So...An Update

So, I haven't posted in a while and I didn't come out with my January goals/resolutions for the year like I did the past two years. But, this year has been different. I'm closing in on the last few days of my final internship for physical therapy school. After my last day, I will have a week and a half before I sit for my boards exam, a 5.25 hour test that decides whether I can practice or not. Three days later I will be graduating with my Doctorate of Physical Therapy. I've also been interviewing for jobs, contemplating my offers and where I will begin my career, planning trips, and oh yeah, rehabbing another surgery!

I had hand surgery the day after Christmas in 2013. The procedure that was done in the operating room was the last resort that was discussed in the clinic and the recovery process had not been fully discussed. So, I was a little surprised when I was finally able to talk to the doctor and found out I would be in a brace for 8 weeks and not able to ride my bike for a full 10 weeks. This set me back a bit with all things cycling. However, this wasn't the first setback. The first was the burn-out and trudge through the burn-out at the end of the year in the 2013 season. I no longer had the drive and passion to get in the saddle like I did in the beginning of 2013. When you combine that with hand surgery limitations, working 45-50 hours a week (paying to work I should say), studying for boards exam, job hunting, and a few trips out of town, it's hard to get motivated to put in the required time on the bike to be at the level I would be satisfied with. I'm not going to half-ass it. I'm not going to ride just enough to show up to races and hang on. If I do it, I'm going to do it right and really commit to it.

So, that's what I've been doing recently and where my decisions have come from and the stance on racing my bike this year. I'm not giving it up completely, but I am definitely limited in what I will be able to do: because of the start to the year and some stuff going on in the summer, that's another post though.

I do still have some goals/expectations for the year, some I've even already accomplished.

1) Travel more, similar to last year, but I got to keep it going. Places I've never been. Things I've never seen. (Checking places off: Vegas, Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon, Hoover Dam, Bristol, Asheville)
2) Complete the 'Chattanooga Things To Do' list before I move away (I've been working on it).
3) Graduate PT school and pass my boards exam.
4) Get my first 'real job' with a salary and benefits and all.
5) Watch 'Uncle Sam' take most of my money and understand the plight of the working man.
6) Obtain my Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist certification. (Done)
7) Move into an apartment by myself; oh the sweet serenity that awaits.
8) Be conversational in Spanish
9) Be a better Man


More to come.

Driving past the Ocoee on the way to Asheville, NC

Basilica of St. Lawrence in Asheville

Another Asheville church and my beautiful travel companion

Race Report: State Championship Criterium

Boom goes the dynamite! It was a blast surging up that final hill, braking into the final corner, jumping out of the final corner, kicking one more time, then sitting up to exclaim my excitement for winning the race I've been trying to win for two years. Winning State Crit was one of my goals from 2012. Unfortunately, I was hit by a car in June of 2012 and had to watch the State Crit in Cookeville from the sidelines as I stood in a knee immobilizer and on crutches. That day I watched Will Montgomery win the Cat 4 State Crit and Alan Rothrock win the Cat 3 State Crit. This past Sunday in Murfreesboro, I beat both of them to win my first State Crit Championship in the Cat 3's: my first Cat 3 race.

This is how it went down:

The latest forecast was calling for isolated thunderstorms late in the afternoon around Murfreesboro, like after 3pm. My race was at 12:40. However, about 20 miles from the exit, I ran into a hard downpour of rain. Once I showed up to the race, the course was drenched. I was told stories of the master's riders that started crashing hard as soon as the rain began in their race. Not what I was looking forward to. Knowing my braking is less than optimal with my carbon wheels and that I appreciate them too much to crash them and break them in this race, I made the hard decision to pull the Zipp 404's off my bike, change out the brake pads, and put back on my clunky, aluminum training wheels with a balding and cracking rear tire. I warmed up on the trainer, did a short effort on the back road, one quick lap to see the course and the wet spots, and we were lined up ready to start racing.

Off the Start Line

Like most races go, before I knew it we were starting. And off went the first attack. A VW rider went off the front for about the first 3-4 laps. I stayed calm and just moved my way up the pack, knowing who I needed to watch for. More attacks came and usually hard surges up the back side hill. Feeling like I had been working a bit, I looked down to see how much time we had run off. We were only 10 minutes into the 50 minute race, crap.

Another lap around and another attack went up the hill. We were heading into the last corner, a 90 degree left turn to the finish 100 meters down the road. Well, Will shot up the inside to cut the corner, the line I was set up for. His rear wheel hit mine. I ripped my left foot out of the pedal ready to catch myself, my bike wobbled. I couldn't move out because another rider's rear wheel was also there. Our wheels ground together for several revolutions. Somehow I stayed up and safe. It wasn't intentional to me and he checked back to make sure I was okay after we were through the corner. It was still scary though.

More attacks went off the front, usually attacking from the back side hill leading to the finish line. I watched some go, but made sure I followed and chased all of them down that had the important people in it. I knew who had been winning this year in the cat 3's. I knew who was at the top of the leader board for the Best Area Rider (BAR) classification; the guys that needed to score points. When those guys went, I went. And I was right on every one of the attacks. It pushed me, but I was able to continually respond. I caught some flak later on for not pulling as much, but I feel I did a fair share. Plus, I wasn't racing for anyone else. I had no teammates. I was racing for me. If they wanted the field strung out, if they wanted to set something up, if they wanted to breakaway, then they were welcome to go ahead and do it. I would be right there on their wheel.

See, I did more than one lap on the front.

Matching Attacks

Things had been drying out since I got there and by the time my race started the course was essentially dry. By the halfway mark, I was telling myself, "Man, I really wish I would have put my Zipp's back on. I could be rolling so much faster." And right on cue, it started raining again. It rained hard for maybe 15 minutes. Sitting on wheels became irritating as the water was flung into your face from the rear wheel in front of you, hot from the pavement. The race slowed down, and I took things extra cautious through the corners letting gaps open around most of them. I made sure I stayed up front during all of this. I was determined to not go down. I was scared to go down. Thankfully, not as many attacks were going off the front, discouraged I guess from the rain and the imminent final sprint.

One rider attacked with 2 laps to go. Coming into the first corner of the course, I could hear riders hitting the deck as carbon bounced off the pavement behind me. I was extremely thankful for my top 5 positioning as the crashes were behind me and only bettered my chances at this point, not the first time this has happened this year.

Playing Games

Closing in on 1 lap to go, I could see the breakaway rider was slowing and shouldn't be a threat. Then somehow I got caught on the front of whatever remained of the field. I would be left to lead the field around the last lap of the race and make the final push to bring this breakaway rider in. I still took everything cautiously knowing the real "storm" was about to explode as we approached the backside hill for the last time. I came around the big sweeping 120' turn. I picked up some speed and began watching over my right shoulder as I was close to the left gutter. I heard something back to my left and looked around to see Will attacking up the left side. As he passed by me on the left, a big attack came from the right. It was time to go. I began accelerating knowing we were a long way from the line. For a few seconds both riders stayed in front of me. I worried...for a second. Then my pedals really began to turn. I was off. They dropped out of my periphery as I approached the final turn. I stopped pedaling well before the turn and braked through the first part of the corner, feeling no one close to me through the corner. Once I felt safe from the slick asphalt, I stood up to finish my sprint for the line. In that burst my rear wheel hopped over some pavement. I pushed on and laid down some power. I looked over my shoulder and was finally certain I had just won the race. I gave a Hulk salute to the crowd and screamed with excitement, hands up across the line.

Finishing Straight

"Roaring" Finish

With that win, I finalized the triple crown of cycling winning all three disciplines of cycling on the road: the State Championship time trial, road race, and criterium for 2013. Throw in the State Championship Cross Country race and the BAR Championship I have locked up in the Cat 4's and it's been a very good year for me knocking down several goals. I'm thrilled to be doing so well this year after such a big injury last year. Maybe that's what it took for me to focus down on one sport and get really determined to push myself and make something happen. I thank HUB Endurance and BRL Sports for keeping me equipped and fueled with all the top end products and services. You guys have been great.

Cat 3 State Crit Podium

Down Time

I have been meaning to write an update about how surgery went and the rehab was coming for some time now, but just never got motivated to do it. I could always find a reason to put it off. It's amazing how inefficient my life is currently. I am doing very little outside of school which is only half a day Monday through Friday, but I still can't find down time to write a post or study the training book I'm trying to read. Staying busy with training, school, and social life really pushed me to fine tune my time management skills and make the most of my days. Last spring I was in class from 8-5 four days of the week and putting in around 12 hours of training a week. I stayed on top of everything. Where did that motivation, determination, and work ethic go? Down the drain with my activity level I have to assume.

Anyway, surgery went well and recovery is taking an eternity. Not exactly, but being on crutches for 45 days was a long time. I watched as my calf and quads shriveled away as my hands and armpits became calloused. It was so liberating when I could finally walk and be free from my crutches. Then walking made me sore. And I loved it. I am now back in therapy trying to regain my strength. It is a slow process. I have yet to feel any soreness in my thighs because my calf and foot intrinsic muscles are so weak and atrophied that they limit my abilities for higher function. My lower leg and foot tremble after walking long distances or in single leg stance. I like the sense of improvement, but I want more progress in more areas.

In addition to not having the motivation to write, I also was never really sure how much I wanted to divulge when I finally did write something. I definitely struggled there for a while, but I now feel close to the home stretch of being able to resume normal life again. The strength will have to come over the next several months. I cannot expect to just jump back into the form I had. It had taken 5 solid months to get there coming from an able body. It will take a lot longer now. I'm getting excited about buying new equipment, my new bike, and planning for the next race season. I have a lot of unaccomplished goals from this year that will get carried over with a new vengeance. I feel like I got robbed: my bike, my fitness, my strength, my power, my races, my season, my standings, my championships, my jerseys, my glory. And that will have to drive me early in this rehab process to regain my form. I'm just waiting for my foot strength to catch up with the rest of my body in order to proceed to the next level.

Going Under

Well I thought I had it bad at ITU Worlds when I flatted twice and lost my first place standing. It was the worst experience I've had in the sport so far. That is until June 9th. I've waited for a while to write about this for many reasons: it was hard for me to face it for one, I didn't want to write details on the internet before the driver's insurance company accepted responsibility, and I was just feeling down and out about the whole situation without much motivation to do anything.

Most people probably already know about what happened to me, but for those that do not, or don't really know the details, here it is.

I was coming off a terrible race at Roan Groan and knew that I needed more practice at climbing, especially at the end of a race. I wanted to do well at River Gorge later in August, so I set out on Saturday June 9th, from my apartment in East Brainerd. I had mapped out a course that would take me over Missionary Ridge and the toe of Lookout before jumping into the River Gorge RR course. Things were going well and I was having fun playing out in my mind how the race would turn out this year and how things happened last year. I climbed Raccoon, stopping at the overlook to refill my bottles, eat some snacks, and take in the scenery. I started my descent from the mountain to head back home to get ready to head out to River Bend that night. Once I got off the steep slopes of Raccoon and made the hard 90 degree left hand turn, I saw a truck stopped at a stop sign on a side street to my right. He began to pull out to make a left hand turn and come up the mountain towards me. I was getting nervous and applying the brakes. As the truck got further out into the intersection, I was horrified to realize he was carrying a boat. His truck and boat were covering the entire intersection leaving me no place to go. I am grabbing as much brake as I can by this point. My wheels begin to lock up and my rear wheel starts fishtailing out from under me to the left. I was in shock and utter disbelief as I covered those last 3 meters before contact. I couldn't believe this was really about to happen. Skidding out placed me in a more parallel position to the boat so that my left shoulder and knee hit the boat first. I bounced off and swung around the back of the boat as the driver continued to pull away. I hit the ground and my bike went bouncing. I rolled around on the ground in intense pain in my left knee. It wouldn't straighten out and I knew I was injured pretty badly.

The driver and passenger got out of the truck after they pulled over to the shoulder. I laid in the middle of the intersection as they called 911 and asked if I was okay. I think the screaming and writhing in pain should have indicated I was not. Thankfully, I had just seen fellow teammate Jim Farmer at the top of Raccoon. He was packing his bike up and was about to come down. He drove up on the scene shortly after the accident happened. Another woman who had been running on Raccoon also stopped on her way down. These folks helped out a ton (Chattanooga obviously has an amazing outdoor community that cares for each other). My teammate was able to collect my bike and belongings and the other lady was able to call my parents back to let them know what was going on. The paramedics and fire truck arrived a little while later. They put me on the board and we were headed off for Erlanger ER.

Several radiographs and a CT scan later, they determined I had no broken bones and would have to follow up with an orthopedic surgeon the following week. The first visit with the surgeon was terrifying. The laxity in knee from the clinical examination pointed to several tears and disruptions in the tissue. The MRI ruled some of them out, but I was still going to need surgery. Thankfully, I didn't need immediate surgery which would have caused me to miss my first clinical rotation and be forced to sit out of the PT program for one year. Glad I avoided that disaster.

After much hassle with the police report, the driver, and the driver's insurance company, his insurance company finally accepted fault. They are collecting my medical bills and already reimbursed me for my bike minus depreciation.

I've had ups and downs over this time period. Times I would feel super energized about training for next season and all I will be able to do. Other times I was depressed and could only think about all the stuff I was missing out on and how hard it would be to come back after surgery. I missed several races including the Crit State Championship, which I was favored to win, the rest of the TBRA races, which now means I lost my Best Area Rider qualification, two Xterra races, which means I will probably lose my regional champion status and bid to nationals, as well as the Georgia Gran Prix stage race, the Huntsville race weekend, and two more crits in Atlanta. No defending my crit title at River Gorge this year. I also feel bad about letting my team down. This is the first time I've ever raced for a team and it ended with a terrible showing for myself. I wanted to do well to validate my spot on the team. I will have to settle for next year.

I got robbed, and I hate it. I've been so angry. But this is just the year I've been having with several broken pieces of equipment that required replacing and the bad finish at ITU. I have great plans for coming back next year with a more focused training plan, better knowledge of how to train, better equipment to train with, and a burning desire to come back strong and dominate the Cat 4 field. I'm trying to construct a detailed training plan without the help from a coach since I can't afford one. That being said, I would gladly take advice or suggestions from people out there that have had coaches or might be coaches just to make sure I am going in the right direction and I am interpreting my data correctly.

Surgery was yesterday (I meant to write this earlier in the week), so I have started the path to recovery and my journey back to sport. However, I guess I underestimated this surgery because of how easy my last surgery was on my right knee in 2007. I had my ACL reconstructed with a cadaver graft that time and I was able to get a full quad contraction the morning following surgery and was up ambulating without much pain at all the next day. That is not how this surgery has gone so far. I am in a lot more pain than I remembered or expected. I hope that it subsides before classes begin on the 20th. The first day of physical therapy as a patient on Monday the 13th. Should be a good experience. Just have to organize a way to get all my stuff moved to my new apartment while on crutches.

My bike got a little jacked, technically speaking

The culprits 

No big deal

No clue what this leg hit to get bruised 

Troubles

While some things have been going great, I am still me and I will always get hurt. I'm already dealing with quite a few injuries and setbacks this year. So in no particular order:

I am trying to get back into running shape, which is hard having taken off for such a long time after the end of last season. To make matters worse, I have developed a big lump of scar tissue in my left heal from when I landed on a piece of steel last August. I was trying to mount bike hangers in the walls of my new apartment. The mount was sitting in the floor and I was up on the dresser drilling into the wall. I was done and jumped back off the dresser and my left heel hit first, right on the 2mm wide piece of backing steel for the hanger. The steel bent, the drill bit snapped off in the carpet, and my heel wrenched in pain. I had to walk on the ball of my foot for the next few days but eventually the pain subsided and the radiographs showed no fracture. Now, the knot of scar tissue is making it very difficult to stretch my plantar aponeurosis and heel striking is just about completely out of the picture. I'm slowly working it out with some painful massage though.

A week and a half ago, a few friends and I went snowboarding with the UTC Outdoors program. It was a great trip, but I didn't realize until the next day that in one of my high velocity falls I injured my left shoulder. I was scared it was a rotator cuff issue. I couldn't swim at all last week, but my stroke is coming back this week. I haven't been able to do my power cleans in the gym either. It is still painful, but the progression and the presentation of the pain leads my professor and me to believe it is more of a deltoid or impingement issue that I hope will work itself out soon.

Since I've been back at school, I have not had a pain free bike ride. My lower back has been giving me problems with most of the pain coming from the right side around L4/L5. I usually get about 30 minutes into the ride before I start noticing the pain. I can make it to about 40 mins before it peaks and I usually give in and dismount the bike to stretch and give it a little break. It subsides rather quickly and I'm back on my way. It usually comes back around 1:45. Sometimes I make it back, sometimes I have to get off and stretch again. I adjusted my fit some after I videoed myself and saw some issues. I was hoping this would take care of my issue and that the pain was just from over reaching by rocking my hips to reach the bottom of the pedal stroke. This past Sunday was the best ride I've had all year. I started out a little faster than usual so the pain started coming on at about the same distance but a little earlier, around 28 minutes. I wiggled around a bit and somehow overcame it. The ride was going great. My legs were flying around the pedals and the pace was not dropping. I was making my way the furthest east I have gone since I've been riding in Chatt. (My goal is to find a reasonable route to North Carolina. I think I can make a 7 hour trip there and back. Spring Break training camp?) I was at 19.7mph at my turn around point of just over an hour and a half. I wanted to keep going, but I really wanted to get back in time to watch Brandon wrestle App State, the last regular season home match. So, I made the U-turn and started heading back. The legs began to fade a bit and a third of the way back I had dropped to 19.5mph. I tried to keep pushing on as I grabbed a bite of Clif Bar. Carefully retracing my path to make sure I didn't get lost on the new roads, I came soaring back to my normal routes when the back pain started to hit again. I was too close and too pressed for time to get off and stretch. So, I just tucked and pushed through. I suffered through the big climb near the end and kept pushing the pace to try to maintain my average speed. I had made it back up to 19.7. With a screaming back and legs, I pulled into my apartment, stripped the chamois off and headed to the arena to catch the match. I kept the 19.7mph, but the change in bike fit and stretching had failed to alleviate my back pain.

So, I set up a time to meet with one of my professors and go through an examination. We found that my right multifidus was grossly atrophied. It was mush and weak compared to my left side. We're not sure why, maybe a strain from last November when I missed the hook for the barbell at the end of squat session, but some type of inhibition is going on and I need to wake it up. I hope it is not from anything more serious such as joint or bone trauma. I'm working on strengthening it and firing my transverse abdominis to see if that might bring it back.

In order to win the Xterra Region, I have to race four races including one championship distance race. I've done the southeast championship twice and planned on doing it again this year to help me clinch the jersey for the third time, this was one of my goals for this year. However, I got an email today saying the championship race has been cancelled in order for Xterra to host the ITU Cross Triathlon World Championship. This is awesome, but it also means I have to find another race to do. I can either travel to Richmond in June or Louisiana in May. I haven't heard too many good things about the Richmond race. They have even had issues of vandalism and competitors getting lost on course because of it. I've experienced this at the Colorado State MTB race in '07 and don't really want to do that again. Louisiana is a great course, but that would be a far drive and it's not technically a championship race. It might have to do though. This is in fact if I don't make the Team USA which will be racing in the world championship. I applied earlier this week. Fingers crossed, sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for that email.

Alberto Contador also ran into some trouble this week. His positive test for clenbuterol during the 2010 Tour de France finally caught up to him. He has been stripped of his 2010 Tour victory, his 2011 Giro victory and is banned from racing in either this year and from competing in the London Olympics this summer. Harsh stuff especially when you factor in the fine he will receive. The board is pushing for $3 million. Most have been saying this is bad for cycling, but I don't understand. The positive test was already exposed. Everyone knew about it. They only change is the punishment. This affects Contador and not necessarily the sport as a whole. Maybe I'd be more upset if I liked him, but I personally think he's an ass. I'm glad Andy gets the win now for the 2010 Tour. Sort of like retribution for Contador attacking on the slopes when Andy dropped his chain. Karma's a bitch isn't it, Contador? It's also pretty lame that Contador said he thought he was supposed to be protected and untouchable "like Lance" since he had spent so much money on lawyers. What a load of crap. Lance never tested positive during Tour.

Since this week is the Combined Sectionals Meeting for the American Physical Therapy Association, our classes are canceled for the rest of the week. Hello four day weekend. So tomorrow I'll be back on the bike and see how the back is feeling. I'm also going on another snowboard trip this Saturday with the UTC Outdoors program. Wish me luck.

I'm saying those are the mountains of North Carolina in the very far distance.