Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Mid-Season Break

Winter seems to take forever with endless days of cold and clouds. Spring came late along with the temps. A dry and cool April and May lead into a crazy June. Rain almost every day with temps in the 90's with high humidity. Just like the race season, anticipation is there to line up with friends you have not seen over the course of the winter. Then 4 weeks of racing. Strangly enough, the schedules open back up for 4 weeks to allow time for long rides.

Brighton Stage Race was the first time back on the MTB scene since April's Bloomer XC. The week before was spent trying to acclimate to the heat and humidity and patching up some road rash. The TT came Saturday morning and I felt pretty good. My start sucked as normal, but I got back into a rhythm only to be disrupted 5 corners later as my skin wanted to touch the dirt. With overgrowth on the trail and going for a top time, it was easy to miss corners and run off into the trees and weeds. A few times of twisting wrong sent a pain through my hip and leg that was previously aggrivated. I finished it up in 5th place just 2.2 hundreths of a second behind Joe's new Quiring.

Short Track was later. My leg/hip was bothering me, but it seemed a little better that the TT. I lined up late, so I was in the back. The hip only had a little pain, but on the last lap, the muscle gave out a sharp pain and put me back. I rolled in for 11th, dropping a few spots. After the race, any sudden movement even as little as reaching for a glass hurt. I scratched the XC on Sunday for recovery. Usually it is hard to watch when you could race, but it was a total sufferfest. 90+F and humid as hell made for some not-so-fun conditions. Congrats to everyone who pushed through it. Oh, and the 3hrs for a XC. 40mi and that time is almost marathon distance.

So, I took last week off the bike and rested my leg. I am pretty sure it is muscle strain(after discussing with Dr. Internet Explorer). Ice, some stretching and rest was on tap. I rode my CX bike on Sunday, but it was a little sore as well. More time off. No need to rush it. My season goes until mid-December, so getting healed and resting up is key. I am scratching my east coast racing in July as I have no time to get back into shape. I might end up doing Boyne Marathon and then Malliot Juane road race if it happens. Anything else is up for grabs and based on my leg.

Maybe visual stimulation later, but my computer will not pick up the wireless anymore, so I'll have to transfer pics. Riding into work tomorrow, so we'll see how the leg feels.

2 comments:

Cruise said...

I was wondering where you disappeared to...

Good to hear you're still alive. We shall do a nice long mtn ride once you start feeling better.

Cruise said...

btw, did you have to do any qualifying races to go to U-23 mtn nats last year?