We already know Rucks is an emotional cat and is somewhat in tune with his feminine side - as evidenced by his love for TAB(RS#124), women’s-only triathlons(RS#121) and his penchant for tears ( RS#144). Here is a little ditty from this past winter…….

Last winter was somewhat mild, with a few extremely cold weekends thrown in for good measure. Rucks is excited about having a coach, has been consistently losing weight, and has been riding/running/swimming regularly. Its easy to say at this point he is in a good training grove and forming good training habits(riding in the cold for one). On this particular day he has a 3 hour ride on the books and is adamant about leaving early to get it done.

He is rolling from home out toward Apison hoping the sun will rise and warm things up. He is a little underdressed for the temps b/c he is waiting on the winter fleeced lined team jacket he ordered to come in. About 30 minutes into the ride his fingers and toes are going numb and hurting a little. No big deal. He thinks:

“The sun is coming up soon and will warm things up”

A few minutes later he can barely move his fingers to shift or brake.He starts to get a little concerned

“Sweet mother, I wish the dang sun would warm things up”

He is still making progress away from home and the situation is getting dire, he is now thinking out loud( well cursing out loud…):

“D@# its %@#ing cold out here … what the….@#$ am i doing!!!!”

A few minutes later his face is so numb he is now slurring his out loud epitaphs. Finally, frozen and beat down he blubbers these words:

“If it doesn’t warm up in 15 minutes snif..snif I am calling my dad to come get me”

Long story short: RS#68 = Rucks got so cold on a ride one time that he actually cried and very nearly called the old man to come and get him.

RS#82 The Ariel Story

Once again we are back on the road with Rucks and USX, just like when he swam in the pond, took an Ambien, tried to smuggle contraband onto an airplane ,swam 1 mile in a 12 yard pool, etc…..This time he is in Birmingham to work at a customer we have there. Its Spring 2006 and this is still pre IM training Rucks, which means not only was he a tad heavier, he still drank on occasion, and would go-out at night instead of to bed at 8 pm.

He is at a bar and meets this nice girl, has few drinks and gets to talking. She is on the way to Montgomery and will be back through Birmingham in a couple days, so they plan to hook up then. She swings by in a couple days and — I am guessing here because Rucks is not a kiss and tell kind of guy– fireworks went off and everyone was happy.

Fast forward a couple months and Chad has been telling me he has a story for me. He gets around to telling it to me and Ben over lunch one day at Moes. It is pretty much identicle to the one above except for this extra little tid bit

Now since marital fidelity is one of the cornerstones of my personal code of moral,ethical, and religious beliefs, you can see the dilema Rucks had put me in. (oddly enough the “Homewrecker” is my favorite dish at Moes’s….)

So, after a couple of days I decided I had to tell my wife even though there was like .0001 chance that anything would come of it. My good friend Rucks refused to come over and man up and tell her himself , so I had to take matters into my own hands.