Iceman Video

Iceman Cometh 2011 : Raw/Unedited Cam Footage [Part 1 of 4] from Brandon Love on Vimeo.

I show up often in the first 9 minutes, but at 9:20 the guy with the camera follows me until I finally drop him.
...the video best describes the race, enjoy

Iceman!

Iceman Cometh has come and gone along with another interesting season.   My training prior to Iceman had been filed with sickness and work travel from Mexico to Kentucky.  I missed Peak to Peak unfortunately suffering the after affects of getting sick in Mexico.  So next year I will finally have to give that race a try and have a proper warm up race for Iceman.   Despite not racing in some time my legs were feeling rested and strong going into Iceman weekend.  I also changed up my preparation for this years race,  now that I am a more competent mountain biker I spent my time focusing on speed.  Riding dirt roads rather then working on trail technique. 

This years edition of Iceman would be traversing mostly the same course of the previous year with a few small changes to add some excited.  Despite the race being billed as a 27 mile point to point this years edition was rumored to be about 30.3 miles, making the sub 2 hour goal a little bit harder.   Given last years performance I had a lot to look past and a lot to improve on.  I also took the opportunity this year to arrive in Traverse City a day early to test the new finish loop.  I'm glad I did because it had a few fun surprises. 

Last year I experienced bonking, water freezing, bike problems and a busted leg.  So this year I brought an insulated camelbak along with a revised nutrition plan, tools, and the leg is still just a work in progress.  The weekend's weather was amazing, at race start it was still a frigid 32, but the skies were clear with sun warming the air to the mid 50's by afternoon.  Unlike last year where I got to start in wave 3, I had been demoted to wave 6 based on my finishing time due to my problems last year.  This would only mean I would have to pass more people and have less riders to pace with.  Basically from the start I would have to go on my own and just push the envelope.   My main goal for this year was revenge, break two hours, and also reach the podium.

9:15 my wave left Kalkaska and began our Journey to Timber Ridge in Traverse City.  Our wave started fast, I did my best to stay near the front but also conserve energy and warm up.  Unfortunately my gearing and lack of being warmed up led me to lose the top 3 guys in my wave.  If I could had stayed with them at the start I might have had a better time and a wheel to draft off some.  As we entered the double track trails I was probably around 20th, I mostly just tried not to push the envelope and not crash.  I knew I would be picking off riders soon enough.  After the fact I wished I would have pushed harder to get the whole shot, however its hard to say how much that effort would have hurt me later in the race.  I might of lost 2-5 minutes working through the pack, or risked bonking from the hard early effort and losing that much time later on. 

As I picked riders off though I gained more and more wheel suckers(drafters).  I would drop them time and time, but more would come back.  I could have let them take a pull, but it would have just slowed me down.  As I bridged gaps to groups of riders I always found myself doing all the work breaking the air.  If I did find a break of a momentary rider to draft off, I usually dropped them on the next hill.  This was the entire race for me, along with dealing with traffic lines on some portions of single track.  The penalty of losing my early start wave is exactly what I got.  Me generally being the faster guy not finding relief with other fast riders to ride with.  Iceman is a strategy race where pace lines and drafting can net you not just seconds, but like 10 minutes. 


I finished the race safely in just over 1:58, beating my goal of 2 hours.  I ended up 10th and missed my podium, but given the year I had the race is still a success.  Next year I earned my faster start wave back and will have fast riders to work with.  That should help with my new goal of breaking 1:50 and landing a spot on the podium.







Check back for Video soon!

Addison Oaks Fall Classic

Sunday marked the one year anniversary of my first mountain bike race as I was entered to start my fourth race ever on the trails.  In the weeks leading up to this race I tried to do my best to make a few trips to visit the trail and learn it.  I think those trips really helped out race day.  The weather and the trail was perfect for a race.  All I had to do was bring my A game and I was fairly confident I could win my sport division.  Like last year the course contains a mix of single track, double track and open grass over 7 miles done 3 laps.  The previous year I had melted down on this trail, for some reason the off and on power and climbs really wore me out.  Given my lack of conditioning this year I was a bit worried about how I would hold up.  This race would be a big gauge on how I need to alter my training leading up to Iceman.  It also will serve as a gauge on if I am ready to race expert.  If I had the fitness I had last year paired with the skills I have now I would say yes in a heartbeat.  However my endurance is still somewhat lagging coming back from my tendon injury.  Hopefully by Iceman I should be 100% ready.

Before the race I had thought long and hard about strategy, however there was a few factors I didn't consider.  Anyways the plan was to start calm, weather the opening storm and sit in.  My second lap of three was when I would plan to attack.  The only downside would be what if a rider got away off the front, then I would have to catch up. 

Well throw all that out the window.  From the start line I missed my pedal clip in, actually this didn't turn out to be a big deal.  I still sprinted to easily slot into second going into the single track.  Now comes the factor I didn't account for, lots and I mean lots of slow traffic.  No offense to the juniors and high school kids, but get out of the way!  Before I knew it my pack was in a mess of junior and slower single speed riders who had gone out before our wave.  I tried to be a nice as possible passing, but this really messed up my rhythm.  About 3 miles in I knew there was a wide open double track section.  I made an audible and decided this area will be my point of attack.  Shock and Awe, Go big or go home.  If I was going to make this my race I decided I needed to do it there.

So I got myself ready, drank some fluid.  When the trail opened, I hesitated for a second...then drove it like I was racing a road time trial.  My open trail speed was to much for anyone, a gift road racers have.  I quickly opened a gap while passing something like 12 people ahead of me.  By the time I made it to the single track again I had made the selection and was safely in the clear.  I still caught up to a few more juniors, but without much impact got around them.  At the end of the first lap I was in the clear with one rider still chasing hard about 15 seconds behind me.  Now all that was left was for me to keep it together and time trial to the end, easy enough right?

Bonk, the same thing I was victim of last year quickly set in on the second lap.   I am still not sure if this was a byproduct of going too hard on the opening lap, or bad diet and poor recovery in the days prior to the race.  My guess would be the later.   However I had an open trail and used this to increase my lead and do what I could to conserve and try to get lots of my energy drink mix down.  At the end of the second lap I even tried to eat an energy bar, but I could only get about 25% of it down.  So that left me going into the last lap with one of the worst energy bonk pain caves I have ever endured.  This is where I needed to prove I was mentally tough,  I keep trying to egg myself on.  The miles slowly went by and the hills got harder and harder.  My form faded badly and my decents were just plain out of control.  The pump track like sections I miss timed everything and got the back of the bike way in the air.  I even hit a tree on one of the fastest descents.  I had brushed the same tree the previous two laps, but this time I nailed it hard with my right elbow.  The last few climbs really hurt, I couldn't even stand.  My legs and arms were fried, the last time I had this feeling was at Cherry Roubaix last year.  I knew I still had the lead so I just gutted it out turning myself inside out.  I made it out of the trail and into the finish chute.   I crossed the line and fell over, I had won my div by 1:44.  Being only my second ever win I don't have much to base this on, but it was the hardest I have ever had to gut out at the end of a race. 



Looking forward I have much to improve on.  During the race, first I bonked, I never got in my own rhythm and wasted lots of energy because I was in a bad rhythm.  In retro spec I am not ready for expert yet.  I am close though.  Without the bonk my lap times would have been good, but I need to build my endurance and work on the small things.   Smoother lines and better cornering will lower my workload, efficiency I need to race at the next level.  I also need to not let surrounding factors ruin my rhythm. Looking forward though I have 3 more MTB races and 7 weeks to prep for Iceman.  I have a lot to work on but plan on doing it one step at a time.

The end of the road racing season

This past Monday the road racing season finally ended for me.   My last two criteriums were somewhat bittersweet, but gave me a lot to feel good about going into next year.   I will start first with the previous weekend where I raced in downtown Birmingham for the first time.   This event was new for 2011 and set up on a 6 turn .52 mile loop.    I don't normally have fun in crits, but this course was technical, fun and fast.  For a change the weather was in the 70's and perfect.    My race was scheduled to run for about 45 minutes.  Which ended up being 34 laps.   The only downside of the race was the Cat 3 field was to race with the Cat 4 field.  I thought this would be a bad thing, but to be honest the course was such it weeded out the weak links in the first few laps.  

Off the line I didn't feel great, I hadn't raced on the road in some time.  The first 15 minutes I had to fight hard to stay with it.  The only thing that kept me in it was my ability to rail corners, a new confidence that has grown recently with all my trail riding.   After I finally settled down I took to taking it easy riding near the back.  I knew I could use the corners to my advantage to move up later in the race.  With four to go things started to get a bit more serious and the pace picked up.  With one to go I started to push up hard on the outside to gain spots.  Unfortunately that was where the only crash would be going down the front stretch.   I had absolutely no where to go but lockup the brakes and wait to go around...race over.   Despite that part the event was awesome and for a rare turn I actually felt good in a race.

This past Monday was the season finale in Auburn Hills.  Dabaets Devos had a new course layout, making it a giant long loop at 1.5 miles long.    Unfortunately the weather was crappy, 56° with a little mist and a lot of wind.  I wasn't really to motivated to race, mentally the road season had already ended for me and the focus was on the trails.   Once the race got going though I perked up.  Throughout the race I took a few pokes at making a break or going for a prime.  With the conditions though it was going to come down to a sprint.  I tried to focus a lot on positioning after the last races debacle.  With 4 laps to go I had a solid spot in the front, however holding that was another thing.   The windy back stretch left the race wide open.  Sure enough any move I made was countered by another line of riders coming back to the front.  With one to go I found my side of the pack was failing so I went to the back to make a surge up the other side.  This move allowed my to get back to mid pack, about where I wanted to be for the sprint.  Unfortunately once again I got hosed, the guy in front of me with two corners just kind of took the corner half pace.  The other 3 lines surged up my inside and instantly 10 spots where gone.  To make matters worse I had to start my sprint early to get back in the swarm going to the line.  That little bit was enough to kill me and I couldn't make up spots and crossed 21st.  

Still though it was another solid race for me, next year once I get the leg back to 100% and can train like normal again things will be much better.  Just being competitive with the lack of training I was doing is great.   Next up a couple days of rest and a change of focus.  I've got 2 months to prep for Iceman, this year I will do it by doing 4-5 MTB races instead of one.  Also since I am not burned out like last year I got a little bit more motivation to train hard and get revenge on the grudge I hold with Iceman.  Should be fun.

Maybury Time Trial

Today I raced the Maybury Time Trial, my third mountain bike race ever and the very first of the time trial discipline.   Maybury State Park I have a bit of a love hate relationship with.  When I first started mountain biking two years ago it was the location of a very nasty crash I had.  Leaving me with bruises all over along with both sides of both knees bruised.  I didn't ride there again till last year, I broke my chain before my ride barely got going.   Living so close by I should be hitting this trail once a week, its nice.  There are plenty of nice hiking trails also.  However I refused to go back till this year.  Frustrated with my road racing season a little over a week ago at Hometown Bicycles they had the Maybury race website up on the computer.  A few of us there talked about it and decided we should do that race since it is so close.  So with only a week to prep I needed to put the demons aside and learn to conquer this beast of a trail.

Maybury can best be summed up as a short, ~6.5 mile or so trail.   It is very technical with lots of twists and lots of trees waiting to knock you off your bike.  Twisty has never been my thing, so I did some serious upgrades to my mountain bike to improve handling.  Man did they pay off, when I took to the trail I really enjoyed it for a change.  With it being so close to my office why had I avoided this place like a plague.  Anyways I rode into today with three days of practice there totaling 6 laps.  Enough to at least understand it.

I signed up to race Sport 19-29, being only my third race I wasn't quite ready to sign up as Expert.  Even more so since this trail did not suit my ability well.   For the time trail they added a few extra sections, mostly for passing.  Also to add a few hills to make it a bit harder, so the race route was about 8.5-9 miles I heard.  Lucky for me I was set off to be the first one off the line in sport class.  I would have a clear trail with no traffic.

I started off in a blaze using my road legs to my advantage quickly tearing through the connectors leading to the trail head.   I started to hard maybe because my heart rate was pegged.  When I finally reached the single track I was breathing hard.  On the first hill of the regular trail I picked a bad line on the erosion and drifted into the bushes.  Unfortunately I got a branch stuck in my front wheel and had to get off the bike.  I yanked my bike out of the shrubbery and sprinted to the top of the hill to get back on my bike.  I really thought I had blew the race,  we started with only 30 second time gaps.   Lucky for me though I started so fast I was still clear ahead and had my clear trail.  I quickly composed myself and relaxed.   I pushed my bike and tires hard through the single track.   I had several near misses almost losing control in corners.

However I just got in my groove and made up ground on the straight sections and hills.   Surprisingly I made it to the end of the single track still on my own.  I could hear second chasing me, but knew I was putting ground on him.  However I was out of the single track and on the paved bike path for .75 miles of pure speed.  I used that and the final single track connector to push my gap to 23 seconds on the guy chasing me.  I sprinted like mad across the line, then let the waiting game begin.  Turns out my time held to be number one in my class and 14th overall in sport division.  Getting the 1st class win under the belt felt amazing, also confirms I might be ready to race Expert.  I know I probably lost a good chunk of time on my incident, otherwise I would have been in the top 10.  I will take that though since I am a newbie when it comes to mountain bike racing, especially on a tight twisty technical trail.  Next up are a couple more crit races and then 3 more MTB races to get me in tip top shape to take my revenge on Iceman.  If I am not on the podium there for my age group I will be disappointed.  The leg is still touch and go, but the fitness is finally getting closer to on track.  Hopefully the end of the season will contain a few more podiums like today.  Its a huge relief and monkey off my back with all the heath and injury crap I have had to deal with this year.

Results

Hines Drive Time Trial

Time trialing has always been a favorite of mine.  This year however it has been a big challenge for several reasons.  Firstly being the ongoing tendon issues, and secondly I sold my Ridley Noah.   While I was suppose to have my new TT frame by now the bike gods struck down on me and said no.   I will have the bike ready this winter though!   So once again like the state time trial I had my team mates bike to use.  The one improvement to the 20k out and back course this year was new pavement in the start finish area, other then that it was still the same evil course with the head wind finish.  While the weather was good for a race, I was not.  The previous night I had been in a wedding...enough said.  I was just doing this race for kicks and to snag some points.  I will not go into to much detail but the time trail went good.  I clocked in a 30:30, about 90 seconds slower then last year.  Not to bad considering my shape.  That time was good enough for 9th.

The bad out of the day/week was my tendon.  I tried my hardest to ramp up training for the state road race, however it backfired.  The Wednesday before the time trial my tendonitis had kicked in full fledged.  For a bit I was worried I had hurt it again.  So I took the 3 days leading into the time trial off.  Sunday when it was time to get on the bike things felt good.  However at the end of the event the tendon was angry again.  After the race I made a decision, the road racing season is basically over for me.  I will still do two more crits locally for fun, but I do not have the desire to train through swelling anymore.  I can't really get more then 6-7 hours a week of training before I have issues.  That amount is not enough to get me back up to speed for the level I compete at. So I decided to take my riding off the road, to often riding on the road I get caught up in the spirit of racing and hammer it to hard.  I am sick and tired of popping ibuprofen like candy and icing my ankle.

So until the winter months I will spend my time riding trails for fun.  Resting and slowing down the reconditioning of my leg.  I will probably do up to 5 mountain bike races for kicks and hopefully have a good Iceman.  It has been a disappointing road season for me so I just want to put it behind me.  Hopefully by spring next year the body will be healthy and ready to fire at 100% again and the leg issues will all be behind me.

Milford Criterium

State championship races are always interesting, and this year the Milford criterium didn't disappoint.  In the week prior my sprinting legs really felt strong, so I was really looking forward to racing.  The loop in downtown Milford is fast and moderately technical.  There is enough elevation change and a super tight hairpin that make field position critical.  My race was scheduled to go on for 45 minutes, short and painful.  The only issue was it started at 2:45 when the temperature was in the mid nineties with some nice humidity to make the heat index on the road feel like 110°.   As a bonus there were 20 open spots for riders to be sponsored by local businesses.  With the perk of winning extra money yourself and winning money for charity.  I was selected to be 1 of the 20 in my field and was racing to represent The Hometown Connection Magazine.  This incentive gave me a little extra energy to race. 

While everything went good prior to the race, the actual race was garbage for me.   Off the line I was immediately stuck fighting for position.  The pace opened super hard and brought the whole field to single file.  Since my focus was power sprinting this hard pace so early in the race caught me off guard and put me in a lot of difficulty.  I hung on though but let myself slip towards the end of the line.  That's were the trouble began though since I had lost my positioning.  Sure enough people started crashing, and when that happened I was left with big gaps to get back up to the main field.  

Attrition was high in this race and I think about 10 riders all DNF'ed because of the log jam that happened when two or three guys went down in the hairpin.  I was one of them. While I made it back to the field, my heart rate was too high and I was cooked.  I popped off on the next acceleration and that was it.  20 minutes in and I was sitting on the sideline really bummed.   I hate getting dropped, and I hate it even more when its due to crashes and my bad positioning.  However though I got to give props to the guys at the front driving the pace.  They accomplished there goal of decimating the field and making sure most the sprinters got shelled out of the race.  Next year will be better, especially when I get over my nagging leg issues.

Maillot Jaune and Le Champion Pave

Maillot Jaune, located in Fenton, MI was set to be my first real test in a road race.  The race being 4 laps totaling about 53 miles was going to be hard for me.  To make matters worse there was about 3 hills you had to climb per lap.  Last year this race was very good to me and I had some success in the sprint finish.  This year it was all about survival.  My training and ability to climb hills for this distance was in serious question,  but with any sport you just have to suffer some to get that fitness. 

So the race started out fairly easy, well until the first set of hills.  A few people attempted to make moves off the front of the pack on the hills, but all the moves would fizzle on the flats.  For the most part we held a conservative pace, with the exception of smashing the hills.  That helped me a ton.  As the race progressed into the third lap I felt my legs evaporating beneath me.  I started to get dropped on the hills and then had to bridge back to the pack.  Finally on the last hill of the third lap the generators died.  My diesels stopped working so I limped back to the start finish line and called it a day.  So I made it 40 miles with the field, a big positive in my book considering its been a long road recovering from my leg injury.  Now hopefully by August 14th I can get some more endurance to handle 62 miles at the State Championship road race.

Sunday was Le Champion Pave,  despite cracking the day before my legs were ready to churn out a 60 minute criterium.  This was another race I had really liked the previous year.  Set up in downtown Flint, MI with a short paperclip style loop with a section of bricks going down the front stretch. 

The objective of the day for me was to race aggressive, this race would be my last test before the Criterium state championship the following weekend.  As things got going I started in my usual fashion, using the first ten minutes to settle into the race and hang out in the back.  After 10 minutes it was time to take the gloves off and try some moves.  My strategy was much the same as last year, put in several semi hard attacks on the brick section to push the peleton and make them suffer a bit.  Unfortunately a byproduct of this ended up to me doing a lot more pace setting then I would have liked.  I tried my front stretch attack twice and deemed it could have a small chance of success for the finish. 

Coming out of the last corner there was a short section of asphalt before the brick starts.  Just before the brick starts the road would divide with a concrete curb.  My practice move would always be to barrel down the right side at the last second while the peleton took the left.  Leaving no chance for anyone to follow my wheel or attack.  So I waited and conserved my energy for the finish.  Going into the last lap I sized up my move.  Part of my element would be surprise, so I used the last bottleneck hairpin as my spring point.  I lagged back going into the corner so I could drive it hard through the apex and slingshot the field on the exit.  That is what I did, then I managed to just to the opposite side of the road at the last second and uncork my sprint.  I had open road and no wheel suckers.  However...not the legs.  I managed to get to the last 250 meters first, but by 100 meters to go I popped.  I went from 1st to 17th by the time I crossed the line.  It didn't work out for me for the day, but I accomplished my goals of being aggressive and finding my limits going into the state championship race. 

Kalamazoo Race Weekend

About to win my Prime!

Kalamazoo race weekend was suppose to start out with a short vacation in Paw Paw,  however that got derailed by a massive thunder storm on Monday. On Wednesday I was suppose to meet up with some friends from Chicago and stay with them through the weekend.  Unfortunately the house they had rented was damaged in the storm.  Luckily a new location was found in Fennville.   So Wednesday I started my vacation, which was good because I was still run down from the previous weekend.   Thursday I got do a nice ride around the small towns bordering the lake.  All and all a very relaxing weekend.  As far as racing goes I did manage to show up to the BTR criterium, and I was actually feeling mostly good for a change.  It was another blazing hot day though, so that would not be in my favor.  My race was scheduled to go off in the heat of the day and run for 75 minutes,  it was in the mid 90's.   For me the race started out slow, I just sat at the back taking it easy.  I also had realized that going near 75 mins in this heat would be hard for me since I am still behind on fitness.   So, I used this to my advantage.  I decided to race the day for Prime's (Intermediate Sprint Prizes).  So three or four laps into the race I went off the front solo since the pace was slow.  I quickly built myself a nice gap, but one guy bridged to me.  Regardless I took the first sprint for cash and went back to the field.  When I got back to the field I got run off a curb and then dropped.  I made a mistake though, I should have just crashed to take a free lap.  Oh well, I still had money in hand so I just decided to call it a day.  My fitness is improving, it will just take time though.  It wasn't a bad day though, I got to test where I am at and also win some cash.  Back to the curb incident though, I am a little disappointed with how this went down.   There was no reason for the field to block me like they did, 4 different riders refused to give me room to cut in line heading into a corner.  The last rider in which cut me off in the Apex of a corner sending me on the rounded curb scrubbing all my speed.  Rather then crashing several people I rode the curb/ grass.  Needless to say it was uncalled for and an unsafe move for the rider to my left to run me on the curb, he is lucky I can bike handle otherwise there would have been carnage.  As to why I got dropped, my panic/surprise/bike handling caused my heart rate to spike so I didn't have much room to recover and hop back onto the field at high pace.  Hopefully by next weekend I will find some form to race with some strength and go after finishing with a top 10.  

Food Poisoning!

While the weekend of July 9th, 10th was suppose to be my return to racing...Taco Bell said otherwise.  In the wee hours Saturday morning before I was suppose to race my body went into shutdown and expel mode.   I had manage to come down with a good old violent case of food poisoning.   Just when I thought my bad luck was over something just had to happen.   I wasn't about to let that keep me down though, I still went to participate and support the weekend races.  Up first was a brand new event, a Criterium in downtown Detroit.  The circuit was set up next to the Tigers baseball stadium.  The event was really great, however it was also super hot.  Even though I had no energy I suited up and did 3 laps, retiring on the third.  By no means should I have been racing, however I had already paid and registered weeks prior and just by being at the start I was just a number in the field.  Which is good for the future of the race.  I spent most the day in the shade trying to keep fluid down.   All and all I hope the event returns for next year, its also nice having races located close by.

I'm hanging on in the back...about to puke

Sunday I was feeling a bit better, I had managed to get some food down.  Once again my strategy was the same.  I had already paid and registered so I showed up to be another number in the field.  The race was part of the Midwest Charity Race Series and very much needed riders to show up.   So I started and almost made it the full lap of 3.2 miles before I got dropped.  Once I finished my lap though I went straight to the tent to hide in the shade and drink fluids.  While I was hoping for a much better weekend I still managed to at least have a little fun and go watch other people race.  Next up is Kalamazoo race weekend, hopefully I can get well before then.

Return to Action

This past Saturday I participated in the Duck Lake State Time Trial Championship.  I am going to say participated because by no means was I even close to in shape to actually compete.  For me though it snagged me a few Michigan Challenge points and a little bit of confidence. The course was set up near Whitehall, MI with a route surrounding the Duck Lake State Park.  The circuit was a 20k loop that for my race would be done twice.  I think the highlight of the course was the portion that ran along Lake Michigan along a sandy beach.   I think I would have much rather spent my time on the sand.  For some odd reason is was warm, not raining and the wind was blowing from the East!  Very strange... and the weatherman lied.  That aside I felt the course was biased to having no tailwind.  I always felt it at my side or face. 

So to put things in perspective I am still recovering from my achilles injury.  My training for the past 6 weeks has been next to zero, plus I had sold all my time trialing equipment in order to buy new stuff for next year.  Luckily for me I was able to borrow a team mates bike in the days prior.  So my expectations were low and I was going to use this race as an assessment.  Things started out slow for me, but eventually I got the legs going.  To my surprise I actually had a left leg beneath me again.  I was the first Cat 3 starter so I quickly gobbled up some of the slower riders that unfortunately started before me.   However soon I was to be passed.  Truth was I just didn't have the fitness or power.  Near the end of the first lap I wanted to give up, the tendon was still a bit grumpy and was not comfortable on the bike.  However I remembered why I was here.  Recovery, confidence and team points.   So I keep going till I finished.  I ended up DFL, 12th in Cat 3.  Oddly I was only 40 seconds slower then my horrid 40k I had last year.   I made it to the line in one piece, the day was a victory for me.

Its hard to put in words how demoralizing an injury such as this is.  You spends months, and I mean months of indoor training in the winter to keep in shape.  Then finally when it finally gets nice outside, you are stuck indoors.   I'm in week 6 now of recovery and I think I can finally start to see the end of the tunnel.  I am beating this injury slowly.   I still have up and down days where it hurts, but hopefully over time I will feel normal again.  My biggest issue now is the rehab, rebuilding muscle and breaking up scar tissue.  The last part will be confidence or trust in my body again.  The last thing I deal with and the biggest fear now is not recovering and rupturing the tendon.  That shouldn't happen as long as I stick to the plan.  Hopefully in the weeks coming I can work on some fitness and return to mass start racing.  I don't expect much in the first few races, but I got my sights on the State Road Race.

40k Results

Road to Recovery

It's been close to 6 weeks since I hurt my achilles tendon.  After going through 4 weeks of physical therapy things are finally starting to heal.  I'm not sure how long it will take me to get to 100%, but its nice to finally be able to ride the bike again at speed.  With the help of ART (Active Release Techniques) most the adhesion's (scar tissue) has been broken up in my left calf.  However there is still some left really...really deep.  Maybe over time that will break down.  Out of all this I have learned a lot about recover.  Also I have learned about the need to use various stick and foam rollers to work trigger points and adhesion's out of the muscles after daily workouts.  That so far has been a painful process, but over time will hurt less.  Turns out my muscles have lots of spots of scar tissue after years of abuse.  I am also now using custom orthotics in my shoes and working on a new pedal technique to prevent my heel strike by raising my saddle and using zero float on my pedals.  So far that is working out well for me.  I also recently purchased a PowerTap rear wheel to help monitor my training intensity better.  One to prevent over training, and two to help get faster.  This weekend will be the real test, I signed up to do the State Time Trial Championship.  I don't expect to do well given my severe lack of training, but a top 10 would really make me happy.   For now a time trial is perfect for me, steady go at your own pace.  My return to road racing will come in a few more works when my fitness is better and I know my tendon can handle the surges that a bike race will punish you with.  Hopefully I can avoid this kind of injury in the future,  by no means is it fun.

Broken Again

Its probably safe to say that everyday your learn something new.  Some days you even learn a life lesson.  Once again I find my racing season in doubt due to injury.   8 days ago I developed Achilles tendonitis in my left leg.  With my new stance on health I gave it 4 days of rest, re tested it and realized I needed to see a PT ASAP.  So I went to the UofM Medsport clinic to get my injury diagnosed.  From recommendations I went to see a fellow cyclist who happens to be a PT.  Sure enough he confirmed what I dreaded.  Achilles Tendonitis, the injury that can be a pain in the arse to get rid off.   The likely causes are what surprised me though.  First of all my hamstrings are not very flexible, I never noticed this though because my back on the other hand is super flexible.  Basically I need to focus on stretching better.  That was minor though and not likely the cause, the more likely cause was a certain massive contusion.  Yup, that injury I suffered at Iceman.  Turns out a bruise of that magnitude can wreck havoc on a muscle.  I thought I had rehabbed it with my bike training.  Nope, the tendon was slowly getting fed up with me.  When I left he recommended that I work on stretches for the time being.  Next week I plan to start a physical therapy plan to get me back up to speed and racing, but with the main goal of not training hard till I know the tendon is healed, strengthened and ready.  Who knows how long that will take, depends on how my body heals and reacts.  Back to the calf muscle though, the PT said I should be able to do 25 left foot calf raises easy for my fitness.  I tried two sets yesterday for kicks and failed with the left leg.  Today while using my massage roller on my calf I found a certain spot that was super sore.  Yup, right where I had the massive contusion on my left calf.  Lesson learned, if I ever get a massive bruise like that again I am going to seek an Injury clinic.  I had no idea a bad bruise could do this, now I know.

Opening Day

Saturday the 2011 season officially kicked off, which really was a huge relief for me.  This past winter has just plain sucked for me health wise.  I had problem after problem and once one healed another started.  I would like to say I was 100% coming into this weekend, but I wasn't.  The previous two weeks I had been battling a nasty respiratory cold that made my bronchitis flare up again.  To make matters worse I also injured my neck. So since November of last year I battled a hurt leg(5.5 weeks), bronchitis(2-3 weeks), kidney stone(1.5 weeks) and a nasty respiratory cold/neck(1.5 weeks).  The neck/back issues I am still dealing with.  With all that said, I felt good just to be lining up for the first official race of the year for me.  Willow Time Trial has always been a favorite of mine.  Mostly cause its a nice easy race to get rolling into the season.  The race is a flat 6 lap race over a 2.2 mile circuit, a little longer then a 20k.  The goal for the day was to improve on my time from last year.  Unfortunately there was an unfavorable wind.  This wind made the course something like 60 seconds slower. 

Despite me being stronger and having a nifty rear wheel disc cover I finished slower then my previous years time be some 40 some odd seconds.  The bigger issue for the day was my bike computer didn't work.  Since I was the first Cat 3 to start I spent most my time passing people.  I had no idea what lap I was on, luckily for me my teammate passed me right before the finish line so I knew it was my last lap.  At the end of the day I was 6th in category, which is good considering what I have dealt with this off season. Hopefully this is a good sign of a good summer.

Willow TT Results

Sunday was round two, Cone Azalia Road Race.  Pain is the word that best describes Cone.  Given my back/neck was not 100%, I probably should have not raced.  With the legs feeling good, I made a go at it anyways.  In the hours prior to the race a thunderstorm passed dropping a fair amount of rain.  Nothing better the wet dirt roads!  The race started out at a furious pace, it also started out with a mass of carnage and wrecks.  The first section of dirt road was like waging a war.  Bottles and people were going all over.  I saw at least a couple people go down.  My thought was to stay to the right and just keep hammering it.  Unfortunately the carnage caused me to lose touch with the front runners.  In the process of bridging back up I had a fellow racer collide with me.  Luckily I was able to bounce him off with my elbow and stay upright before he took out my front wheel.  After the dirt the race still remained chaotic.  Apparently two riders had slipped off the front, I had no idea since I was holding on for dear life.  I had hit many pot holes and thought for sure my bike was busted.  However at the end of the first lap I found myself as one of the small group of riders to survive the first lap.  Things turned sour for me fast though, I had hit to many pot holes and it had taken its number on my back and neck.  At the start of the 3rd lap I became unhitched from the chase group and spent 9 miles doing a TT.  At the end of the lap I called it a day before my back got any worse.  Unfortunately I also found out later I had DNFed while I was still 10th in the race.  If I had known that maybe, maybe I could have found a way to fight the pain.  I still finished 20th, and with my back intact.  I was also covered head to toe in mud, hopefully a picture will show up some day.  I would also like to thank all the volunteers including Marisa and her friends and Mom that came out to support putting on the race and cheering on the team.  Without there help we would have not been able to co sponsor the race.

Cone Azalia Results

Fisk Knob Time Trial

Last weekend I kicked off my pre season at the Fisk Knob Time Trial.  Once again it was a frigid cold day just barely getting to 30°.  There was ice on the road in parts and just plain cold.  This race was just my fitness test and a gauge of my training progression.  I was hoping to improve on last years time, however colder air just makes that hard.  I don't have to much to elaborate on, but I ended up second in my age group.  I was hoping for first, but I will take second.  Despite my asthma being better the last two months the cold air still triggered a small attack.  It probably cost me a few minutes, all and all though I am still happy.

Results

2011 Update

2011 couldn't come fast enough for me.  The end of 2010 was by no means fun. My leg bruise in my calf did finally drain in December after 5.5 weeks, but that was just the beginning.  Christmas day I started to develop a cold, little did I know that in less then 48 hours it would develop into full blown bronchitis that triggered a nasty asthma attack.  After a trip to the ER in the middle of the night a few things became apparent.  I might be fit, but my lungs have not been healthy for some time.   It's been a little over a month now and I can finally say the lungs are starting to feel a little more like normal again.  So, after many tests at the doctors office I learned something.  Don't mess with asthma, even if its minor.  For the past two years I have been mostly off any medication for asthma all together.  That was the problem, over time my bronchial tubes probably just got worse.  This in turn is what led to me having bronchitis last year that I struggled with from February to April.  I had a good morning chronic cough to, that should have been my indicator something was not right.  This condition doesn't get better for someone who works out a lot outdoors without and medication.  So, this leads to where I was at Christmas.  A simple cold could easily trigger bronchitis despite me trying to get as much rest as possible.   Whats the next step, I'm back to my asthma maintenance medication.  In the next few months my lung function should improve more and return to a normal capacity for me.  The competition better watch out for me this year, last year I wasn't running on all cylinders.

That aside, I have finally started my training for the 2011 season.  So far everything is going great and I still feel strong despite the few setbacks I have had. My tentative schedule is a work in progress and is listed on the right side of the web page.   As far as goals for this season, I have only one.  That is to get and stay healthy.   Racing should come easy after that if I am running at 100%.   2011 though I a upping the technology factor when I race though.   For Christmas I got a GoPro HD camera.  I will be mounting this camera to my bike for most races.  So in the future look forward to hopefully seeing some neat video footage.