough to qualify this year for Nationals, even if I do get the chance to concentrate on this as much as I would like, which I currently don’t. This year I’ll be competing against Aaron Baker, former pro-level Motocross racer whom I donated my recumbant trike to and Stuart Flaks, 2000 and 2004 Paralympic Games Silver Medalist.

The competition is getting better, year-by-year. Meaning, I have to get faster and faster. Sounds good to me. I can’t wait to compete against them.

That is, if I’m able to attend this year. My schooling schedule makes it tough.

Hope everyone is doing great, I’m going into my second week of the semester and have also started to increase my mileage on the bike, as well. My friend/Team-mate, Greta Neimanas gave me an update on the camp U.S. Paralympic Cycling just ran in Chula Vista, California and informed me that there were many new riders. Man, I wish I could have been there.

I’m continuing on with my riding, though, and it looks like I’m getting back to competition weight and body comp (120 pounds, 8% or less body fat is what I’m shooting for). Yes, yes, yes, I understand, some people will say it’s too skinny. I happen to say “Well, it depends.”

Besides that, well, the credit markets are coming back to life and I’m considering trading May or June TBT $51 Calls as it looks like it has made a break-out of it’s 30 and 90 day moving averages and it’s just below it’s 200 day moving average.

Reading over what Fed Chair Ben Bernanke said he would do in response to threats of deflation in a 2002 or 2003 paper is how I should trade the current market. He said he would keep injecting liquidity until inflation was revived and it appears he is doing just that. When will he stop? Will he over-do it and it lead to hyper-inflation, i.e. post WWI Germany? Who knows? Then again, who would trust the blabber on finance coming from a cyclist?

Athlete’s aren’t known for the intellectual prowess.