Are You Living It?

During my run at IM Arizona, I went through a multitude of sensations. No marathon ever feels good, but doing one after a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile bike in scorching temperatures is best described as tortuous. That being said, my run at IMAZ went fairly well. I experienced some cramping that I managed to work through, and some knee pain that was new to me. My left knee had been giving me trouble since February, but I had a handle on it. My right knee, however, became a bit grumpy during IMAZ. I made it through the race and hoped that with some rest, every thing would be ok. Not the case. I haven’t had a pain free run since early April. The pain reached the point where I decided to get an MRI. Verdict: my meniscus was fine, but I do have a plica. What in the world is plica?? Google to the rescue!

A couple years old, but worth watching about a thousand times:

Just returned from the Tour of the Unknown Coast (TUC) in Ferndale. A beautiful victorian town on the California coast. The towns history is mainly dairy farming, so lots of rollong hills and pasture land to ride through. The TUC Century is said to be one of the toughest around, not because of the amount of climbing, but because the gradient of the climbs is so steep. I must admit that the two steep sections made my legs cry for mercy. I seem to have lost that third little front sprocket and this was the one day over the past few years that it would have come in handy.

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.

Ever join a group mtb ride and look around at your fellow singletrackers and think, Hmm, this is going to hurt … ???

Well, for reasons spiritual and intergalactic, it had been a tough week for me, but with Friday afternoon came the offer to join the fellas for a blast up Junction Creek and around the Dry Fork Loop.

Here is a timeline of the three hour ride:

The James Bond theme song would go well with this:

Take enough time away from the keyboard and a slew of ideas present themselves for explication, like a group of 2nd graders waiting to say the right answer in social studies (hands up high, other hand holding the arm up, waving madly, “Oh me, me, me”… you get it). Some inspirational, some funny, some obvious extensions of of recent emotions and turmoil. My horoscope today said to discard the items in my life that resist decay.  I thought that was interesting; historically I have ruthlessly separated myself from the things that lose their shimmer and novelty, as if trying to deny the march of time.

Yesterday was the funnest Wednesday I’ve had in a really long time.

Highlights -

1. My Tiemeyer frame came in the mail! It’s GORGEOUS! They call the color Black Cherry but in the natural sunlight it’s a beautiful shade of dark purple. It’s HOT. Now I just have to piece it together….

Makes you wonder if this is the same sport as the one with ropes, draws, and bolts:

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.