Oh, It's A Nice One!!!

I had the pleasure to go ride my bike with Mr. Riekena today, we went out on our mountain bikes and rode some gravel roads. We were joking around quite a bite...I mean bit when we came up on a house where we knew we had seen some dogs before. As we got closer we saw that there were 5 dogs anxiously awaiting our arrival. When we got next to the drive the dogs started coming out one at a time, nothing out of the ordinary as far as dogs running along side of us and growling and barking. The first one was a brown dog and then there were 3 black dogs and one very small dog. The largest black dog had an aggressive growl so I was really watching this one when the brown dog snuck in behind me and bit me on the calf....."What the @#$@" I exclaimed with joy!!! I shot for the other side of the road and quickly accelerated, still a little shocked at what had just happened. We rode clear of the dogs and about 1/2 mile down the road we stopped and checked out my leg, I wanted to go back to see if the dog had it's shots but I really didn't want to get bit again so we rode on.

We finished out our ride and had a really good time. The bite really isn't very bad although it is pretty painful and there seems to be some swelling, I cleaned it up and will keep a very close eye on it. I really wasn't sure how to handle the situation so I called Rolfe McCoy because he has had the same thing happen and I wanted to get his advice. He said it was best to contact the Sheriff Dept and let them handle the incident, he said if there is no proof of shots then the will impound the dog for 10 days to make sure it is not rabid. So I took his advice and went up to the Sheriff's office and made a report, they are going out to check the dog and then we will go from there. I told the Deputy that I am not wanting anything to happen to the dog, I just want to make sure that I am okay.

Molly was a little freaked out at first but now she is just tired of me running in circles yelling "Bacon, Bacon, Bacon, Bacon, Bacon" (Mitch doesn't know it's not bacon). I sent her out to the store for some crackers and she came back with some Milkbones.....they are not too bad!!!

The Loop & Wind

I went out yesterday afternoon and rode the loop, it was a beautiful day but the wind was very stout. It was a rough start since the first 1/4 of the ride was into the wind but I knew that I would have a tailwind on the way home. In the flat on 190 heading toward Hwy Y, I was in my drops keeping a very low profile and was grinding a steady 12 mph. Wow, I'm a stud!!! Some of the climbs heading into the wind, especially at the top of the climb, were really tough. I refused to get out of my big ring so it was a challenge to say the least. When I got the tailwind it was awesome, at one point I was geared out, hauling tail, and felt like I was spinning out!!!

I did disturb my groin a bit, I sure am tired of hurting everyday...so I'm making a choice, I'm done hurting (Stupid pain).

It's A Start

I was able to get out on a partial road ride yesterday after work, I didn't have much time due to it getting dark but decided that something was better than nothing. I went out 190 and headed North on Y for about a mile and then turned around and rode back home. I had some serious STS (Skinny Tire Syndrome) going on but things came around pretty quickly. Of course it was wet out but I didn't care, I was on my bike so the rest didn't really matter. I flew out of town quick, in fact it didn't take long for the lactic acid to start building up. I had no workout in mind for the ride other than just getting out to ride my bike but I ended up riding to Y at just below lactic threshold. When I made the turn North I felt the crosswind out of the ESE and realized that my ride home would not be so fast. Sure enough it was in my face, it wasn't horrible but it was still a headwind. With the lack of riding lately along with the cool damp air it felt like I had a 10 lb. weight on my chest when I was trying to get oxygen. The ride was nothing like I had been used to so it was a bit disconcerting to me. I am not surprised at the level of my performance with inability to workout the past several weeks but it was still frustrating. But of course there is good news to this, I know where I was and how to get there so now it is just getting dialed back in. I am struggling with one (some might call it two!!) issue yet, I will spare you the details right now although I will say I am in pain most of the day from it (except while I was riding yesterday).

I had my commuter headlight turned on in the flashing mode yesterday and I decided to see how slow I was riding into the headwind, I looked down and was at 38 mph......what the heck???? My speed bounced from 36-40 mph, it took me a while to figure out that the flashing light was messing with my computer (a few pins short of a strike......I get it now!!!).

I must say that I can't describe how good it felt to be back on my bicycle!!!!

In The Beginning

Tonight I went to the Y and got back on a bike for the first time in a while, I was "that guy" tonight. You know, the one that didn't do what everyone else did.....the one that just sat there spinning at a easy pace while everyone else was working their tails off. Actually it was kind of a test night for my hip and my groin and it went pretty well. I had zero pain in my hip and Iwouldn't really say I had pain in my groin but it sure felt weird. I'm glad I didn't do the speed work because I don't want to aggrivate anything but I know I need to get more aggressive soon. But for right now it was good to be back on a bike, when I got home I ate like I had ridden the loop with a 20 avg. I blame that on my wife since she cooks so good!!!!

Cart Before The Horse????

I am figuring out the hard way that some injuries are not as easy to bounce back from than others. Too many times I have had an injury and basically told myself to get up and keep going because the more I dwell on it the longer it will keep me down. Well I should have listened to my body more on this last episode, I'm not surprised that I reacted the way I did (it was the same approach as usual). I think that when I took the hit several things happened just right to put me in some serious pain and I tried to come back too soon. Now I am off my bike for a while (I can't stand it) but if I don't I will not heal the way I need to. My biggest concern is that I won't be nearly as ready for Hills of Hell as I should be but I am just going to use that as a training race, my goals aren't to win anything this year they are about testing my mind, and my body with ultra endurance events. I know that I will have to ride smart this year to stay healthy, I'm not usually a big risk taker but there are times that I will let it eat and I will have to be cautious not to get out of control. I think I have to get aggressive from time to time to keep my edge, if it's not an edge I guess it's just round.....been there, done that (that was about 80 lbs ago).

It's time to start a strong base.

First of all I saw that Hammer Nutrition has a new flavor of hammer gel out, it's called Montana Huckleberry. I know that when my Dad and I went bear hunting in Montana several years back we stayed at a small bed and breakfast and that gal used Huckleberry's in a lot of different things. It's funny, I don't remember what they taste like. I'll have to get a couple single serve gels and see if I like them before I commit to the jug, I prefer buying my gel in the 26 serving jug.

Well DK200 registration opened up last night at 11:00 p.m. and I was logged on right at 11:00 and already had my information set and ready to go. When I went to submit my info the system kicked me out saying I didn't have a USA cycling license number listed and needed to do so. I didn't have to have a license last year, I had planned on getting one this year but I just didn't realize I would need it for this. I opened a new page and went to the USA cycling site, I already had my information in their system but I just hadn't purchased a license. So I filled out the remainder of the information for purchasing a license and then jumped back over to the DK200 registration at www.bikereg.com (this process took maybe 5 minutes). By the time I had got back to DK there were over 50 people registered. That was pretty amazing because a few years back they only allowed 75 racers and it would take awhile to sell out. As it is with most events (well run events that is) the interest grew, and last year they raised the allowed riders to 100 and sold out in just 4 days. This year the total number of riders was raised to 150 and I saw that they actually had 160 registered riders (cause some don't show) and the event sold out in 12 hr 45 min. WOW, Jim Cummins and Joel Dyke should be very proud of the work that they have done. They would be the first to tell you that they don't do it on their own but they have taken on an enormous task with promoting this race and really done an outstanding job.

I finally got back on the trainer yesterday for an hour and paid the price today, the pain in my hip and upper leg was so severe today that I could hardly walk. I don't know what to do, I am getting so frustrated and honestly down right angry. I want to ride my bike so bad but tired of the pain. I don't mind some pain, aches, and being tired but there is something wrong here. I have to travel to Columbia tomorrow for work but I am off the next 2 days so I am hoping I can figure something out in that time frame.

Left Behind?????

Many of you know that I have been having continued pain in my hip and groin from the wreck almost 2 weeks ago. I went to spin class Tue night and did pretty well, only a couple times did I have severe pain. Now Wed morning was a different story, I was in intense pain for most of the day. By not riding much I feel like I am getting left behind, rightfully so because everyone else needs to do their thing too. I decided to test it out today, I rode the trainer for an hour and really only felt the pain when I stood to climb. I didn't do anything special, pretty much just spun for the hour and I felt pretty weak. Of course I didn't eat very well prior and riding indoors is just so boring.

Registration for DK200 is tonight, originally I thought it was midnight but Jim Cummins reminded me today that the website is on the east coast so it actually opens at 11 p.m. our time.

Ends?

Let me start of by saying that it will be a week tomorrow since my nice ice wipe out and my groin is still in some severe pain, I know the cold weather isn't helping but I tired of hurting.

Anyway this post is something that I have been kicking back and forth for quite awhile, and that is do I want to put bar ends on my mountain bikes. I'm pretty sure that I want to put them on my single speed, I do a lot more standing on that bike while climbing and it would be nice to have a different grip especially when doing a rowing motion with the upper body. I do some long rides on my full suspension bike and there are some areas that bar ends would be a nice break from just using the regular grips. I don't stand as much on that bike because I lose too much power due to the rear shock. I think there are some technical climbs that I would like to have the ends though.

Tim has a sweet pair of Ergon grips that look to be very comfortable on a long ride, I know he likes to do gravel grinders on his Niner. My concern, and I know his too when he bought them, is how they would feel in technical riding but I think he has gotten used to them.

I have to admit that while writing this post up I have been eating some of Molly's homemade chocolate chip cookies............stupid calories. I am not getting hardly any workouts in with my schedule and now this stupid injury and Molly likes to bake really good stuff. I think I need to have Coach make me start making weight certain days of the week so that I make sure not to eat too much, especially when I'm not getting in the workouts. We knew better than to not make weight in wrestling, it's all a matter of will power.........now where did I put that at? It's been a rough end of 2009, I am ready to get some training started for Chuckie's Challenge and then Hills of Hell, I feel like I am so far behind.