June here.
9/25-10/1
The more I procrastinate the harder these entries get. Let’s see…
Sunday nights are sacred for us, our only refuge against the the gradual and not so gradual erosion of freedom that is parenthood. Every Sunday night Laurie and I play tennis and go out to dinner. Since I live the life of the slacker freelancer, this is more like gravy to me. But for Laurie, who works full time, Sunday nights are the final bulwark against a total meltdown. So even though I was freshly bloodied from my crash, I dutifully hit the courts and took my beating. It’s not easy to play tennis ten hours after a 30 mph meeting with asphalt.
I had work the next couple of days, and then it was off to Interbike. I did Interbike alone two years ago, with Schmalz last year, and this year Alex came as well. Schmalz and I stayed overnight one night, while Alex stayed on for all three days. The most notable event, for me, was my outbreak of hives Thursday morning. I woke up covered in dime-sized welts from my waist to my knees. At this time I guess I should point out that Thursday was also my wedding anniversary, so the prospect of returning home with a strange rash centered about my crotchetal region was highly unappealing. Mike, who was crashing on our floor, thought it might have been the sheets (Vegas hotel, dicey), while Schmalz assumed it was his mighty man musk. I was also coming down with a sore throat, so between the coughing, open sores, and raised welts, I was doing a fine impersonation of Job.
We were back in New York by Friday morning. The hives went away by midday Thursday, but returned in time for my homecoming. My sore throat worsened as well, to the point where I couldn’t exert myself beyond an HR of 140 without coughing violently. I also have a deep bruise on my lower leg, which is totally scabbed over because I didn’t have any Tegaderm on hand. So I’m a total mess, and I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get back on the bike for a proper ride. This is particularly galling because I had two good workouts on the 19th and the 20th, with my highest power numbers of the year. Then I caught two bad days over the weekend, with rain Saturday and slow conditions Sunday. I crash on Sunday’s attempt at a personal best, and now I’m injured and sick and don’t know when I’ll be able to ride again. It’s starting to look like I won’t be able to see how well all my training worked.
9/21 1 hour easy
9/22 1 hour easy
9/23 2 lap TT
9/24 Rest
I rode an easy hour on Thursday, with the TT bike in full race kit. I kept trying to fix the skipping 11, but couldn’t figure it out. The TT bike never ceases to amaze me. It’s just so damn fast to ride in an aero tuck with speedy wheels. Even an easy 200 watt ride is fast.
I woke up Saturday with severe stomach cramps. They were bad enough to make me contemplate scrapping my TT. I was already torn, with the races being points races with sprints on lap 2. If I did my TT I’d miss the first sprint. I decided to scrap my TT and focus on shooting the race instead.
Once I got to the window and saw the rain all my calculations became moot. Normally rain would send me back to bed, but with the squad in contention for the team cup I threw on a jacket and headed out to watch. By lap two the rain stopped, so I went back home and got the camera, and shot the last couple of laps. Unfortunately we lost Dmitri and Jon to the flu, Euri flatted, and Ken crashed. The burden fell on Mike and Schmalz to mark all the moves, and, not surprisingly, they got swamped in the sprint. We ended up falling to third behind Axis and Sakonnet, a major bummer of a morning.
I have a busy week next week, with two days of shooting followed by Interbike. It was pretty much now or never if I was to try to set a personal best. I headed out Sunday morning to take my shot. It was a tad humid from overnight rains, and a little windy