The Road to Somewhere

Ryan, could you be feeling the scar tissue? Every surgery I have ever had....something like 10 now...There is usually a lump from the scar tissue in the area of the incision. Takes some time go away.
 
UtahJoe said:
Ryan, could you be feeling the scar tissue? Every surgery I have ever had....something like 10 now...There is usually a lump from the scar tissue in the area of the incision. Takes some time go away.
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I could be wrong but I don't think so. It was a mass of solidified blood that was cut out. The doc said he cut about half out but it seems the mass is back to it's original size before the procedure. I would think if he's cutting into actual live tissue that would be the case but this is different. I'm hoping that with some ice and maybe some epsom salt baths this will clear up sooner.
 
I went to see the doc yesterday and get my stitch taken out. I told the doc the bump felt bigger and he checked it out and said no its definitely smaller. Ok maybe I'm imagining things - more likely I'm just too impatient and it's not as small as I want it to be - LIKE GONE! Anyway - he said it's just going to take time to resolve and the pressure that cycling puts on it is not really helping my cause. I told him that I won't stop cycling and he said to give it time and he will re-evaluate it in 6 months. If it's still an issue they will put me in for more of an open procedure to definitely remove it but it'll wait till the offseason. It wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear but I've been riding with it for this long, I'm just going to say EF it and forget about the issue and get ready for my season. I'll deal with it more if it causes any further issues.

So last night I told myself I'm getting out and riding no matter what. So of course I rolled out of my house at 8:30 to hit the road for a little while and it was immediately raining. It was a little chilly but it was AMAZING to be out and riding my bike. I've basically been off the bike for the last 2 weeks to deal with surgery and after surgery. So it was nice to just get miles in regardless of the annoying rain. At least it wasn't 30/40's and rain. 50's and rain I can handle. I'm hoping for a bunch of good hours this weekend. Typically President's weekend I try and beat myself into pulp and I may just go that route if the ass agrees.
 
So typically this weekend is like my kickoff for the season to follow. I beat the crap out of myself and continue until the end of the year. I rode 1:45 Thursday, 2:30 yesterday, and I put in 5:30 today. My ass has been doing ok so far but I definitely pushed my limit of being comfortable today. I'm hoping for 2 more hours tomorrow to cap off the weekend if possible. The season is creeping up quickly.
 
Ok it's been almost a month since my last update. I've been trying to get into a rhythm but it really hasn't been happening. Not only have I been dealing with the ass issue, but life has been going crazy. As turbulent as the weather has been, my life seems to be mirroring that. The end of my ski season has finally wrapped up. It's great to coach the kids, but that schedule has really been hard to work around with the family. Dates kept changing and snow conditions made for an interesting wrap up.

On top of this my mom is going through chemo for Lymphoma and she's having a rough go. Not only is that kicking her butt, but she can't walk and needs a hip replacement on top of that. I've really been trying to be by her side and help her go to appointments and do chores. So needless to say I've been super busy and exhausted.

Hopefully as we get further into the year I may have some normal training time and I can get back to focusing on my diet as well. I'm definitely not where I want to be weight wise but I'll work on that in the upcoming months. I don't plan on having any real fitness until April/May and then the baby is due in June. At this point I'm almost thinking I'll race for fun in the spring and then try to put my game face on for cross in the fall. Who knows. I need this snow to melt out so I can have fun in the dirt again. That makes it all better.
 
fidodie said:
Hope your Mom gets a break soon. Those chemo cycles suck.
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I hope so too. She's been through three rounds of 3 different drugs. It's given her no appetite and very weak. She can't really walk as it is and this is just making it tougher. My goal has been calling or going there each day and giving her the eating pep talk. That and trying to get her to quit smoking. The orthopedic doctor she just saw about her hip replacement told her flat out if you don't quit smoking I won't operate on you. She's finally scared enough that she might actually quit...for a while.

On my side at least with short track #2 being cancelled it gives me more time to be ready for the disappointment my legs are going to give me at ST#3. I'm going to try like hell to get back into the swing of things starting today to curb the diet and drop some pounds so I'm not as disappointed in my race results. My endurance legs are still there but I haven't really done much intensity yet and the weight is definitely holding me back.
 
It looks like the racing season may actually start! I'm in no way prepared for it, but it's starting. Full disclosure: with so much going on in my life I've been so close to saying F-it and not caring about training, eating, or racing. I've been walking that fine line of trying to find motivation to stay on my bike and sanity. I'm still on the side of trying to find some kind of satisfaction in going fast.

I'm heading up to Augusta tonight to do their training crit. I have done a few of these in the past and they are good for getting some hard efforts in and overall its a pretty good workout. I'm hoping to have a decent time and just stay out of any excitement. I'll see how I feel but I did a road loop Sunday on my cx bike with 70 miles and 7000 feet of vert so lets say I'm not so fresh. The bigger picture is that I want some intensity as I'm heading down to Virginia to do the Stoopid 50 on Saturday. Like it or not I'm racing this week! That race is seriously going to hurt. I'm not anywhere near a light weight right now and this race is 50 miles of singletrack and 10,000 feet of vert. Say goodbye legs! So hopefully this will start off the season right and help motivate me to get some form back. On the flip side it might just cripple me and let me have a good excuse to ride the couch.
 
Dang it... I guess I missed the post on their website. No Augusta crit today. Waaaaaah. I wanted some pain. Not sure what to do now.
 
The trails have dried out and the race is on! This is gonna be amazing - ly painful! I'm not trying to set the world on fire for this one but pedal hard and have a good day. I may even try to go out slower and see how that works. Usually the start is super hot and I don't have that yet this year. I'll report back with my findings after I shred myself. I'm just thinking about 60's and dry singletrack!
 
My wish came true. The Stoopid 50 had 60's and dry singletrack. The start was in the high 30's low 40's, but with sun it felt amazingly warm. I headed out with shorts and a jersey on and summer shoes! That's just craziness, especially since the snow we have just had. Anyway, the race was as hard as it looked. I knew early on that I wasn't going to be attacking anywhere and I was just along for the ride. I wanted to survive and enjoy riding my bike. I figured I would ride whatever pace I could sustain and go with it if I felt good. I was watching my heart rate on the first climb and even though I was pushing a bit it didn't want to get over 160 bpm. Usually I'd be pinned in the 180's off the start, and keep it up there for the first 2+ hours. Not this day. The beginning climb is relentless. Super steep loose shale that had a lot of riders walking. I was happy to ride it all and it wasn't easy. But the climb keeps going and going. It goes for 7.2 miles as my gps would tell me later. I felt better at the top of the climb and I started passing people. Right towards the top I see my driving partner for this event @Santa.

Dom went out pretty hard and I didn't even try to go with him. I figured it was a long race and hopefully I'd see him later. So I get on his wheel for the descent and we ride for a little bit but I "NEED" to open it up on the downhill. I didn't do all that work on the up to stay on my brakes going down. I ask him to let me pass and tell him to follow my line and I let it rip. I passed 3 more on the descent and hit the aid station at the bottom hoping Dom would come back so I'd have someone to ride with. I took the next section fairly easy and Dom came back. We agreed to not suffer alone and ride for a bit together discussing how painful this event was. We hit the next major climb and enjoyed the trails and being in the pain cave ourselves. We knew we weren't flying but were just setting a consistent pace to hopefully survive this thing. Then we crossed the icy knee deep river which sucked for a bit with soaked shoes but then we hit major climb #3 and the pain went away as we grunted through that one.

On this climb in the SM100 I've actually blacked out before and fell down the hillside so I tried to not repeat that. We rode steady and hit the next downhill into the aid station. I waited up for him at the aid station and wondered what happened. I've been going downhill well but not that well. It was a couple of minutes before I heard him come to the aid station. Turns out he had a little meeting with a tree and snapped off his garmin. So he was pissed but ok. We hit the last major climb and it was easier than anticipated. Once we crested the top I figured if I had any gap on the downhills I would see what I had left and leave Dom and get to the finish. I felt good and pushed a little harder not knowing what lies ahead. The last trail was SUPER rocky and fun. It's just how the end of the Stoopid 50 should be...STOOPID! I hit the road at the end of the rocky descent and knew I wasn't far from the end. I crossed the line at 5:58. In my head I was pacing - with feeling good - for 6:15. I was super happy to finish below 6 hours no matter what the placing was.

It turns out I was 16th of 42. That's awesome. I was super happy to be done. But it was just a good hard day on the bike. I wasn't feeling any really hard efforts, I just kept grinding away at an endurance pace and got through each part and enjoyed the ride. That's all I've been wanting. Maybe this climbing will settle in too and get these legs moving as it's been a super sluggish winter/early spring and this snow doesn't help. After the event we jumped back in the car and drove 6 hours home so we were around for Easter the next day. It was a quick trip but well worth the effort to get there and ride this race. I've already got plans to go back for next year.
 
Nice work Ryan. Solid result too. That course looks pretty epic.

Are you going to do Roth Rock? I'm trying to talk myself into it
 
Nice work out there. Definitely a great day on the bike. It was great having someone to ride with and enjoy in the pain of those climbs. After the tree incident Ryan told me not to take any chances on the last downhill as he left me in the dust descending it at almost 50MPH......just crazy!!! Anyway great day on the bike and I finished up right behind at 6:02 and in 17th place. I was very suprized I did so good as at one point I turned to @xc62701 and said are we in dead last or something. Funny how you can have no clue where your at sometimes.
 
jShort said:
Nice work Ryan. Solid result too. That course looks pretty epic.

Are you going to do Roth Rock? I'm trying to talk myself into it
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I would love to do Roth Rock again but that's right in the baby#2 window so it's off limits this year.
 
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