"Running John" is Dead. Long live "Cycling Johnny"

We are gathered here today to celebrate the memory of our friend "Running John" who is no longer with us. May he rest in piece.

Running John was last seen on October 28, 2011 at the Morgan Hill half marathon. According to eye witness reports his right calf muscle gave out around mile 4 of the race with a loud pop and a fiery explosion. Several bystanders were taken the hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

Unable to run for the past month due to his lingering calf injury, Running John has taken up cycling to stay fit and have fun. In fact, word in the Peloton is that he has even joined a bike racing team (San Jose Cycling Club developmental squad) and plans to focus on bike racing next year.

Already this offseason Cycling Johnny has found some success with club races that involve lots of short climbs. While not the lightest rider (probably due to his love of German wheat beer) he isn't able to hang with the waifs on the long mountain climbs. However, on shorter climbs of a mile or less he is surprisingly sometimes able to ride away from the field.

In fact, recently Cycling Johnny became to the fastest person to have EVER ridden the Alamden Dam Climb in a time of 2:21, over 12 seconds quicker than the previous record holder. Must be all the glycogen from that German Dunkelweizen beer.