BadAss…
Greetings Readers!
I remember one day, a sunny beautiful day out on the bike loving every little nuance and detail of a ride just right. It was some time ago, but I remember it well, I was on my beater road bike and crusing along. I saw a figure up ahead and chased it down. As I came up on him I noticed several things: 1) It was an old man. And 2) He was on a Time VXRS. Now I’m 45 so I’m no spring chicken and when I refer to an old man I’m talking 60+ years of age. Now, there is nothing wrong with age, age brings wisdom and the ability to cherish and appreciate all things good in life that youth takes for granted. The only downside to age is the lack of watts, you just can’t bring it like you used too. So having said that I come on this older gentleman on a Time VXRS. Holy Shit! That is serious Bling that guy is riding! The guy clearly had been riding all his life, he was in the drops, nice cadence, body position, knees in, flat back and crusing along. Shit eating grin on his face.
How absolutely Badass I thought, I pray that when I’m his age that I’ll be outfitted with the finest of bicycletry that the industry can produce, and that I’ll be still out riding and enjoying those sunny days. I was so envious of him. He was relishing it, every minute. Now I’ve never been one unwilling to open up my wallet for my beloved cycling. Those of us who are fortunate enough to have found something in life that truly brings us joy and happiness usually don’t bitch about the cost. You can’t put a price on Joy. So Older man spends 7 or 8 grand on a Campy Record equipped VXRS and rolling Zipps , Kudos to him, Bravo! What else is he gonna spend his money on? Some arygle polyester slacks for the weekend golf game? You can’t take it with you to the grave, spend it on your love old man, and enjoy!
This brings me to the reason for this post…
I found this picture on the Lobsta’ site and Paul had just built this beautiful steel road machine for a client. The pic tells the tale, an Older gentleman, picking up his new custom Lobsta’ steed. Properly dressed in an argyle sweater and slacks, and what appears to be Shimano road shoes. The smile (shit eating grin) on the mans face is priceless, its new bike love. I’ve seen it many times, unfortunately just not often enough on someone older than 60 and that is a damn shame, As if the prerequiste for custom is 45 years of age or below. Again, Bravo! I salute you and wish all the cherished rides that custom steed can produce. I mock you not sir, for you give me hope. That I too will be healthy and still on the bike 20 years from now. That I too will be capturing my new custom road machine while into retirement. That I’ll still have the love of the bike, and cherish each new day and all the miles that go along with it. Gongrats on your new Lobsta’ Sir, and Ride On!
Cheers!
Posts….
Greetings readers,
Saw this on Velonews, it’s worth a read for all you crossers looking to get into tubbies next year, and all you white underbelly of cross veterans who’ve been sportin’ low pressure for years……
http://www.velonews.com/article/85785/testing-tubular-cyclocross-tires-from-challenge-dugast-and
Cheers!
Today’s ride..
Greetings Readers,
It was cold this morning as I clipped in for a road ride. I thought of Devin, who was racing at the USGP, something I had planned on doing all year. I’ve tried to put a good face on it, but the truth is I’ve had a very dissapointing season. Sports is an up and down battle, what impresses me most is consistency. It’s very difficult to be consistent in sports, let alone cross where 50 things can go wrong at every race and precious seconds make the differance in the front half or the back half of the race.
I was flying high at the dirt crits back in early Sept, in great shape and insatiably hungry for cross and racing in general, I had waited and trained all year. Inevitably I got the bug and made a critical error, I raced Barlow when I should have recovered from illness. Instead I put my body in the red and compromised my immune system allowing the bug to take a firm hold on me. I would miss Alpenrose the following week, and although I did Wilsonville, Rainier, and Astoria, I never felt good again. I would then miss Barton and PIR as the bug resurfaced, only to have Hillsboro be my last race. Pulling my back out 3 times over the course of the last few weeks has taken the remaining season away from me.
I road today unable to really put any power into the pedals while seated, the back is still too sore. I’d be forced out of the saddle on every little rise as the lesser of the two evils of back pain while my left leg could not match any power output by my right leg. Riding was difficult. I’m a shadow of what I was 3 months ago.
Typically, people who race cross are very competitive, you don’t go through that kind of suffering just for kicks, results matter, it’s the only way we can quantify our efforts. Getting less than satisfactory results or losing to your nemisis pisses you off. A bad race can leave a bitter taste in your mouth for a long time. It’s difficult to look at what the positives are based on your failed expectations. In some ways I did well this year but I failed in a lot of others. I missed a lot of races this year and that hurt, bad. It’s not like I can just race cross whenever I want, I’ll now wait till next Sept to wet my whistle again. Participating sick isn’t enough either as I learned from Barlow, going out and sucking doesn’t satisfy the hunger to perform. People will tell you all day long, “you did great” and “at least your out there”, bullshit. I want to ride away on a bike made of their bones, I want to put the hurt on my competitors and crush them and I can’t.
A good friend of mine is a cyclist, he’s gifted, athletic and is far faster than I. I learned a long time ago that I would never be able to beat him, it would be something I would have to live with cuz it’s not going to happen. A lesson I learned from him: there will always be faster and slower guys than yourself, accept it. Which is fine with me as long as they are slower, its the when they are faster part that I have a problem with. Oh well, whatever. Which brings me to my point, to some degree, your competeing with yourself and your own results, consistently challenging yourself to do better. Despite getting your ass handed to you by the same group of guys race after race.
I’m going to give some props to Devin and Marcelo, and my fellow racers that raced a full season. That is victory in of itself to some degree. They both are competitors, and if they were satisfied with there results I’d be worried. After reading Dev’s blog, he’s not happy with his weekend of racing, I’m not happy with my season of racing. We both are pissed, dissapointed, frustrated. Dev if your reading: you had a good season, you made leaps from last year and there is nuthin’ but upside for you pal.
My racing age for cross next year will be 46, I’m not getting any younger. I’m certainly not going to start producing more watts. I want to race the “B’s” and SingleSpeed class next year before I get put out to pasture in the 50 till death category 3 years later. I’ve still goals, I still want to produce a “complete” race. I still want to compete, and I still want that top twenty. I don’t want it from the weekend warriors either, I want it earned from the big dawgs and that is a tall order indeed.
I put in the miles this year, had I not gotten sick who knows? Would I have gotten a point? A callup? Probably not, but a full season of racing would have been nice. Knowing how hard I trained this last year and my lifestyle demands, available time and energy for improvment isn’t going to magically expand and present itself. I’m going to have to learn how to race and be a better racer. Racing makes you a better racer. Even with the same physical limitations I beleive I can go faster, race smarter. That’s got to be my goal, to be a better racer, I’m never going to be more than fodder, but I can come away from a race knowing I couldn’t have gone any faster, that I haven’t done yet. A simple thing like a bad read into a corner and a crappy line selection can cost you a dabble or a placing, that has nothing to do with fitness.
On thing is for sure, I’ll keep trying. I need to drop more weight, come into next season weighing 145, 5 lbs less than this year. I’ll ride as much as possible, ride smarter and go harder when I need to and slower when I need to recover. I’ll pracitce my drills and improve my remounts. I’ll do more intervals and improve my acceleration. I want to “Flow”, lots of times I’m connecting the dots in a race. Analizing my efforts, It needs to be instinctive to me. Don’t think too much, just full powa and grace. That is what I want from myself, even if I get beat (and I will) by my friends and nemisis. I want to have a complete race. When that happens I’ll have no regrets, despite my placing or the class I race.
For now it’s December, time to eat, drink and be merry. Let go of it for awhile Jim. 2009 brings the start of a new year, lots of promise and hard work await me. After all, Cross will only be 9 months away… 
BTW, it was a great ride today…..
Cheers!
Peterson McRidge
Twas thanksgiving weekend and all through Central Oregon not a creature was stirring, not even a deer. (they line the roads like sleeping dogs) Mom, my pal Tim, the moneypit and I all headed east to get out of dodge and enjoy some schweet, and I do mean schweet riding. Central Oregon is prime real estate, Cycling nervana I tell ya. Somebody PLEASE offer me a job over there so I can become a resident!
After missing Krugers with a bum back, I was so looking forward to some sheer joy riding on my cross bike on CO singletrack. I love cross, words can’t describe my deep affection for the pain and suffering that earns my passage to all things barrier and runup. I do however, also love to ride in general. Road, Mtn, Cross, you name it, if I’m pedaling I love it. My plan was to kinder the spirit and put a chester cheetah grin all over my face while riding my bike, eating, drinking and being merry.
Friday Morning we pilled up the car, loaded the bikes and made the 3 hour drive to Sisters where with daylight closing, we planned a quick trip around Peterson to wet our appetites for the 3 days of riding that awaited us. We had a ball on Friday, and much to my absolute joy, the Peterson Ridge trail has been expanded. Peterson has always been one of my favorites, don’t know why? It’s not hard, but it has such a great flow to it…. Anyway, my only complaint about it has been the length, too damn short. At 15.5 miles your just getting your grove on and it’s over. Now, with all the add ons and planned additions I can play for hours in this cherished little network. Map of Peterson is HERE. More Sisters trails info: HERE. Some guy in a group of Mtn Bikers looked at us and said: “you guys are hard core! riding cross bikes out here?” Traci, Tim and I looked at each other: “what he’s kidding right?” Seriously, crossers are made for this kinda singletrack..
A pic of North Sister, top covered in wind blown clouds. Middle Sister isn’t even detectable.
Me crusing along looking down right bored, checking the scenery…
Mom, crusing along and climbing some singletrack with me up in the distance..
My pal Tim, “what the hell is taking you guys so long!”
Tim, was the only one to pull an endo, flying upside down with his ass in the air and feet flailing, he ate it good while bunnyhopping a log, Mom and I had a great laugh at Tim’s expense. Timmy, do that more often will ya?
We had a great time and Saturday promised even more as we were chomping at the bit for Phils network. Twas not to be: while pulling on my bibs Saturday morning I felt my back pop AGAIN. For the 3rd time in 2 weeks I was in serious pain, any of you with back trouble know what I’m talkin’ bout. Not only was my weekend in Bend shot, but my chance at racing the USGP right along with it.
I managed to somehow get on the bike, and sat and pedaled along Cline Falls Hwy. Everytime I moved a millimeter in the saddle shots of pain rang through my body. It was the worst ride I’ve ever done. Beautiful road ride, but with Michy Muds on pavement and in that kind of pain, I couldn’t enjoy it.
I’m slowly healing, my back will get better. Cross season is over for me now, with only the GP and Psycho Cross left to race I’m running out of venues and it will be Sept of 09 till I can line up again. Whoa is me right? Wrong. There’s lots of riding tween now and then and every minute spent on the bike is a cherished treasure. I can’t wait till the next ride, no matter what it is. Devin and I plan lots of Character building ass kicking rides on our single speeds in the spring, cross base training at it’s best. Lots of good Ole’ sufferin to look forward too.
BTW, Mr. John Hacking we thought about you and how much that crosser of yours would have enjoyed Peterson. Too bad your in Houston. Doh! WTH John? Move home will ya?
I’d like to take a few minutes to thank a couple of people for giving me some desperately needed press, all three of them have FAR better blogs than I. They all have better content, better graphics, better backgrounds, better writing, training tips, etc, etc, etc. All I do is tell my story and for some reason, they have chosen to include me in their blog rolls. Muchas I say.
K-man, RCMT, and CrossJunkie, thank you. (you can find there blogs in my blogroll cuz I give back yo’)
Cheers!
4007
Greetings Readers!
I’ve waited all year, all year long, just to write this post. You see, I hit my goal today, the biggest year (in terms of mileage) I’ve had since I took up the bike again a decade ago. I’ve come close, I think I hit around 3700 in 2004 but I was dead set on hitting 4000 miles in 2008. And, I did it with a month to spare.
Keep in mind this is Da Fodder, I’m a Mstr C ridin’ workin stiff with a family. I’m no Cat 1/2, so 4000 is a big year for me. Can I hit 5000 next year? I’d need to average another 84 miles a month all year. Tall order.
This past week has been ROUGH. I had a great day returning to racing last week, but there was a casualty, my back. I think I pulled it during the race, and as Sunday wore on my pain steadily increased. By Monday morning I was locked up and unable to bend over or anything. I was fortunate to get in to see a very talented physican who put me back together. I slowly started to get better until Thursday went I bent over and through my back out again for the 2nd time in 5 days. Again, I was fortunate to get in to see Dr John, who for the second time put me back together and gave me a shot in my back and some good drugs. That was around lunch time and I went straight home and missed the rest of my work day. Friday morning I was still in traction, and couldn’t go in to work, I putzed around the house and kept heat on my back. Slowly, I started to come around and by Friday evening I had regained some mobility. I don’t know if the shot took 24 hrs to take effect, or what, but the difference was amazing. I’m tellin ya’ the human body is an amazing thing indeed. Yesterday, I decided to take advantage of a nice weekend and went out for a ride. I mean I could sit and pedal right? It was a struggle, I was sore, but getting out and moving was a good thing. 30 easy miles later my spirits were high and I had hope of salvaging my Thanksgiving Holiday.
This morning still sore and pouting over not getting to race today, I decided another road ride was in order. So, my pal Tim and I went over to Longbottoms to join in a Portland Velo ride. Steve, Michelle, and Joanne, thanks for a great ride and a good time. 43 miles today and I broke 4000 miles. Had you told me Friday morning I would get 74 miles in this weekend I wouldn’t have beleived you, just goes to show you, never say never.
Sure I’ve had my dissapointments, I fought the bug for 5 or 6 weeks and missed 3 Crusade races, not to mention today. But all n all it’s been a good year. Lots to look forward too, lots to be thankful for yo’ and lots of great rides still to come. Next year, Master’s B.
miles ridden today, 43
miles ridden 2008, 4007.
Cheers!
Don’t shave that Ass!
Greetings Readers!
I HAVE to share this with you! Fell right outta my chair LMAO, too funny! The Cycling Atheists at my work could not figure out what was sooo funny, nor do they ride bikes, what do they know… Course you need be someone who shaves their legs to “get it” and I do shave my legs for race season, I do NOT however, shave my ass!
Anyway, I read this article on RoadBikeReview, I don’t know the author; or I’d give him some credit for a hysterical account, and for giving me a good gut busting laugh! Great writing!
Warning: if your squeamish, or too uptight in general, Stop reading now!
Here it is:
Don’t Shave That Hair!!!
I have recently made a mistake in my life, and I offer my story to you, that you may learn from my error. It all started, as many things do, with me having trouble shitting.
No, I was not constipated; this was not a regularity problem but a matter of technique. It seems my ass-hair had grown to such a length that tiny grogans were constantly getting tied up in the matted jungle between my asscheeks. It led to much frustration, with me KNOWING that I still had something to drop, but unable to shake the tenacious turd loose from its butthair dwelling. Eventually I would have to do two things: either reach down with some paper and try to pinch off the lingering loaf (which required careful precision to avoid smearing the creature all over my rear, especially since I had no way of seeing what I was doing) or just go for broke, start wiping, and hope that I could remove all the leftover fecal matter before the toilet paper reached its Can’t-Be-Flushed threshold.
I was contemplating this problem, when I had what seemed at the time to be a bright idea. “Hey! This is my butt and my butt-hair, right? So why don’t I just eliminate all the hair, and then my grogans will flow out like beer from a keg!” I said to myself. It is a statement that will go down in history with a lot of other regretted statements. “How many Indians could there be?” said by General Custer. “Looks like a good day for a drive!” by JFK. “There! America On-Line now has complete Usenet access!” by some idiot system tech. Such was my anal shaving idea.
I performed the operation that night, with a cheap disposable razor and a towel to sit on. Starting from the bottom, and shaving from the crack to the cheeks, I began the arduous process of ridding my ass of hair. Occassionally, I would have to clean the razor of accumulated hair and miscellaneous slime, which I did by wiping it on the towel. Slowly, my twin mounds and the between-ravine began to resemble the hairless cheeks of a newborn baby. Finally, I wiped the razor one last time, and surveyed my work. The towel was covered with a pile of hair. My ass was smooth as ivory. I smiled, satisfied, thinking my troubles were over.
Little did I know.
I now have a great respect for anal-hair. Like everything in this world God created, it has its mighty purpose in existence. It was only after I had removed it that I started to learn how much I had been taking it for granted. For one, it provides friction. I learned this the next day, when I walked out into the sun heading for class. After climbing two flights of stairs and starting to sweat, I started to notice something unpleasant. The sweat was accumulating in my crack, and was causing the unpleasant sensation of my two asscheeks sliding past each other with every step. I thought about going to the bathroom and wiping it off, but had to get to class. Eventually, I thought, it would dry.
Unfortunately, it did dry, but only after mingling with the microscopic shit- molecules lingering around my brown starfish. When I stood up after class, my cheeks were stuck together with a slimy sticky shit/sweat combination. As I made my way back to my dorm, it started to itch. God-DAMN, did it itch! Felt like a swarm of ants was making its way up and down my crack. Fighting to keep from jamming my hand down there and scratching away, I rushed back to the dorm.
Unfortunately again, this exertion caused me to sweat, and when I finally reached my room, my cheeks were sliding back and forth against each other like a pair of horny cane-toads. I quickly dropped my pants, and attempted to dry my ass off by sticking it in front of a fan and spreading my cheeks. As I pulled the two mounds of flesh apart, a horrible stench burst free and filled the room. Every dog within a 4 block radius started to howl. I had it worst of all, as the ripe aroma of festering shit/sweat went into the fan and blew back into my face. I fought to keep from heaving. And as I sat there, fighting vomit, my ass cheeks spread and dripping, with the concentrated aroma of my body odor mixed with the tangy smell of my own shit blowing right into my face, I had only one thought: “It will be like this until the hair grows back. Weeks.”
Later on, trying to deal as best I could, wiping my ass at every opportunity, I discovered another wonderful use for ass-hair - ventilation. I attempted to launch a fart, only to have it get stuck between my asscheeks. Apparently, with no hair, the two pink twins can get vacuum sealed together, and the result was a frustrating fart that slid up and down between my cheeks like a lost gerbil.
As if that wasn’t enough, I am now enduring further torture. As anyone who has ever shaved anything knows, when hair is first growing in, it comes in as stubble. Imagine your ass having the texture of a brillo pad. Well, that is what I am dealing with now. It is a hellish torture, and there are many times when I just look out the window and contemplate why I shouldn’t just jump out and get it all over with in one fleshy splat, rather than endure this constant agony.
Friends, DON’T SHAVE YOUR ASS-HAIR!
Turmoil….
Greetings Readers!
It’s never too early to start thinking about next year right? Awhile back I was in Bills shop (Cyclepath) and I was fondling these wheels, Easton’s EC90 SLX. Oh MAMA, sick ass light! 1175 grams of pure tubular wheel lust I tell ya. Those rims! So smooth, I caressed them like an object of my desire and all I could think about was how I’d love to put them on my road bike. I mean they couldn’t be tough enough for cross right?
Fast forward to today, as I’m talking to Dev and were geeking out over next years wheel purchases I mention the aforementioned EC90 SLX, so out of curiosity I did some digging and to my delight I got ahold of a rather prominant crosser who’s got a firm grip of my complete respect. I emailed him and within an hour I had his take on my object of desire for next year.
First, a pic of his bike and my coveted wheels of choice:
I’ve been through this before, I wrestled with buying my Dugast Rhino’s for about 6 months before pulling the trigger. this is even worse….
Anyway, here’s the response I got from my senior (in ability, not age) crosser:
“They’ve been really good. I’m very surprised at how tough the rims are, I rode almost half a lap with a flat at the Velo Bella Surf City race and the rim was unharmed. I’ve been running my tires at 24-25 lbs so the rims totally hit during the race most races: that’s what has killed a bunch of Zipp wheels for me a couple years ago. These seem to take it really well.
They’re pretty ultimate for cross, especially if you don’t have a lot of deep mud where a tall profile rim would be better. It’s mostly dry here and they just spin up so well and make the bike really light.
The braking seems good to me and I just use regular black Kool Stops. I raced them at a really muddy race a few weeks back and the braking was fine, but I really didn’t touch my brakes more than a few times per lap at that one.
Get ‘em if you can, they’re sick!”
Great, a raving review from someone who knows how to race and beats his equipment. Now I’ve confirmation that those sick tubbies I thought merely road worthy have been battle tested and are ripe for CX too. Wow, this helps me not….. Now I’ll have these wheels rolling around in my head, just begging for a set of Fresh Grifo’sFango’s and to prop up my Zank. Ho’ man, I’m cheap too. Except for my cross bikes that is, I’ll throw dough at my crossers without a second thought, I’ll spend it like I got it: and I don’t. Racing is all that and then some. Makes you feel alive yo’. Granted, there not Deep, at 25mm there as deep as my current tubular rims. But man, that weight! Besides, I could rock these wheels much easier than some Deep Tubular Carbon rims, and I wouldn’t use them for the slop, I’ve got my CK/Rhino’s for that. I dunno, one thing is for sure: I’m going to stew on it for awhile. I love my EA70X wheels from Easton and I’m sure these would prove just as worthy of my affection. However, I’m terrified of carbon rims in cross, so there’s that. I’m in turmoil, turmoil I tell ya…..
Cheers!
More Hillsboro
Greetings Readers!
I found this one on OregonVelo. No, I’m not trying to pass a kidney stone, that’s the face of the pain cave trying to pedal through za mud.
Funny huh?
Cheers!
Cross Crusade #8 Hillsboro
Greetings Readers!
After having been sidelined the last two races in a row trying to kick the crud I was less than optimistic about my return to racing. Although I’m feeling better, I’ve been off the bike for weeks and my fitness is squat. While driving to the venue, my wife looked at me and said: “just have fun, this is what you love you do” Ok, easier said than done. I’m no where near where I was physically at the start of the season, and I don’t know if I told you but I hate to suck.
To make matters worse Dev was racing the Master’s B and issued a challenge to me to race with him, there was no way I was going up to the B’s. Not yet anyway. I’m glad I didn’t as judging by my time of 50:11, I would have finished damn near last in the B’s, which would have ruined my fragile psyche. I needed to make the front half of the race today to feel good about my season. I got to the course early enough to preride and to my disappointment this venue tailored right to my weaknesses. Totally flat, lots of super fast flat sections where guys like Speedy and my friend Ken could use there power. Plus, we had to go through this horse arena. It was super deep with mud (horse crap) and I didn’t see anyone able to ride it. “Crap, lots of running too” I thought to myself, as that’s my other weakness, I’m just not a good runner. My courses are tight and technical, muddy and challenging. That’s where I do well. Can’t match the fast guys with powa yo’. As Dev would say; “I need mo Powa”
So with the new lottery, 47 guys got called up. I was lucky and my third digit was 7. I was the first wave after the call ups, so there was only around 55 guys in front of me. Could have been much worse. I was relaxed and calm at the start, telling myself to just have fun and enjoy racing the course, let go of your ambition Jim….. The gun went off and I just stayed on the gas and tried not to lose any ground, we had a nasty pile up and some poor guy went down, hard. By the time the 1st lap was coming to a close and we were heading into the arena I told myself that I was going to attempt to ride it. What do I got to lose? It’d sure beat running. Lots of guys tried, but for the 4 laps I went through that arena with all the guys around me: No One was able to ride it, Except for me. (pat myself on the back here) Oh most tried, but halfway through there was the section that was dried clay like deep mud & poop which broke every one and forced them to run. I too would stumble there, on the 2nd lap and have to run. I did ride it though, for 3 of the 4 laps.
So this would be my calling card, I wasn’t going to place well, but I would conquer the mud pit in the arena and ride where most guys couldn’t. At least in my class anyway, I know the Elite’s went thru it like it was nuthin’. There was a set of bleachers and the crowd would erupt each time I made it past the breakpoint, screaming “Ride it! Ride it!” which would fuel my desire even more to get out of the arena rubber side down.
I had a ball as that was a challenge indeed. I felt like a damn warrior each time I made it out of the arena with my feet still clipped in and pedaling. That was fun!
By the time the race was over I lost around 20 spots, unable to hang on the fast flat sections were guys went by me for most the race. In the end, I finished 74th out of 147. I just missed the front half of the race by 1%. I did however; beat Hinkley for the 1st time. Jim has whupped my butt for two seasons…..
All in all is was a great day of racing and I got to hang around and watch Dev in the B’s plus a few other races with great sunny weather. I had fun: and isn’t that what cross is supposed to be? Fun?
Relaxed and contemplating at the start.
Were off!
the mound of stall clean up….
A couple pics of my pal Speedy (in the blue jersey) running the slop in the arena
Jammed up and avoiding a big hole concealed buy the mud, I managed to save it and stay upright
I’ve righted the ship and I’m determined to ride on..
on the other side of the arena, still pedaling!
Through the barns..
Running the barriers..
Speedy and I, tellin each other how it went down…
My Bike.
Cheers!
Me no racey….
Greetings Readers…..
It didn’t happen today; I packed my bag last night and got all ready to head out to the venue this morning, but twas’ not to be. I had a decent day yesterday, felt like I was getting stronger. I was nervous and anxious about racing today. I woke up again feeling like crap, not like bad enough to stay in bed, but just crappy. It seems that I start to feel better for a day or so, then I go backwards. I’m not alone, I’ve spoke to lots of people who share my symptoms including some fellow racers. My pal Bill would also not race today. Something is going around.
I felt concerned enough to go to the doctor last week and have some bloodwork done, I learned nothing. Nothing that could explain my total lack of energy and overall fatigue. I just feel lousy.
I decided that I’d error on the side of caution and not race, knowing I have a guy on vacation next week and a demanding work schedule. I also have 4 days in Bend planned over Thanksgiving weekend and I can’t afford to put that in jeopardy. I’m really looking forward to getting out of dodge and riding some sweet Central Oregon Singletrack. Not to mention, eat drink and be merry, I really want to put this crud behind me and enjoy a little bit of a vacation.
I felt so guilty, I love cross. But, it is what it is. I could whine and tell you how disappointed I am, that I’m demoralized after having worked so hard all year only to have the crud impede my season; but what good would that do? It is what it is, I need to get healthy. Regardless of how the rest of the season plays out, I’ve already raced more races than last year and I’ve moved up in class and had better results. So there is that, I’ve improved over last year.
Being the analytical type, I chose to go out for a light spin. I wanted to validate my decision and needed to get outside. I wanted to see how far I had fallen fitness wise. I figured I’d just go real easy and get some fresh air. After about 3 miles I was huffin’ and puffin’, drenched in sweat, and shedding layers. I had my answer, I made the right call. There was no way I was going to be able to race today. I struggled to maintain an easy pace, Hell, I’m wiped after just an easy road spin, racing would have really put me out. At least I feel confident in that I made a good call. Doesn’t however ease the pain of how damn slow I was, and how far my fitness has fallen. I doubt I could have had a decent showing in the beginners class for cryin’ out loud. I stunk, bad. I couldn’t even manage a 15 mph average. Doesn’t leave me with much optimism for a decent result this year, given my current fitness level, and the few remaining races all I can do is hope to participate. That’s life yo’, you don’t get to write the script, I just need to get healthy.
Hopefully, I’ll feel better this week and get in some good exercise, maybe I can still salvage Hillsboro. Really, I need to go out and buy something… that always makes me feel better.