Learning how to walk again

So since the last post, I've been to a sports specialist, had Xrays taken, had an MRI done and now been to Physical Therapy. AND I'm still not exactly sure what is wrong yet. I meet the sports doc again next Friday to go over the MRI's and then also talk about my shoulder (whole other story).

Frankly I think my knees are fine and the tendons for the most part. My physical therapist says my problems stem from my Mother (not....)

Ok, what we think is really wrong is that I never did heal correctly from when I sprained my ankle a few years back. It looks like I have been favoring it and over-rotating out my foot outward to reduce the amount of pressure that is put on it. That in turn though puts more pressure and stress on other parts of my leg since I am stressing those parts more by a more unnatural gate. The stress of that 90 mile ride to Julian was what tipped me over and caused the rupture/stress/pull whatever it is that actually happened to the side of my knee (because being clipped into the pedals causes my legs to bend (or just work) correctly, but since my leg was not accustomed to working correctly it said WTF and here we are).

So my doc will look at healing the knee and my physical therapist will now work on teaching me how to walk right.

Atleast I think that is where we are at today. We'll see what the doc says on Friday and go from there.

I did go for a 15 mile ride on Monday with absolutely no pain, but quite often the pain does not start until about 20 miles into it. Every seems to be surprised though when I tell them the pain doesn't start for 20 miles. I think they look at me and say, "you can go 20 miles????" And I think to myself, Oh no you di ent...

Holding Pattern

Cycling is in a total holding pattern right now.

My injury unfortuneatly did not heal itself. I went riding about 2 weeks ago, about a 25 mile ride and I felt ok. It did not hurt as bad as it did during the Century, so I was pretty hopeful. But I went for a ride last weekend and it was bad, real bad.

I did my normal route up Olympic, then Hunte to Proctor Vly road. But even going up Olympic at Chick Filet it start to hurt, and got progressively worse. By the time I got to Hawkeye Park it was pretty bad. I called Lotus, but she was out with Fia shopping in PB. So I figured I could make it home, since it's mostly downhill.

IT HURT SO BAD!!!!

If you saw me, you probably got a good laugh. Here was a big guy on a bike pedaling with one leg, the other just hanging loose, staying clear of the pedals. So going down most of of Olympic I was using my right leg as little as possible because I knew I would need it to go up Sensai hill.

I got home, but it hurt real bad. It actually hurt more than after the century and hurt longer.

I called to finally make an appt with my regular doctor. He could see me on Dec 15th. Are you kidding me A MONTH.... I know what I need to do is just get to a physical therapist, but I don't want to wait a month to do it. I'd like to try to ride the Solvang Century which is in March, so I need to start my rehab ASAP.

I called back and none of the other doctors in that faciltiy could see me any sooner than that either....

The next day I thought that maybe it would be better to go to a Sports Specialist anyway, so I called and made an appt with one in Eastlake and he can see me next week!!!! Yeah!!! So I think this will probably work out for the best.

I don't have anytime to ride right now anyway, work is crazy this time of year, so as long as I can hopefully be able to start riding again in January, I should be able to try to do the Solvang Century.

DNF

Yup, that's the result of my first Century, big fat Did Not Finish.

I've been experiencing some knee pain these last few weeks and it reared it's ugly head up big time during the century.

I got through all the real tough riding no problem (all the climbing was in the first part of the ride). But then around mile 40 it got real bad. I felt it starting around mile 15 or so, but as the day wore on it just got worse and worse. Like I said at about mile 40 I knew I was not going to finish the ride. Every pedal stroke just hurt worse than the one before it.

Two guys I was riding with helped me get to the end by pulling for me (letting me draft off of them). It actually helped a lot. Those last two miles were really bad.

Lotus was waiting for me at the 3rd check point (mile 53) with the monkey to cheer me on. Luckily she actually had my van with her, so my bike actually fit inside along with the car seat.

Oh well, what are ya gonna do. It sucks because I totally could have done it and I spent a LOT of time training for it, so not to complete it is a downer. But stuff happens, you just need to accept it and move on.

Almost There

The Century is almost here. It's next Sunday, Oct 5th. I feel I'm pretty ready for it. We actually did a ride last week, which I feel was actually harder than the Century will be. That ride was 92 miles and went from near the 56 to Alpine, via Ramona and Santa Isabel. That ride had a lot of climbing in it, about 3 times more than the actual Century, so I feel I should be able to handle the 102 miles of the century.

I went riding today and struggled to do 50, but that was mainly due to a new pain I'm getting in my right knee. Hopefully this was just a today problem, not one that will persist, since I have not really had this problem in the past.

Silence is Golden

I feel like I had one of my most enjoyable rides ever today. I went riding this afternoon after hustling through what I had to get done at Pendleton today. I was going to go ride in the morning, but I just wasn't feeling it dog...

Anyway, My bike had recently developed a clicking sound. Upon each revolution of the cranks it would go "click". When there is a lot of other noise around you, you don't notice it much. But when you are strugling up a hill at 6MPH you hear nothing but that damn clicking!!!!!!

I had just taken my bike into Trek about 2-3 weeks ago and they put on a new chain and cleaned the gears. The sound started right after that. So of course it was their fault (of couse I am wrong again).

It was just a coincidence. My actual hub was dirty, in that there was sand or dirt in it. So the mechanic told me he would take it apart and clean it and that should make the clicking go away.

I am happy to report it did!!!!

When I started my ride I could not believe how quiet my bike was. All I could hear was the whiring of my wheels. for a cyclist it's almost nirvana like. If you ever watch a time trial it's the sound you hear there. just one guy pedaling; whir,whir,whir. It was fantastic.

My First Century

Last Saturday I did my first Century!!!

I didn't even realize I had done it until Dave (one of the ride leaders) had mentioned it to me at mile 63.

Wait for it.......

Yes we did a metric century, 100 kilometers!!!!

5 hours in the saddle...

Ohhh I hurt.

I went out and bought some new shorts this week. Hopefully that will help.

Honey Springs Road

My ride this last saturday was a doozy. I had no idea there was such a creature so close to where I live.

This last Saturday we rode from the Rancho San Diego area to the Chula Vista Trek store, back out Otay Lakes to the 94 and then up HONEY SPRINGS ROAD.....

It sounds nice enough, but trust me 7 miles of climbing in 104 degree heat (and I mean climbing, a little over 2000 feet of climbing) can really test a cyclist. Quite a few people actually didn't make it had to stop and get picked up so they could fight another day. If you live in Chula Vista and are familiar with Chick-Filet hill imagine going up that for 7 miles in 104 degree heat. I actually had to stop 3 times myself just for a breather each time.

I drank 5 bottle of fluid (either Gatorade or water), ate 8 fig newtons, 2 Gu packs, and 2 sport bean packs and still came back 3.5lbs lighter than when I left that morning.

After the hill we still had about 15 miles of riding to get back to the start, but after the hill, that was nothing. Here is a link to the ride.

The real kicker of it, was the heat and the fact that the hill came in the back part of the ride. Until now, most of our climbing has been in the front part of the ride, which makes sense, as each week builds upon the previous. Next week has even more total climbing, but it's broken out a bit more and no single hill as severe as HONEY SPRINGS ROAD.

I'm insulted (I think)

I was on my Saturday group ride last week and one of the ride leaders was riding behind me. One of the things we were working on was drafting last week, which means riding as close as you can to the guy in front of you as you have the nerve to do. The closer the better, but usually you want to stay within 1 tire length (ya I know, it's a bit scary, but if you trust the guy in front of you not to make any sudden changes, it's not that bad. But becuase we are all newbies I only trust a handful of the group so far). When you are drafting behind someone, they say you usually use 30% less energy than they guy who is on the lead. It's bizarrly true. Besides the actual incline of the road the wind or just wind resistence can truely affect your ride. If it's really windy, the wind itself can actually stop you in your tracks.

But anyway we were riding up the PCH and the ride leader behind me says, "Hey, you give good draft". If he wasn't actually bigger than me, I would be insulted, but since he is, we both kinda laughed. My bike is set a bit more upright than most road bikes, so I would give a larger draft than most.

It's my bike set up, ya that's it.

THOR WINS!!!! THOR WINS!!!!

Thor Husovd the God of Thunder won stage 2 in the Tour de France on Sunday!!!

It was very close, there were a few riders nipping at his heels, but he held them off to take it at the line.

THOR WINS!!! THOR WINS!!!

(Insert Thunder clap here)

Have a nice day.

Oh it's on

The Tour started today and the first stage had an impressive end. Alejandro Valverde who is one of the favorites to win the whole thing made an amazing acceleration at the end of the stage to win it. It was like everyone else was standing still. It was quite impressive.

Kind of reminded me of my ride today. I was doing my Saturday training group ride and a few groups passed us like we were standing still. Man I still have a looong way to go.

We did 37 miles today and I felt pretty good afterwards. I could have went much farther if needed. I did manage to break my seat post today on the ride though. I was "dancing on the pedals" going up a hill and on the top of the hill I guess I just sat down with too much force (or ass) for my poor bike and I heard this load CRACK. I pulled over quickly and did not notice anything really wrong a the time. But as I continued I felt the seat getting a little bit looser, until with about a mile left I knew it was going to give at any minute.

So I cautiously finished the ride and luckily it never came off the post. I took it into Trek today and they ordered the new post from Trek HQ. Hopefully it will come in this week so I can ride this coming saturday. It will be by far our toughest ride, 4000 feet of climbing (mama mia) and I'm actually interested to see how I would fair.

Good Stuff costs Good Money

Shoot riding a nice bike costs lots of money. It's kind of like owning a German or Italian Sports car. When everything is working right, there is nothing like it, but when they break, oh man...

Right now I really need new tires. My current tires (or tyres in Europe) are getting pretty worn, and the rear one is actually pretty scary looking with all the micro-cuts in it. It's just a matter of time. Minimum I'm probably looking at $60 for the pair (now remember, you can buy a new bike at Target for $80 or so).

THEN my garmin Edge 305 started acting up on Sunday. I rode my bike towing Crong to visit my parents on Sunday. Everything was fine going there, but when I went to leave my Garmin would not turn on. When I got home I looked on the website for how to reset it, and that seemed to work, but when I tried to download the data, it would not transmit. And now it's only turning on sporatically.......

I sent an email to Garmin, we'll see what they say. It's not under warranty anymore, so it will probably cost me $99 to fix it... Hmmm the new 705 would only be 499 or so... NOT.... Maybe I'll read the fine print again with my credit card. I think the one I usually used last year actually extends the warranty for a year on anything you buy. That would be sweet.

Here we Go!!!

I just pedaled my 3,000th mile a week or so ago on Thunder (my road bike). I just checked and I bought the bike in Dec of 2005. Considering I really have not riden more than 200 miles in the last 6 months, that would mean I was averaging 1500 miles a year (not bad for a recreational rider).

Well I'm hoping to get my milage and fitness back to where they were and then some.

I got an email from my local Trek bike shop that said, "Want to ride a Century? We can help you do it"

Ok they piqued my interest, as I read on it's an email about their Century training program that helps you build up your milage so that you can participate and finish a Century (A bike ride of 100 miles) and in this case the one they are pointing towards the Poway Century the first Sinday in October. As I read on I say to myself, I've always wanted to, the training is free, why not!!!

So this group rides on Saturday mornings and gradually rides farther each week, starting this Saturday with a 25 mile ride. Then adding about 5 miles each Saturday. They also recommend some smaller rides during the week, which shouldn't be a probelm to complete, except for trying to schedule them into my day (or night).

But the key thing about this, is that it will have tremendous benefits to me physically and emotionally. In total I should do about 1800 miles over the next 4 months including the event. That equates to 129,600 calories burned or about 37 extra pounds burned off vs. doing nothing.

I'm excited!!!

Here we Go!!!

Whoa this sucks

This makes me cring. There was a recent bike race in Mexico right across the border from Brownsville Texas. Here is a link for some video.

link to kare video

Newschannel 5 story and video

Freakin Idiot. He apparently was soo drunk that he just passed out behind the wheel and plowed into the group of cyclists. There was even a cop there who totally swerved out of the way of the car.

Look what I found

You may be saying, "What is it?" It looks like a funky corn dog woth powdered sugar and sprinkles??? But that just does not sound like a food.

Well you are close. It is actually the thing that I went all the way to London to look for, the thing I was kicking myself for not finding when I was in New York, the thing that I was soo disappointed with when I tried it at the del mar fair, it is a.........

DEEP FRIED TWINKIE!!!!!!!!!!

But this one was done right. What is so hard about sticking a stick into a twinkie, dipping it in a healthy (ha ha) amount of batter and deep frying the sucker.

IT WAS GOOD..... Pretty much everything I was expecting it to be. Not the best dessert I ever had, even by a long shot, but it was everything I thought it should be. A fun over the top treat. Nice creamy center, soft normal twinkie cake blending into the battered shell.

The powdered sugar was good. I'm glad it had some. It's sad but I think if they put a little whipped cream on top with the powdered sugar it would really top it off. It would add a little extra creaminess to ofset the powdered sugar.

Well if you are every in downtown Las Vegas, right next to Glitter Gultch on the corner is some kind of carribian themed casino. In the back you can get some Nathan's hot dogs (which were also pretty good must say), but you will also find the elusive deep fried twinkie!!!

Here is a pic of the inside.

Sorry about the picture quality on the second shot. The camera rep doesn't have a camera with him and is still learning how to properly use his phone camera.