Riding the Rollercoaster

Where to start? Well, you might say that the wheels fell off of the wagon a little at the end of last week. On Friday I went out to camp for a little spin before work, and I had a mechanical issue! On the last lap that I was going to put in, I broke the rear derailleur cable, so, I just single speeded it back home. I guess if I were to break down, this was good timing. It was 2 weeks before the first race of the year. I was wanting to get the bike in to the shop for Matt to work his magic on it, but was to lazy and didn't want to be without the bike for a day or two.

Since the Zaskar was in need of a little attention, and the business of life, I dropped the bike off at High Gear bike shop on my way into work. On the agenda? A new cable for the rear derailleur, a new bottom bracket, new brakes, a new chain and some pedal work. As usual, Matt had it ready to roll by the end of the weekend, and in race ready condition. Down Town Matt Brown is the man! He works magic on bikes, and is the only person I let touch my bike in Emporia.

Next for the news? well, A little while back I pulled a hamstring and nursed my way through it, and had been doing REALLY well for the last 3 weeks. Well, on Sunday I was helping someone move, and was helping carry a washer down a set of stairs when I felt a POP in the same hamstring that I injured before. CCRRAAPP!!!! At that point I got very stressed and thought the worst. After we were done with the loading of the trailers, I went home and began damage control. Ice, drugs etc. The next 2 days I rode short and very carefully. Then, due to something at work, I took Wednesday off. Today I woks up and the leg was feeling a lot better!

I thought that after 3 days of TLC, and since it was feeling a lot better I would put it to a test. I went out to camp Alexander, and went for a three hour train ride. Since their are some pretty steep climbs out their it would be a good test. To my surprise, things went REALLY well! I actually rode quite strong today. I made all of the climbs with no problem, and at the end of the day I had no signs of any problem. I guess that it was not as bad as I thought. This is great news. I will be going back out to camp tomorrow for another ride before work, and then on Saturday a bunch of us are going to go out Randy's place to ride the new trails and some post ride festivities! Then it is time to decide how to handle next week leading into the Bone Bender! Stay tuned.

Peace out!