What a weekend. The Elkhorn Classic in Baker City, Oregon was a blast. It was definitely the hardest race I have ridden. Beginning with the hot, dry 70 mile Oregon Trail Road Race in stage 1, we were treated with difficult races throughout our 3 days in Eastern Oregon. Each stage seemed to be designed to fulfill every bike racer’s constant need for suffering on the bike! :)
Since my little abrasive episode last week, I have been healing up pretty well. I am now free of those pesky bandages that bind every movement and can finally stretch out my sore muscles. A few days into the healing process, I developed a low grade fever and and the inguinal lymph nodes were swollen and sore on my injured side. I had to decide whether to take antibiotics, or let my immune system chip away at the infection. If the infection gets worse, I take a 10 day course of broad spectrum antibiotics and kill the infection along with my normal intestinal flora. If I continue to fight it off, I don’t have the energy to ride until the infection is gone.
Our own featured Are You Living It contributor, Randy Stueve, was recently featured on CoachTroy.com, the website of former pro triathlete Troy Jacobson. Check out the podcast here, and listen to how Randy has been able to pursue his passion and with hard work, achieve his goals.
This week was my first Southern Oregon Thursday Night Race. The race is held at the Champion Drag Strip in White City, Oregon. It is a mix between a Criterium and a Circuit race with the course taking you down the Drag Strip and circling back on an access road for a lap of just over a mile. As we were riding warm up laps, I went into a corner and suddenly my front tire decided it was tired of turning and slid across the road. I of course was not yet ready to give up on the turn and continued to lean in the opposite direction until I was stopped by the very firm pavement.
Have you ever had a workout where after your efforts you had to sit down to gain some composure? Where you went so hard you thought you would ralph up what you had for lunch over 4 hours ago? Where your core was so tight and you pushed so hard you thought you might lose your vision?
Welcome to track cycling. Or at least my version of track cycling.
Summer snuck in last week and gave us 100+ degree weather on our Sunday ride ( I was corrected on my report last week, it was 106 degrees on Sunday afternoon in scott valley, not 95!). Today, Rain, chattering teeth and a stop for hot coffee! Our ride took us on a 96 mile tour of the Shasta Valley. We found ourselves feeling lucky though, the forcast was for 30% rain showers and it only rained for 20% of our ride! The rain caught us as we turned down Hwy 97 and all the way to lake Shastina. Then out came the sun, well sort of as we could see a shadow now and then, we were all dried out when we stopped for water in Montague. From there to Hornbrook, and the rest of the way to Yreka, had no wind or rain. What a mixed bag of weather today, fairly warm 50 degrees, then shivering cold and wet, then sunny and dry. Happy Spring time riding everyone! Keep that rain coat handy.
At 7:00 AM we bagan a great 100 mile training ride here in Northern California. The morning began in Yreka, and we rode through the towns of Gazelle, Callahan, Etna, Mugginsville, and Fort Jones, then up over Forest Mountain back to Yreka. Riding up over Gazelle Mountain we dropped into the upper reaches of the Scott River and through some spring green pasture land that was high enough to still be comfortable and not too hot. As we rode down through the Scott Valley, the temperature began to climb and finally hit about 95 degrees. The climb over Forest Mountain was HOT, but the 50 MPH descent on the other side cooled us down all the way back to Yreka. The heat keeps you burning calories, as well as water, and my 200 lb body used over 4700 Calories over the 5 1/2 hour ride. Well, gotta go, its time to eat, for the third time tonight! 
If you are interested in this ride, in the reverse direction, check out the Siskiyou Century Ride in Yreka, September 2008.
Based on my calculations, I burnt 3800 calories during a 70 mile 4.5 hour ride from Arlington to Newhalem. I got chased by one Kujo, saw 45 black banana slugs and splattered myself from head to toe with road mud causing my drive train to sing at me for the second half of the ride. The last 10 miles were a killer - where fatigue starts settling in and the poweraid started to make me nautious. I swear I saw big foot while I was on Highway 20.
Bike fitting is more than just plugging in body part measurements and asking a computer to tell you the correct dimensions of the seat, pedal, handlebar geometry. This type of fitting sounds very scientific, because it uses a computer, but those measurements don’t tell you how your body mechanics will relate to the bike. And remember, your comfort and efficiency on the bike are all about ease of movement or lack thereof. This type of formula-based set up, while appropriate as an initial match of the bike for a given rider, should not be considered a true bike fit. I have clients complain that they have discomfort while on the bike, even after they have had the bike fit to them at the bike shop. This is usually because the bike has been set up for their measurements, but not truly fitted to them.
