Digging Out of the Hole

    The week off really helped me to recover from the virus. Yes, I'm still talking about this virus. It has been devastating to my body. I actually felt normal again by the end of the rest week and began riding. I did some mountain biking and felt great. The legs were strong and the second day back on the bike I bettered my best lap time on my trail by another 10 seconds. But I could feel that my endurance was gone. After an hour, my legs were really tired. Tired legs was a good feeling though. It sure beats the heck out of feeling bonked all the time. It was like I couldn't digest anything for 3 weeks. That makes it hard to sustain energy levels for prolonged exercise.

     Some good things have come out of the sickness. I had some nagging forearm tendonitis that was bothering me in Dalton. It was caused by a ton of trail cutting with a heavier pair of cutters than I'm used to. Thanks to rest, Biofreeze massages (thanks Pat and Shannon!), ultrasound and kinesiotape, it is long gone. I also strained my left glute picking up the trash behind the house. I did a bunch of squatting one day and it really aggravated my glute. The bike didn't make it worse, but it was preventing healing so taking time off got that pain to go away too.

     I've also lost weight. I have dropped 11 pounds total since the Dalton race, 2 days prior to getting sick. I haven't seen this low of a number on the scale for almost 3 years. I can tell my pants have become loose around the waist, but I notice no other change. No conversion into a mountain goat yet. The hills still hurt just as bad as before. Shannon has also been sick, so it isn't just me. I think the bug has been going around town. When you come into contact with so many people every day like we do, it's bound to get you at some point.

    I'd say I have recovered now, I just have the lingering effect of loss of form to deal with. I've lost all my speed and all my endurance. I'm used to hammering the local group rides and going off the front at will. Now, I'm struggling to stay in the paceline at 23-24 mph. It's really frustrating. I felt like I was in great condition at Dalton. I was ready for the Pro races at Speed Week and beyond. Now I'm left with the Cat. 2/3 races and even those will be a difficult challenge. I'm learning patience for sure.

     I've been putting in a lot of miles since feeling better. It feels good to be able to ride again, even if I am going slow. Shannon has been out in Utah for Amber's graduation from BYU, so I've had plenty of time to be on the bike. I got in almost 6 full hours of riding this past Saturday. The plan was to ride 3 hours on the road and end at my parents house, where I would then ride the mountain bike for an hour, followed by some trail work. I had a great day and ended up doing some extra. I rode a very hilly 4 hours on the road before hitting the trail for 45 minutes. The road ride was really fun. I hit some steep climbs that I haven't ridden in a while. I'm convinced that I have become a softy when it comes to steep climbs. Other than a few trips to the mountains, I haven't ridden any good hills in the past year. The mountain bike ride was a blast too. I ran the GoPro on my seatpost while Snoop was behind me. It made for a cool video. Check it out below. I then did trail work and rode back home in the dark, giving me a total of 85 miles.

Snoop in pursuit

Lizard

Snoop!

Tree growing out of a rock

     Sunday was another good day. I went out for a slower 40 miles with Keith and Jonathan from Clarksville. We saw a pair of foxes along the way. You don't see them very often. The phrase "sly as a fox" came about for good reason.

    Work has been crazy lately. I'm splitting my work time between two clinics now. It can be hectic at times, especially at my home clinic. I don't exactly enjoy the way things go there most days, especially when people dump work on me. I've been stuck late a lot the past few months. It sucks to get home at 7:30 and then still have a ride to do. There are some perks to riding late though, like watching the sun set from the bike, lack of traffic on the roads, and the satisfaction I get from seeing people sitting on the couch watching TV as I ride by. I love being active when others aren't. But I also hate crawling off the bike at 9:30 or 10 and going straight  to bed to rest up for another early morning.

     My form is slowly coming back. I rode the local group ride this week and noticed a vast improvement from last week. My speed is getting a little better. I could actually stand up and go off the front. I didn't stay off for long and I'm still a long way from where I was before the illness, but it is a sign of improvement. My sprint is still decent so that will come in handy at the races if I can just hang in until that final lap. We set a new record on our loop this week, covering the 25 miles with a 23.7 mph average. I think we can break 24 mph because I really didn't do that much work. When I feel good, I know I can really crank it up if they want to try for a faster average. You never can tell with that group though. They may ride slow for the next month.

    This weekend it's back to racing with the Sunny King Criterium in Anniston, AL. I'll be doing the Cat. 2 race and hoping for some good legs. I want to use this race to decide whether I should race Pro or Amateur at Speed Week. It's also a good opportunity to get some upgrade points and accumulate some prize money to help offset travel costs. The races will be broadcast live for most of the day. Here's the link if you want to watch. http://sunnykingcriterium.com/  Cat. 2 race is at 3:50pm. If it's like the past few years, you can send people a shout-out through the website and often get them a better starting spot, so please help a brother out if you can!