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July 2008

7.24.08 I now am cranking out the miles on the bike. Last Saturday was 80 miles during the race, 30 miles Monday and last night (Wednesday) I did 55 miles riding out from Grandville, doing a loop at the game area trail and back home. My weight is finally down again to 170.6 - towards my target of 165.

7.20.08 Ithaca- well, a success. Joni, Brenden and I all three did the event. Joni pulled in six laps for the women's solo category for the 6 Hours of Ithaca. Brenden did an amazing job, placing 2nd place in the 6 Hours of Ithaca SingleSpeed category! I raced the 12 Hours of Ithaca and ended up in 5th place of eight riders. I ended my event at 10:40pm, opting to not do the last eighty minutes. I simply ran out of energy. I basically accomplished what I set out to do- test the leg (the I.T Band) as well as work on my pedaling mechanics- I had no problems with the leg- which was fantastic.

I rode the first lap with Joni so that took a bit more than an hour as she learned the trail. After that I took off and worked on gaining time to achieve 10 laps by the 600pm halfway mark. I rested a bit in the tent just before 600pm. I took off again at 600pm determined to do two laps per hour. I was steady on pace doing laps 11-12 by 700pm, and getting laps 13-14 in by 800pm- though this nearly did not happen. Lap 14 saw my only crash as I hit an obscured root during the lap causing an endo. I landed on my left hand (spraining some aspect of it) and the bike hit me on the helmet breaking off my light mount. I finished the lap in time, but had to pull into the pit to install a spare light mount to replace the broken one. I ended up doing another five laps in the next 2hrs-40min but my hand was throbbing and that last lap was just soooo sloooow.

We are now registering for Ore-to-Shore. I took ten minutes off my time from 2006 to 2007, though I don't know that I can repeat that with the downtime in training I've had the last five weeks. Stay tuned...

7.17.08 I had my bike fit at Cross Country Cycle yesterday evening- it was quite informative and helpful. I was not really in a view to be disappointed in any event. Worst case scenario would be that I found I was way off on fit and needed all sorts of remedial alterations, best case scenario was that I was close and merely needed some tweaking- and this turned out to be the case.

Tweaks involved getting new shoe inserts including a wedge under my left foot to help counteract a hip shift (this hip shift may be contributing to my lower right back muscle/nerve pain), moving my seat back a couple centimeters and raising it as well. Additionally, to create a touch more reach, rather than look at changing the handlebar stem, we merely rotated the riser bar a little bit forward, the net effect of creating about a quarter inch more reach. On most bikes, Laura uses a special tool from Specialized- an adjustable stem which not only rotates up and down, but allows the handlebars to move fore and aft. That tool cannot be used on Cannondale due to the oversized headset that is Cannondale's trademark.

Another issue noticed was my pedalling- She noticed I don't really pivot my ankle when I pedal, i.e. I don't really create that "scraping the mud from the bottom of the shoe" effect- my ankle stays fairly static. I will try to concentrate on changing this pedal stroke mechanics for more efficiency- I've got a good event coming up to work on these issues this Saturday at the 12 hours of Ithaca as the course is fairly flat- I can do quite a bit of spinning that day.

7.15.08 Updates from the past week.

Saturday we drove to Boyne so Brenden could compete in the Boyne Marathon CPS race- two laps on the toughest course in Michigan for a total of about 22 miles. He took first in Sport Singlespeed category and made the team website.

Last night, Monday, I went out for a road ride and pumped out 34 miles at a 16mph pace on my mountainbike. I felt good, though my legs were a little tired, but I could have done another ten miles I think. I came home and did the mandatory rehabilitation routines. The roller isn't hurting as much as it used to. (Here's a linked photo of someone doing the same activity on the roller I have been doing).

Tonight was to be my marathon night at the game area trail. I met Joni there and did one lap. She then went home and I intended to do many, many laps (delirously thinking I could do ten- yeah right). I did a second lap and had my lights on and on the last section of the trail I tried the light- and it kept going out! Ugh. I met up with Danielle in the trailhead parking lot who was out for a short night ride herself. We did my lap three together which was good- by the fourth section it was nearly 10pm and really dark. I turned my light on and it did work for short periods then going out.

The good news is my leg felt good and no pain within that ride. I stopped by Founder's for a sandwhich and beer, then home to do my prescribed stretches. Things are looking up. Wednesday is bike fit day at Cross Country Cycle

7.08.08 Therapy is going well- I've had three sessions with Jason Ross and his "Active Release Technique" supplemented by the prescribed stretches. I've begun some easy riding. Friday I rode two laps at Ft Custer with my friend Steve, his son Rafi, my son Brenden and friend Chingoun. Steve had a rough ride, tumbling several times (once deflating his front tubless tire and the last was a hard fall on the ribs). But my leg felt fine and not overly stressed. Joni and I rode easy Kent Trails/O'Brien/Kenowa route Saturday. I then did fifteen miles on the same route with Brenden Monday and tonight we did 18 miles on that route.

Friday we went to the CFI gathering and then walked to the fireworks downtown on Pearl. We had the Founders Team party at Rick and Cathy's Saturday- fun event, good conversation. Sunday I watched Raf get a bike fitting by Laura at Cross Country Cycle. Steve had a fitting a couple weeks ago and raved about the improvement. I will likely schedule one of these next week.

Upcoming plans- to ride a couple more times this week. I have a physical therapy session Friday. Brenden is racing Boyne Saturday. Do the bike fitting next week then perhaps mid-week do a hard ride (with lights, if necessary) at CGSA to test the leg if Jason okays the hard ride test.