I would start off with an "I can explain!" but I will spare y'all this time. Since the last time I posted, I attempted two races. I use the word "attempt" because that is the most fitting word I could find for the havoc and destruction that ensued upon me. I know I make it sound really bad, but... to me it kinda is. I guess it was a week or two after the first Georgia state race in Macon, when I decided to try my luck at the Red Trail Racing "Urban Crit". I was pretty pumped up about it, and had a very strong week of training building up to it, but then it suddenly became my turn to be sick and get a bad cold. I tried to resist with lots of sleep, Vitamin C, Zinc, and Vitamin A, but to no avail. I was in pretty bad shape. Come Saturday morning though I was feeling pretty good, my head was clearing up, I didn't think I had too much mucus left in my head, so what do you think I did? Yep you guessed it! I drove down and entered the race! What happened during the race was terrible and embarrassing, but dog gone it I was gonna race! Starting the race I got a bad start, and struggled to move up. Mike Viertel and gang were at the front motoring away as I was trying to play catch up. well for the first lap I thought "I think I can pull up to em!" .....BOY WAS I WRONG! I hit a wall the size of the Hoover dam, and it just wasn't budging! I then realized that for one: I couldn't breath if I try to go any faster, and for two: it just aint happenin and I need to ride smart around the people I was with. and thats exactly what I did. starve my self of oxygen and then cough my lungs, starve my self of oxygen and then... well you get the point. I basically went the speed of smell and rode to a 7th or 8th place finish I believe. Alright so I got part one over with, now for the rest.
After getting well again I really started to pick up my training, and could see major improvements in power. But about 3 weeks ago, my body decided to let me down. I developed a problem in my right knee which some people are calling tendinitis, but I don't have a clue what it is. I evidentially over worked a tendon and it started to hurt... pretty bad and became inflamed. So my genius common sense told me "ok take a day or two off, and then hit it just as hard, oh its getting worse?" " What pain??" "I doesn't hurt!" Yeah, basically I was stupid and pushed harder and thought "oh it will go away".....but it didn't, in fact it got worse. Preriding for the 3rd Serc race in Winder Georgia, it wasn't very sore, and only started to hurt a little by the end of the lap. The next morning when I go to warm up, I can barely push up the hills, due to the pain. So I decide to take 4 ibuprofen (800 mg) and race anyway. Well it didn't hurt too bad during the race, I think the Ibuprofen had me in a daze the whole time, but I was definitely not in form for this race after taking so much time off. On top of that my rear brake decided to quit working on the first lap... and I kinda needed it on the downhills, but I still bombed em faster than I should have, and said "uh oh" when I went to stop. I rode in 4th most of the day, but blew up at the end and finished 6th. now a week and a half later. I have ridden once on the road bike for about 45 minutes trying to rehab my knee. It seems that all the inflammation is gone, but I started to feel a touch of soreness towards the end of the road ride, so I am taking a few more days. This weekend I plan on riding my mountain bike for quite a ways and apologizing to her for neglecting her so much.
Until next time...
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