Zombie Night Out and the Miracle of Cycling!

My high school friends and college roommates, Lance, Rich and I went to the original Dawn of the Dead movie in 1978. A few years ago there was a remake. I thought about how it would be a lot of fun to have a reunion of sorts around this zombie redux.

Rich and I have had our share of reunions. Aside from high school and college graduations. We've had USAF OTS and Spokane/Spokane Valley Firefighter Recruit School graduations. Rich and I have led lives that have, at times, mirrored each other. Lance, on the other hand is much more elusive. Here is a picture taken in 2004 or 2005 right before we saw the remake of Dawn of the Dead, which was not as good as the original. I have never been one to go in for zombies that sprint or do more than shuffle. I mean WTF, they're dead already. That's Lance in the middle. Rich is on the left and I'm on the right striking zombieish poses.


Well, here's the picture from the night before last when we saw ZombieLand at the Garland. Yes, in this movie the zombies are a little too fast at times for my liking, but live and yet live and yet live again is my new motto. Lance is still in the middle. Rich and I have switched sides.

Lance lost a ton of weight. Between photos, he had gotten even heavier than the first picture. At our 30th high school reunion in 2008, Lance had dumped much of the weight. How?

He did it by changing one thing in his life. His bicycle became his primary vehicle. No dieting. No workout regimen other than how he gets from Point A to Point B. Although he does enjoy cycling so much he participates in a lot of just-for-fun rides too.

Lance told me that bicycling saved his life. I believe him. He, like I, acknowledge that it is the most fun way to get anywhere. Like all of us, he has had his share of close calls, once getting clocked in the head by an RV's mirror.

Lance is also a pied-piper of cycling. He has gifted many people with bicycles and has organized rides for others.

When we were kids, Lance was the ultimate motorhead. He could tell you the part number for just about any oil filter and could rebuild any motor. His high school ride was a '41 Chevy. Today, he shuns cars as much as possible and acknowledges that the bicycle is probably the greatest invention and cars close to the worst. Maybe I am putting words in Lance's mouth, but I think he would say something like that.

Let your bicycle be your inoculation against the Zombie Disease gripping our nation. Perhaps you know this sickness better by its scientific name - automobile centric lifestyle syndrome.