Monday, August 24, 2009

Curse of 666.....

Well, it has been a while since I have last up dated. Since my last post things have went south a bit for me. The weekend before the Rapture in Misery, Lelan Tim Garret and myself went out to camp to practice night laps. All was well until the last lap. On the easiest part of the course, I was looking forward toward a corner, and my light did not pick up a tree stump. Needless to say, if it is there, I will hit it!!! My pedal caught the stump and bodyslammed be like you would not believe!

We I went to get up, it took a few minutes. It wass one of those kind of crashes that you don't see coming, and can't prepare for. When I was finally able to get to my feet, I could hardly stand, of breath. I landed on my right side with my arm under me, and it took the wind out of me and my chest hurt to breath. I was SOOO unprepared that the bike stayed between the legs, and the left pedal barried itsolf into my calf, and then scraped all the way up to the knee. Their was a welt on my calf the size of a baseball!!!
Needless to say, I finished to lap and then loaded up in the truck and went home. The next day, could hardly walk,and my leg from the knee down was really swollen. I limped around for a couple of days, and then on wednesday I decided to test the leg. Even though the leg hurt quite a bit to stand on it, it was not bad on the bike. That go me to thinking that the weekend may not be a wash afterall!!! I rested it another couple of days, then tested it again on Friday. By then I could walk pretty normally, but the calf was still really swollen and tight.
Since I had a couple of good test rides during the week I thought that I would join everybody at the race, and just hope that their was no section that would take me off of my bike. I tought that it might be a little difficult if I had to push at all.
The Rapture In Miser was AWESOME. I teamed up with Tim Mohn anf Jim Cummins. We were doing pretty well, and the leg was holding up well throughout the day. I was the one to go out on the first night lap. By that time it had alredy started to rain. I was a little concerned leaving, but took off, and was doing well for almost the first half of the lap, then as it was getting dark, the skys open up and I began to pour. The course got REALLY muddy and slippery. The rocks and exposed roots were like glass!!! Since I was recently injured I was extra careful. Their was a section about 2/3 through the lap that was REALLY rocky, so I decided to walk it. I Was slipping and sliding on all the water, mud, wet and muddy rocks and exposed roots.
By the time that my lap was done, the conditions were horible! Tim was next to go out, and shortly after he left they called the race, but tim had to finish his lap. It took him about twice as long because it was so bad out. At oun point in the day we were in 3rd place, but by time it had ended we slipped into 6th.....6TH AGAIN!!! Except for 2 races this summer, I have finisher 6th in every other race. I don't know what it is about 6th, but I can't seem to break the curse!!!!
To make a long story short, I agrivated the calf injury, could not walk for two days, went to the doctor, got put on crutches for a week and a half, and am just now getting back on the bike! This time I am going to take it a little slower. I will have a series of fairly easy rides this week, and then begin to pick up the pace a little bit. Well, that it all I can stand for now!
Peace out!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

The Rapture is Near!!!

Well, my ability to keep this thing updated sucks. Since the last post we had the cRamp Alexander Bike Race. It was a lot of fun, and their was a high quality level of riders their. We were Blessed by some of the top riders from the Midwest. When it was all said and done, I ended up in 6th place. It was pretty good for me. This is the first year that I am racing in the expert class since I came out of retirement. I was even able to finish at a respectable amount of time behind the likes of Cameron Chambers, Mark Studnicki, and Tig Lamb.
Since then I have not put in a lot of long rides, but the pace has been pretty good. I have done trail riding three days a week, and out on the road the other three. On the road I have been averaging about 20.5mph, with out getting to uncomfortable.

The latest news? This weekend we are having a going away party for Lelan at our house on Saturday. He is going to New York to work at a YMCA camp for a while. He is pretty excited about it. Then, on Sunday evening a bunch of us are going to go out to camp and do a little night riding! We want to get a little practice in before the Rapture of Misery!

The Rapture of Misery is on August 15th! It is always a good time. This year the location has changed. It will be held in Trenton Missouri, at Crowder. I have never ridden their but everybody that I have talked to has nothing but good things to say about the place. Events like this are great for spending the day on the bike, and having a good time with friends. Nothing beats a 12 hour race! Well, I think that I am going to wrap it up for now. Check back again to see if I can get my lazy butt in gear and update again some time soon.

Peace out!