this is not a cycling post but it's a cycling post.

Very rarely is something weighing on my mind so heavily that I'm not thinking about cycling. But, today my heart is breaking for those affected by the disheartening number of military deaths in afghanistan this weekend. Numbers of those killed in action seem to always shock us but do we really grasp the number affected by those fallen. I served in the Marine Corps for 5 years and was fortunate enough to deploy and blessed enough to return from iraq 3 times. I have always said that America should be thanking the families of those who serve much more then they should be thanking us. When we deploy we are off in a totally new experience (good or bad) but our families are left to continue with normal life except there is a chunk missing. They spend their days wondering how we are, missing us, worrying about us. Now take the families of those fallen. Like this weekend the pregnant wife with a 6 and 11 year old who are now fatherless. The effect goes so much deeper to his friends from highschool, his aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers and sisters, his parents, the guys in his unit. Thats just one guy! We have to remember to support those whose loved ones are overseas or fallen.

This is where it turns into a cycling post. Reading through the article I attached I just want to get away from it. When I feel my emotions are building up from anything, especially grief, i feel i can transfer it through my legs and power it out of my body and into my cranks thus propelling me forward and further away from the problem. there are many times i have dedicated my thoughts to a certain person during my rides, in theory i ride for them. some of those people have been cyclists that are no longer able to because of health issues and injuries. some times it is for those ive known that have fallen on the battlefield. When i start to feel tired, start to let up just a little bit, i imagine them on the bike instead of me. What would they give to power up that climb or get down in the drops and crank. how dare i not dig deeper since i have been blessed with the ability to still ride.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44054129/ns/us_news-life/t/family-friends-remember-fallen-troops-heroes