Presents!

I received a new Powertap Wheelset today from my good friend there to use for my recovery. So excited to get this new lighter G3 hub on my bike and track my power!
Oh, I was able to get out Monday after work for a quick spin to the beach. It was a very short ride, but for my first ride outside since February, I'll take it!

Cleared

I had a doctor's appointment on Friday for another follow up x ray. It was good news as I was given the go ahead to start the real physical therapy. It also turns out that I really didn't know just how bad the "fractures" were. For the first time, I really looked at the x rays, and saw that there was a clean long break on the top of mu femur. The worst one of the 4 fractures. It really turned out that the bone broke and was folded behind my femur. That's why the bar going across my pelvis is there.  Guess I blocked it out because I really didn't wan to know. But now that I can start PT, I'm more interested in what's going on.
So with the good news, I started walking a bit without the crutches too. Not much, but as long as there isn't pain, the doc said it was fine. I also will be heading out on my first ride outside on the bike by the end of the month with my One Way Cycling team. Looking forward to seeing them, and sharing that moment with them, since they have all been so supportive through this whole thing. I think the July 6th date of trying to do 100 miles might actually happen.

This Is Getting Fun

I'm happy to report that I have made some major improvements over the last few weeks. Last week I received the "ok" to start driving again, yes! I was so excited to be able to get behind the wheel again. I also have switched to using one crutch too. The doc said that I can do things as long as I'm not in pain, so I'm trying a bunch of things to test out the leg.
On Saturday I was able to ride the trainer for 15 minutes or so and actually work up a sweat. I even clipped in and out AND turned the crank with my "bad" leg a few times too. All this progress is leading up to my next doctors visit this Friday for an x ray to check out the amount of bone growth and if I can start actual PT for the muscle. I think I'm on the path to recover sooner than later, and I'm stoked to be doing the things I am!

Major Progress

 Over the last few days I have noticed that my leg has become a lot more flexible. Yesterday while Morgan was out in the garage in our new workout area, I hobbled out there and climbed up on the trainer again. Unlike last time though, I was able to peddle faster and without much pain either. It's a good sign for sure. I was able to get on it again this morning. Getting a lot more revolutions in before my leg gets tired. But it's coming back, I'm happy about that.  I had a video of it, but I'm having trouble uploading here.

Moving Along

Well yesterday I got the ok from my doctor to start riding the trainer. I thought this day would never come. Last night I went out to set up the bike and get it ready for this morning to get out there and try it out before I hobbled my way into the shower for work.
It was nice to put on a kit, even though I really didn't need to, but old habits die hard. I used my Felt cross bike that my buddy Q loaned to me. It has Crank Brother Candy pedals, which are super easy in and out, so easy that it didn't cause any pain to use them. Morgan was out there to help me get on and off the bike, which wasn't too awkward. I had to swing my leg over and behind the saddle to get on, but I managed.
Once I was on, I sat there for a second, not believing that I was on a bike again! I started to pedal, very slowly. I've done enough PT to get my leg comfortable to bend sitting down like it normally would, but the motion of pedaling proved that I still have some work to do on that. I was on the bike for maybe ten minutes, and was able to make a dozen revolutions before it started to get uncomfortable, but it was 10 minutes more than the prior month and a half. So I'll take it. More to come as this progression keeps moving along.

Moving Day

Well, today Morgan and I are moving into a new place. Luckily we have great friends and got some help with the move. But on our way to get some coffee I had Morgan shoot a picture of the scar. Seems weird the they could do such gnarly things, with a relatively small incision.
Again, I'm lucky to have the friends I do, my good friend Matt from Saris was kind enough to lend me a powertap wheel to track my progress with power, which will be a very tangible thing to see, and keep me motivated. My other good friend Q from Felt is loaning me a mountain bike long term to help get me back on the dirt for a different type of workout for the leg, once I get strong enough to pedal up hill.

From The Beginning

So I decided to give this Blogger thing another run, this time with the thought of going through the process of recovering from my racing accident, which was fracturing my femur. I ended up injuring myself on February 10th, 2013. I was so excited to be racing a road race with my new team One Way Cycling that day, which turned out to be more than a mere cycling team. We had a tentative plan for the race depending how it unfolded.
 The race was a pretty flat 10 mile loop that we were doing 5 laps around. The only real elevation change was a real short dog leg left sweeper into a sharp right hand, almost 180 degree turn. The started out like we expected, guys taking ridiculous diggers off the front, trying to get away. In the Masters racing, there's not too many times that would work. Everyone was back in the fold by the end of the first lap.
 Now this is where things are kind of fuzzy for me, because I don't remember what lap I ended up crashing on, either the second or third. But this is how it unfolded before the crash. The group was pretty small at this point, I think around 20 riders out of 40 or so. About three quarters through the lap I remember we were single file, fighting to stay on the wheel of the guy in front of you, because the wind was whipping from a headwind to one that was coming at an angle. As we turned right, onto what was the front stretch, it turned to a tailwind, and I ended up at the back. I sat there and tried to recover from all the efforts I made to stay with the lead group.
 The pace started to increase even more at this point to shake off all the tired guys. Which is when my unfortunate accident happened. As the pace started to get faster, I had to pass a few guys that let small gaps form. I managed to get by a few guys, but after a few hard efforts, it was time to conserve energy and just ride my own pace. By this time I was dangling off the back with a few guys chasing me as we came to the dog leg turn. Then you make pretty hard right hander, which I was executing when my rear wheel washed out from underneath me. It happened so fast that I couldn't get my foot out of my pedal and landed on my hip. As soon as I hit the ground, I felt my leg snap. Here's where my faith in humanity was restored and was glad that I am a part of the One Way Cycling team.
 I was fortunate enough to go down in front of a guy who was/is an EMT. He immediately stopped and and knew what had happened, just by seeing my leg in such a way. He grabbed my leg and said "dude, this going to hurt, but it's good for the long run." and proceeded to put my leg in traction. I screamed with more pain than when I hit the ground. By this time, few more guys that were behind me, stopped and were somehow able to get word back to the start area and my girlfriend, Morgan, what had happened. By the time Morgan arrived, all my team had stopped and either gave me reassurance or was holding my hand and letting me squeeze to help with the ebb and flow of the pain that was coming and going. At some point Morgan arrived, and took over on the hand holding. I felt bad, because I think she was freaked out more than I was.But I so glad she was there.
After about what I think was thirty minutes, the local fire dept arrived and was able to get my leg in a traction board. But they really couldn't do anything else, so we waited a bit longer for an ambulance to arrive, so I could finally get some relief from the pain.
After a some what short ride, we arrived to the hospital in Santa Maria, I was grateful to see my teammate Shayne and friend Tyler there too. They sat with us all the way until I was able to get into surgery. While I was out under the knife, Shane and Tyler took Morgan back to SLO to get things for my overnights at the hospital and for her, because she ended up staying with Shayne and his awesome family down there. We were fortunate enough that their house was only a few blocks from the hospital.
I went into surgery, in the evening, and woke up, I think, around 10:30. There was Morgan, Tyler, and Shayne waiting for me to wake up. I have to say that it felt good to have these people there, since my family is all back in Minnesota. I was thankful that Morgan had someone else to lean on at that moment too.
So with out making this longer than it needs to be, the first week and a half were very difficult. Not only on me, but Morgan. She was so fantastic at taking care of me. Up at all hours of the morning, making sure I was taking my medication and helping me to the bathroom, not mention preparing food for me. As the time went on, I was able to get up and start moving around the house, with the help of a walker. With the little bit of PT moves I had to do, it helped get some decent flexibility back.
Now at just over a month out, I'm back at work and can get around with some relative ease on my crutches. In the last week I have been able to get in and out of the shower without help and also the car.  After my follow up visit for x rays this last week, the Doc said I can start putting a little weight on my leg, which has been a real boost for me. It means I'm healing better than expected. In three weeks I go back for another x ray, and if it's all good, I can actually start the real therapy on the leg, full weight bearing.
Stay tuned in for updates, I have little victories everyday. That keeps me motivated to get better and get out on the bike again. I have a goal to do 100 miles on the 6th of July. I know with my support system that I can achieve this goal.

More In The Middle

Well hello. SO the last time I wrote I said I was going to start writing about my escapades in racing again and, well, life happened. After being out on the West Coast for the last 4 years, I decided to take a job at HED Cycling and move back to Minnesota. It wasn't a hard decision to make really. More money, lower cost of living equals better life. Although I guess I was homesick for SLO a few weeks ago.

So before I moved I tried racing the road bike one last time in Santa Cruz, but with the morning temps on the cool side, my asthma flared up again, taking me out of the race. I'm glad that that is over really, I never really was able to get a handle on my asthma out there for some reason. But it was cool to get up to see Santa Cruz before I left the coast for the wide open spaces of the mid west.

I got back to Mn in late April, the weather, well, it was terrible. Rain and even a few flurries, welcome back! After getting settled in at work Memorial Day weekend crept up and a nice trip home to ride the mtn. bike was exactly what I needed. Then It was back down on Monday for a crit at the Target HQ in Brooklyn Park. That didn't go well from the time I woke up. It was rainy, windy and a bit cold. I arrived to the race site wondering if I should've even bothered getting up early. After an hour, the rain moved on, but the pavement was still wet, I decided to give it go. Never raced road in Mn anyways.

So the whistle blows and I'm off with a group of about 40 other 4/5's, yes, 4/5's. The first 20 min of the 30 min crit was good, stayed at the front, didn't do too much work and was feeling comfortable. Then with 7 laps to go, the sketchy riders started trying to get position, and that's when it happened. After staying trouble free, someone went to the front and tried to drill it, but, his foot came unclipped, and down he went, taking the guy in front of me and me down. At first I didn't think anything of it, nothing was broken, but then, I realized I couldn't breath. Had the wind knocked out of me pretty good. Then after 10 min on the ground I got up and knew that the body slam I took was going to have some effect on me, and sure enough, as I'm writing this some 2 weeks later, I'm still sore and bruised.

But with all that, I'm heading to Wausau to hang out with some friends and ride my mtn. bike, sould be a good weekend of fun. Maybe I'll start checking in more too.

Top 10

First crit of the year and I got 9th. Not a bad start to the year. It was pouring rain on the way down to Goleta, and it kept up until about 20 minutes before the start. With barely a warm up, I was on the line. Really sketchy out there, and with 8 laps to go the big wreck I'd been waiting for happened. Luckily I was not taken out, but at least 10 other people were. So I think I'm getting used to this road racing, but two weeks out is the first mountain bike race of the year too. Season is on the way.

I Thought This Cali!?

Rain, rain, and more rain. That's what the last 6 days has been. I have been able to get out a few times, but today was the first time in the last 3 that it's been good enough to get out and not worry about fog. I still got wet today, but it was worth it. I was chomping at the bit to get outside. I get cabin fever so easily now that I live out here, you get used to taken the sun 350 days or so a year for granted. Then when it's rainy for a week, I go nuts.

The season for me starts January 30th, the first Crit of the year, Mothballs. I love this race, the course isn't techy at all, so it's going to come down to being patient and looking for opportunities to get away with some people. Not that that happens too much in my Cat. I'm still a lowly old 4, didn't really race enough last year to get an upgrade, but that's going to change this year. I have some good motivation to train and get my points. But it's time to show what I can do on a bike, show myself that is. A few more base rides and then it's time to get the top end going.

Rainy Days

This past weekend was the Giro di SLO, it's a birthday ride on mountain bike around the city's trails, a 50-70 mile ride and lots of climbing. I was planning on doing it, but with rain coming down at 5:45 am when I woke up, I wasn't about to get ready to make the 6:30 am start.

About 7 the rain stopped, I kitted up and hit the route I thought they would go to after the first bit in town. No such luck. I guess the first bit of trails were so wet, it was more like grease than mud. This meant that they skipped the place I thought I would be able to catch them. So I just did my own little ride, 4.5 hrs and some climbing too. I did have a few mechanicals, well a flat tire and a broken chain. All in all not a bad day.

A Chill's In The Air

Today I found myself part of a really great group ride. A usual time that everyone starts around here is 8am. But with the cold I've been holding off until 9 to get a little more warmth for the first hour. Even though this is California, it still gets cold at nigh here, like 28 degrees, but luckily this group of people decided to wait till it warmed up.

We took off from the shop and headed north on the 1 up to 41 and then over the hill to A Town, Atascadero for you non SLOians, and then back over the grade. A solid 3.5 hrs on the bike with a bit of tempo in there. Starting to feel better out there, getting a solid week in at the gym this week, with some running. Got to be in somewhat decent shape for the annual crazy birthday ride next weekend of a buddy, 50 miles or so and tons of climbing, I'll have my Garmin 500 on the bike and will post the details.

So I'm pretty sure that Thanksgiving isn't this warm in Minnesota. On the invite of Chris Stehula, current Collegiate National Tri champ to go south to Los Olivos/Santa Barbara area to ride Little Pine. It's a really awesome climb up a fire road for 10 miles or so, but the view is great. The decent afterwards was epic, one screw up and poof, you're gone.

After four hours, it was a drive back and then put the little bird on the grill and relax the rest of the day. Happy Thanksgiving!

Base

So lucky for me the rain broke this morning so today I started up my base miles for the year. I'm taking a slow approach to this, only 1.5 hours today, keeping the heart rate around 70%. I haven't really had myself on a structured plan in some time and I noticed some of the bad habits I got from riding with people that just want to try to drop you all the time. I find myself tuning out and just start mashing the pedals and then catch myself and chill out a bit.

Some new things I'm trying out are the Garmin 500 and a set of Quarq cranks. The power meter on the crank makes perfect sense, you don't have to worry about swapping wheels for racing or training. It's always there ready to go. So training with power is new for me. I used to train with heart rate only, but having all this tech is cool and hopefully I won't get fixated on numbers and lose sight of the goal here.

It's funny starting up base miles when everyone else that I know is winding their seasons down and starting to nestle in for the winter. I guess that's the Left Coast for ya, everything is completely different out here. But reading others blogs of the racing this year has me pumped up to get out there and give a real go this time around. Still getting my head straightened out, but everything is coming along. Until next time.

Runnin' Barriers

Had fun at the local cross race this last weekend. The SLO Nexus group did a great job with it and made a fun course too.

Starting Over

It's been a long while since I've written on this thing. Partially because I don't know if people really use the blogisphere anymore to tell their stories, but I figured why not give it a go again.

So over the last 8 months not a lot has happened. I had mediocre success in any race I did, either mountain or road, road a lot of junk miles, ate like crap and fell into a depression. It's been a real journey for me to get to where I am right now. Racing a mountain bike again was fun, and I did meet some nice people, and it was fun watching the national/international pros race and be able to shoot photos of them doing it. The thing about the racing out here is that the series is too short, the venues leave a lot to be desired and most of the people are sandbaggers. Even the guy who sponsors the series was a sandbagger. He was getting top 15 times of the pro and still racing the Cat 1 's. Something's wrong with that.

But, with that said, I realized that I forgot how I needed to train for racing again after being on the road for two years for Trek. All the racing I did hurt way more than it should've and left me very disappointed with myself. This put me further into my depression.

So onto the present. I have been on medication for the past 6 months and it's been working great. I have work to do still, but it's helped me get my head cleared and start setting goals. I raced Cross last weekend and finished 8th out of 16, so mid pack. That was a victory for me though, I suffered hard in that one. I got as high as 6th but started to fade at the end. So that gave me a boost in the morale and I have a plan going now for when racing starts up again in February. I plan on racing the mtn. bike in the beginning of the year, with a few road in there, and then switching over to road by June. The off road season is really short out here. Ok, that's the story so far.

Racing In The Mud

What a weekend it was. Last weekend I went down to San Diego for the first race of the US Cup West Series, the Sagebrush Safari. I left on Friday afternoon, since it was such a long drive from SLO to get to SD to see some old friends and hopefully get to preride the course on Saturday. Well the preride didn't happen, it poured all day Saturday. It was crazy!

So with all the rain, I went to a movie with an old Jr. High School friend and the girlfriend. Then after a bit, I decide to go out to the site just to get registered to get that out of the way. What an adventure that turned out to be. As we were heading out on the 8, maybe about halfway to the site, we saw two cars flipped, one on each side of the freeway, with in a half a mile of eachother! That freaked me out a bit. So long story short, we made it there, barely, and thankfully they were still there taking registrations.

So raceday is here. I'm feeling a bit like a fish out of water because it's been almost a 2 yrs. since I've raced a mtn. bike. I'm nervous and really don't know what to expect. So I get kitted up and start t warm up. The start of the course is a long paved climb to the singletrack, I think it's prolly 1.5 miles or so. We get sent off just after the pros, and no one was really pushing hard, until the raod pitched up. Then a few guys drilled it. The group split right away, I wasn't doing too well, and was getting popped off the back. I was thinkning to myself, man I really forgot what this was like. It hurt, hurt bad. The thing that kept me going was the course, it was fun and tough.

To make a long story short, I finishd the race, 14th, not good, but not bad. I now know that I need to change some things up to get back to where I was when I was doing this more frequently and getting better results. So that's it for now. Next weekend is the Bonelli race, can't wait to puke after that one too!

I'm Still Here, Just Changing Gears

So it's been a looong time since I last posted on the blog. Well not too much has happened since then. I've been working and doing the normal rides and occasional races, with a few decent results for the road. No mtn. races to really speak of, although I'm tinkering with the last race of the US Cup series in San Dimas now that it's back in California.

So the real big news is that I was diagnosed with depression a few months back, and now I'm on the meds to help me out. It was a real process to get to where I felt "normal" again. For me it explained why I couldn't seem to get on top of anything, from riding to everyday life. So now that I have identified the issue I have been working to get better. That includes getting things set for next season, more mtn. than road for sure.

I have a new bike on the way too, the new Giant Anthem X Advanced with the SRAM XX and new SID fork, the bike should be tipping the scales art 23lbs. or so. That will give me a good push to get out and get some results. I'll be getting off the bike soon for some rest and cross train for the new season. So that's it for now, and hopefully I'll be posting more in the future.

Last weekend was the first real weekend of racing for me. A weekend that had four races in three days. The first race was Saturday at Cantua Creek, a not too hard out and back road race. The weather wasn't too bad, a sunny morning, with a bit of a chill in the air. Took the line with about 30 other riders. The whistle blew and we were off for two laps. Things were going okay until about 10 miles into the first lap when the attacks started, why these guys decide to take off on a charge at the start of a race with no help is beyond me. So with these idiots off the front, the main group starts to get jumpy, and the speed starts to ramp up. I found myself in the middle of the group with a sketchy guy in front of me, so I tried to find my way out of his wheel. But unfortunatley he was half wheeling the spaz in front of him, who decides to make a jerky move to the right and takes out 8 guys, me being one of them. With the crash, my hanger broken and a bruise/raspberry on my left hip, my day was done. Bummer.

Thankfully my friend Barrett also rides a Scott and had an extra hanger for me, and also worked on my bike while I relaxed and rested from the crash. The following day was tough, a 62 mile race that finished up grades of up to 13%. I was doing well in there until the climbs at the end. I was really sore and had to let the main group go, but still finished mid pack becasue the climb killed the rest of the field. 

Monday was a day of redemtion for me. A crit race in Dinuba, 30 laps of pure speed. To make it a bit precarious the rain came in to the valley and made the streets a bit wet. Barrett, Rick, Ben, and I lined up for the 4/5's and worked the race as best we could. Barrett was the captain, giving orders to us to make sure no one got away. If someone did try to get away, I or Barrett would shut them down. With about 3 laps to go I got out front and pushed it hard to try to break the will of those behind me. It worked, beause Barrett gave Ben a great lead out that ended up givng Ben and the team a win. 

Road racing is completely different than mtn. bike racing, but I think I'm getting the hang of it now.

Serious Lack Of Motivation

With all the new things going on, I have been able to take my eye off the ball, so to speak, and do other things than ride a bike. School is in full effect now and it's made me realize that I'm a bit burnt. 

I guess the other thing is that it's really tough out here to plan a season of racing. My goal is to race road this year, but as I have to start over as a beginner and race as a 5, I have noticed that there are races that don't have my category listed for it. This is a real disappointment. This is the main reason for the little break in the program. I was all gun ho about getting going and ot looks loke it's going to take a lot longer than I had wanted to get into the 3's, oh well, I guess there are more important things to worry about. 

I know it's cold in the midwest, but it's been in the 80's here in SLO, can't complain about that. Stay warm back there!