a day in the life of a recovering acromegalic

new chapter

2008-11-30T22:56:00.003-05:00

today marks the close to this chapter of my life. tomorrow begins a new one. i start my new job tomorrow. i'm a bit uneasy, to say the least. i'm not sure why. maybe it's just because the unknown sometimes scares me. maybe i'm afraid of failure. i don't know what it is because i don't know the exact expectations that will be placed upon with this new position. i can only hope for the best and take it one day at a time.

so, yeah, it's going to be weird to get into a routine again. it's been more than six and a half months since i've worked! i hope i can manage my time okay because this apartment is getting a little out of hand.

it's kind of weird because i've had an overwhelming feeling of sadness come over me the last couple of hours. i can't really put a finger on it. is it because i feel horrible that my family is broken up? is it because of my rocky relationship with carrie? is it because of the pressure of starting a new job? is it because i feel bad for mason that he can't experience "normal" things as a family? is it because i've been WASTED 6 out of the last 8 nights? alcohol does evil things to my mood when I'm sober following a hard night of drinking or a string of drinking days. maybe it's a combination of all of the above. i just feel so uneasy. will this feeling ever go away? it seems like i'm always uneasy or in a funk about something.

so carrie and i are back together...i guess. i say i guess because we sort of patched things up on friday night but for some reason something feels off to me. something just doesn't feel right. again, i can't put a finger on it but something's not right. i hope all the answers come to me sooner than later because this absolutely sucks!

the past six and a half months have been HARD. i've dealt with some of the most, if not most difficult things in my life. and you know what? you're just never the same. and i'm not. i'll never be the same. sometimes i feel so alone in this world. tomorrow is a new day and a new job and i walk this road alone.

2008-11-25T22:29:00.002-05:00

well, someone has found my blog! ;-) yeah, it's filled with a bunch of drivel, but hey, it's me. i bet you all didn't know i was such a sappy motherfucker, did you?

anyway, the past couple of days has been okay. i made an awesome bbq chicken pizza last night drank a bottle of cabernet and 3 bell's best browns. i don't even know what time i went to bed! ;-) i didn't think i'd be drinking tonight but the tree farmers were hanging out at uptown grille and i had to join them. i was very impressed with their beer selection! it was also good to see some old faces since i've totally alienated all of my friends!

i'm hoping to get back into the swing of things and start doing things that i like doing. i think i'm even going to put the rack back on the shaggin' wagon so i can ride again. yes, i hate the cold. yes, i know i'm a big pussy. but, i really need to get out of this apartment and DO something!

look who's back

2008-11-23T21:39:00.002-05:00

well, well, well. it's been almost year since my last post. 11 months to be exact. so where have i been? what have i been doing? does anyone really care? i think i'm just writing right now for my own sanity. i've had a devastatingly rough year. mostly personal issues. i'm a bit leary giving the details of my private life on a public blog, but i don't think i have many readers left. i just feel like writing, that's all.

jackie and i officially split up last winter. i officially moved out on valentine's day. how fitting. i was rewarded with a horrendous bout of the flu. i don't remember being that sick for a long, long time. i had jumped around from place to place. i first started with a shit-hole place in ypsi where i was there for only a month. i then moved into a pretty nice condo in novi with a roommate who i never saw. unfortunately, i was kicked out when she was doing a favor for a couple of her friends. they needed a place to stay, so i was out. i found another place in northville and moved in back in the middle of july. i was there for only two weeks as my roommate's lease was up and we moved down the road to a different apartment complex. and that's where i reside now. it's a pretty decent situation as my roommate is rarely here so i pretty much have the place to myself. it sucks living in an apartment again, but i have to make due.

and that brings me to my employment status. i've been unemployed the majority of this year. i was laid off on may 12 and have been unemployed ever since. thankfully, i was given a decent severance package and was paid through the end of september. i actually took the entire summer off so i could spend it with mason. it was time that i would never, ever trade for anything. it was priceless. when he started school this fall, i finally started looking for work. as luck would have it, timing was everything. i ended up with 3 offers which is absurd in today's job market! it was difficult turning down the other two positions but i officially accepted the other offer last friday! i start on december 1. so after six and a half months of unemployment, i go back to work in a week. i'm sure it'll take a little getting used to, but i think i'm ready for a regular routine again.

i know a lot of people are probably upset about my split up with jackie. i'm always the bad guy. well, that's pretty much what everybody thinks. in some ways i was the bad guy, but there are a lot of things the outsiders don't know about our relationship. there were many issues that were never addressed. those issues wore on me year after year. i loved jackie with all my heart but we had to do what we had to do. it still kills me to this day that this had to happen. i feel horrible for mason even though he's been a complete trooper through all of this. but i know it's going to be a tough 6 weeks with the holidays coming up.

then there was carrie. carrie was a coworker of mine from my old job in ann arbor. she started last fall and i really didn't get to know her until around christmas time last year. we ended up being really good friends. we had a lot in common as she was going through a divorce last fall. we started dating shortly after i moved out and had been dating on and off ever since. well, that is until yesterday. that's when i broke it off. we really fell deeply in love with each other but something had changed back in september. she could never get past the fact that jackie was always in the picture. there was a time back in late may/early june that i wanted to try to work things out with jackie. jackie initally wasn't willing to try which totally crushed me. i literally freaked out. i guess i don't deal with things like that too well. then i was somewhat okay with it. but then, out of the blue, jackie told me she wanted to try to work things out. i was very skeptical, as i should've been. that got nowhere because she didn't do anything! there was another guy and finally i sat down and had talked to her and she did it just because she felt guilty. yeah, i was livid with her for quite a while but now we're on decent terms. we have to be, for mason's sake. so, i'm not sure what happened with carrie. she was just never the same. this girl was absolutely crazy about me and it all changed literally overnight. i tried and tried to get our relationship back to where it was but was never successful. so i ended it yesterday. it totally sucks. i'm absolutely crushed again. so that's two lost loves in one year! why does this shit happen to me? like i said, i've had a rough year. a broken marriage, a failed relationship, and a lost job.

needless to say, i've had little motivation to do anything this year. i rode a measly 200 miles this year. 200. that's it. i couldn't justify doing any racing including iceman while i was unemployed and not having any definite job prospects at the time. there are many regrets that i have. i've completely lost my identity. i don't even know who i am anymore. i've lost all of my connections with friends. i'm literally all by myself right now. i'm trying my best to get my life in order. i'm trying so hard to find some motivation to start running again. there will be no more riding until spring. i even took the roof rack off of my car this winter. the last time i rode was 9/11 which is ridiculous because there were some spectacularly beautiful days this fall. so i don't even know where to go from here. i'm going to take one day at a time. there are times i feel an overwhelming sense of despair, but other times i feel hopeful. i really wish things would've worked out with carrie and i. i really miss that girl. she really has been my life this year, and for that i'm thankful. she was always there for me, but now when i need her most, she's gone.

merry x-mas!

2007-12-24T23:19:00.000-05:00

yes, x-mas! not sure where the 'x' came from but i'm sure wiki could help me out if i asked. so, i broke a promise. my how time flies. the last time i wrote was the end of august??? are you kidding me? i promised to update regularly and i go for a whole week. lame.

anyway, here we are on the eve of christmas. i'm on vacation, so obviously i'm having fun, even if it is a monday night. and by fun, i mean drinking by myself.

lots has happened since the end of august, my friends. and by lots, i mean nothing. well, i rode my bike a few more times. didn't race iceman. didn't even make it to 500 miles this year. now that's hard to believe! i had even quit drinking for about 5 weeks there in the fall. health issues, mainly. i'm doing okay again, i guess.

i'm thinking about maybe doing some more racing next year. yeah, yeah, you've heard it all before. i think i say/think this every winter. i guess the proof will be in the pudding. mmmm...pudding. so, to stay motivated, i think i'll do the cps series or something. of course, if i do it, i'll be giving it 110% so i absolutely expect to win. what's the point of me doing it and not winning? if i can stay healthy, i should be able to do it. i just need a little but of motivation, and (the theoretical) god knows i have little when the heat of summer rolls around. but we'll see what happens. i have faith in myself next year!

i also started training again for another half marathon next year. but since i turn into more of a wuss each year i turn older, i've refrained from running out in the cold. what a difference a year makes because last december and january, i was running 4 times/week regardless of the weather. i froze my nuts off...literally. but not this year. instead, we've invested in a nice treadmill parked in my cozy basement. i've been on the program for 3 weeks now and things are going pretty well. i definitely don't miss all the "runner's aches and pains" but there's something about running that's addictive. and do i ever miss running! it's been what, like 8 months since i've run regularly? there's definitely a runner's high that's unlike anything else. if i can stay injury free then i'll be running the derby festival half again next april.

anyway, my drink is dry and so is this post. so, hopefully i'll do this a little bit more regularly...mainly for my sanity, not yours.

merry christmas everybody!

weekend musings

2007-08-27T12:36:00.000-04:00

the weekend started off shitty. work bullshit. i don't feel like getting into it but i was all stressed out by the time i got home friday evening. did i want to crack open the tasty ipa's that were waiting for me in the fridge or did i want to have a low-key night and workout? i opted for the former. did you expect anything less? that dogfish head 60 minute ipa sure was tasty. so was that batch of extra-hot homemade salsa i fired up. then the storms hit. power went out for a few seconds but came back on. time for another beer. and another. and another. hmm...what am i going to do on this friday night? i didn't feel like sitting around by myself all night and the 80's dance party i was hosting by myself was getting old...FAST!

so 9:00 rolls around and i had gone through all of my 60 minute ipa. well, looks like i'll have to break out the 90 minute ipa. that's an imperial ipa, 9.0% abv. i don't like it as much as the 60 minute, but still tasty, nonetheless. i turn on the tele and all over the news was the devastation around metro detroit. wow! was it really that bad out? i guess so. we got hit pretty good in livonia, but i guess further north up in fenton, they got hit w/ some tornadoes. there was also flooding all around town too. oh yeah and about 70,000 people without power. well, i'm good. the storm had passed, my belly was warm from the salsa, i had a pretty good buzz from the dogfish heads and was happily surfing on my computer when FLASH! the power went out. it tried to come back on 3 times and then darkness and silence settled upon me. FUCK. this sucks. i called some friends up and told them i was alone in the dark and scared and needed to be held, so they invited me over. not only was a phat steak waiting for me when i got over there but hot corn on the cob and beer too! now that's what i call a good friend!

and that was just friday. saturday, i crawled out of bed as i needed to be at maybury by 11:00 to help out. it started raining about 20 minutes after i got out there. not fun. after helping out with the course, i moved over to the food pavillion and helped out there. then, i started drinking. all downhill from there. no, it was fun, really. except for when i puked 4 times in the outhouse while peeing. i've never, ever puked because of a smell before. gagged, yes, but never chunkage. that was the worst smelling outhouse EVER!

i even got in a little trail run when i went back out to course marshall and sherpaboy and the ems come tearing through with their vehicles. it felt really good to be running on the trail even though it was slick and muddy. i'm glad they got the downed rider out safely.

more drinking ensued as we headed downtown northville then downtown plymouth. i was being heckled relentlessly by two specific darkhorse girls. they're brutal, man! ;-)

oh yeah, one more thing...

I'M NEVER DRINKING AGAIN!

i'm back on me feet again!

2007-08-23T22:14:00.000-04:00

i must be on some 80s kick because i keep quoting terrible 80s tunes. oh well. i like the 80s. in fact, i just made an all 80s rockin' cd last night!

i've started running again! the last time i ran was on april 28th which was the day of my half marathon. the multiple stress fractures in both legs have sidelined me WAY longer than i thought. so, i'm taking it slow. really S-L-O-W. i'm gonna follow the rehab plan so i don't reinjure it. i went out for a half mile total on tuesday combining walk/jog segments. i went a little further today. i covered about 2 miles but only ran for about 4.5 minutes total. i feel good. i can't believe how much i miss it! it was a rather interesting night to be out. to the east, was tons of frequent, bright lightning and to the south, was a bright moon and stars. i'd never seen anything like it. everytime the lightning would flash, it would reflect off the wet pavement and light up the night. too cool!

i'm bummed i haven't ridden in a week. it's funny because i've gone all summer not riding for two, three weeks at a time but all of a sudden i rode 4 times last week and now with the wet weather, i've been off the bike for a week. i've gotten the single speed back and have done two rides on it, and i absolutely love it! my legs aren't in the best climbing shape, especially at pontiac, but it's still a blast! i finally put on the carbon riser i've had laying around since last fall and some new esi silicone grips. i hated the ergons and even the specialized knock-off which are a bit smaller. i need to be able to wrap my entire hand around the grips to feel in control. see? i'm i control freak. naw. not really.

anyway, the weekend is almost upon us. i'm not racing maybury because i can't do 3 laps. yeah, weak, i know. but, i'll be there course marshalling so i can make fun of all the suckers suffering in the mud!

here i am...

2007-08-21T17:05:00.000-04:00

...the one that you love! grrr...air supply pisses me off.

so, i'm back by popular, or more realistically, not so popular demand. i've been away from the computer for the last 5 months. okay, so i lied. i really haven't been away from the computer for 5 whole months, just away from my blog. maybe it's because i never know what to write. maybe because no one really cares about my obsessive/compulsive tendencies. maybe it's because the blog became plain ol' boring. i did nothing but bitch in here. and who really wants to be brought down by someone's blog? not me, my friend! so, i've spared you all the details.

well, it hasn't been all bad. actually, life's been treating me pretty well the past 5 months. i completed the 1/2 marathon at the end of april, i went to disney at the end of may, i did the tree farm relay with my beloved teammates, i've been working my ass off. so where does that leave any time for riding? well, it hasn't. i've only ridden a dozen or so times ALL year. of course, now i'm kicking myself since it's late august and i'm in (relatively speaking) piss poor shape. but, i'm getting back into it. slowly. i've still partied like a rockstar all summer! not something i'm proud of, but fun nonetheless. drinking just gets me into WAY too much trouble! ;-)

best of all, i've managed to stay healthy this summer! no unexpected hospital visits, no crazy pains. actually, this is the best i've felt in years! can't complain about that.

on a sad note, i thought i'd make mention of a good friend's wife who passed away on august 2nd after a brutal battle with breast cancer. she was 36 and left behind two young children. that really bummed me out for awhile. life just isn't fair. but it goes on. and she will not be forgotten. not by me. not by her husband. and certainly not by her children and loving family. rest in peace, shelly!

weekend doings

2007-03-25T22:16:00.000-04:00

another weekend gone...all too fast. no riding either. yeah, i know i suck. i wasn't feeling too good on friday or saturday. there's been at least one person ill in my household for the past 6 or 7 weeks. it's crazy. we just keep passing things back and forth. i felt nauseous friday afternoon and most of the day yesterday so i really didn't feel like riding. i chilled out most of the day, lifted some weights and headed out to the party. yep, i wasn't planning on going, but i was talked into it. i knew it would be fun, and it was. it was really good see all these people i haven't seen all winter. the party was pretty chill so i got a chance to talk to a bunch of people i either haven't talked to in a long time or people that i normally don't converse with. good times although i didn't get home until almost 4:30. my how time flies! i did end up with a bloody, fat lip! if you really want to know, you'll have to ask! ;-)

consequently, i didn't get up until 2pm today. i need my beauty sleep. well, if my beauty was actually measured by the amount of sleep i get, i'd be sleeping 24/7. i knew i had to get in my first long run today. i had to muster up enough energy and finally did at 8pm. my long run today was 5 miles. i went a bit further and felt okay. i'm stupid. my 3 mile run on thursday i couldn't hold back and ran all out for 3 miles and that put the hurt on my shin. i don't think it's healed but i'm gonna try to run through this as long as it doesn't get too bad. i have my training plan down. i'm gonna add 1.5 miles to my long run each week which would put me at 11 miles the weekend before my race. i'm still keeping my fingers crossed because i REALLY want to do this race!

it's funny how i keep talking about running, isn't it? i'm not too worried about the PLRA race even though i should be. i don't think i could ride all out for 50 minutes right now. we might be getting some people together to ride yankee next weekend if it's nice. i guess the trail is in awesome shape. that will definitely give me a good idea where i'm at fitness wise on the bike.

looks like it's gonna be a very short day today. time to shower and hit the hay!

it's springtime!

2007-03-20T21:59:00.002-04:00

spring has officially arrived....and i'm freezing my ass of in my basement. it's always super cold down here when it's clear outside. maybe some science geek can enlighten me as to why.

i didn't get a chance to run yesterday but i did 4 miles on the treadmill tonight. yeah, i guess i could've ran outside, but the scenery is definitely better inside. plus, i didn't freeze my ass off. see a trend here? it looks like it's gonna warm up this week so i'm looking to ride this weekend. maybe both days. i'm contemplating whether or not to go to a party this weekend but i know i'll just get hammered and feel like shit on sunday. i haven't had a drink since south beach two weeks ago...nor have i wanted one. well, the two bam biere's were looking quite lonely at the bottom of the fridge last night.

ugh, work has sucked this week. early morning 2 hour meeting yesterday and a bright and early training session this morning. i've gotten like no sleep the last two days. i think i'm hallucinating again.

well, it's that time of year again. time to get back into riding. it seems like people have already gotten a good start although from what i've heard, the trails are still trashed. so i guess i'll have to stick to the pavement...which i so dearly hate. maybe some hill intervals this weekend. that's what i need to work on. well, i guess i don't really need to work on anything, but i would like to be in good enough shape to enjoy myself on my bike. don't plan on being too competitive this year although i'll be doing a good number of races. damn, i'm dead tired. i need to stop typing and get some rest.

lazy sunday

2007-03-18T20:06:00.000-04:00

got the results from my tests on friday. everything is A-OK...well, except for my blood pressure. i need to monitor that and make sure it doesn't stay high. i've cut way back on the sodium intake as it has been ridiculous the last couple of weeks mainly because i've been eating out pretty much every meal. and as we all know, restaurant food has ungodly amounts of sodium in it, not to mention i usually eat double or triple portions. yes, i do love to eat. so, i've eaten very healthy this weekend and the pounding in my chest has subsided. i'll see if i can get a bp reading sometime this week and see if it's back to normal.

i ran 3 miles on the treadmill after work friday. i had to force myself to stop at 3 miles because i was feeling really good. i was tempted to go out today since it was sunny out, but decided on one more days rest and will attempt 4 miles tomorrow. i thought about going out for a ride at hines today but it was too damn windy and chilly for my wimpy ass. i really don't like the cold especially now that i've gotten used to the warm weather. hopefully, i'll be ready for the plra race next month. it's more like, hopefully the trail will be ready for the race next month. i imagine the trails are still a mess but haven't checked any bb's lately to see the updated conditions. if it's sloppy, i'm definitely skipping it. no need for any early season injuries and no more trashed bikes this year!

results?

2007-03-15T23:19:00.000-04:00

i had my stess echo this morning. weird. my blood pressure again was high. actually, it was VERY high this morning. something like 158/94, which is higher than i ever remember seeing it. so either something is going on, or i'm subconsciously nervous about the tests. if i remember correctly, my bp was normal when i saw the cardiologist 3 weeks ago. i'll have to follow up w/ the cardiologist tomorrow to see if they want to monitor it.

anyway, the stress test was interesting. they had my walk on the treadmill at an incline and then increased the speed and incline every two minutes. their normal protocol is every three minutes but seeing as i was in good shape, they thought they'd speed things up. sure enough, my hr steadily climbed until i was at a 20% grade and running. i maxed out at 186 ( i think). my quads and calves were on fire so that was all i could take. so they had me jump off and immediately lay down to have my heart imaged with the ultrasound. it was weird laying down after maxing out my hr. i felt a little light headed and woosie but that was probably because of all the blood pooling and having not eaten in 16 hours. i should have the results tomorrow. the techs did see a couple of pvc's during exercise but i didn't feel them. if anything was seriously wrong, i would've heard from them by now.

so, now i'm wondering why my bp has been high this week...not to mention i've been having bloody noses which i NEVER get. weird. oh well, this just keeps my life interesting. my health always puts things into perspective. that's why i try not to get caught up in all of the little bs that plagues my daily life.

on the road again!

2007-03-12T21:24:00.000-04:00

just got back from a run! yep a run! i went out for a quick but slow 2-miler. i'm feeling no ill effects...yet. keeping my fingers crossed. the stupid insurance company decided it would be cool and not pay for my two tests if they are scheduled on the same day so they moved my stress echo to thursday. i'm not complaining as that will give me a couple more days rest before they try to kill me on the treadmill. i have to run until i reach my hr max. that could take awhile. or not. i'm just in average shape right now. but still, i'm SO excited to be back running! maybe the half is not out of reach. we'll see how my body holds up as i slowly up the miles. happy trails!

springing forward

2007-03-12T12:53:00.000-04:00

the beginning of daylight saving time always sucks. i HATE losing an hour of sleep! oh well, it works out better in the long run...more daylight to ride after work!

well, got out for my first ride of the year yesterday. it was a chilly 54 degrees...chilly after being in 75-80 degree florida weather all week! no, it really was a beautiful day for riding yesterday. hines drive for 25.5 miles. the only thing that hurts is my ASS! not having sat in a bicycle seat for 3 months and then doing a 25-miler, i have a good idea what it feels like to be a male prisoner. too bad the warm weather won't stick around.

i have my tests this week and hopefully the ol' ticker will be okay and ready for punishment this year....and for the rest of my life for that matter! i'm also gonna try some running this week to determine if i can run down in louisville at the end of next month. i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

i survived south beach. barely. i should be dead. i don't remember ever feeling as bad as i did on wednesday. that's not gonna happen again any time soon. south florida pretty much sucks. the people down there aren't very friendly. there was a brutal fight right in front of us down in south beach as we ate dinner. i heard gunshots on monday night from the hotel. there were a couple of other things i observed during the week that i didn't like. i was more than ready to come home. the only thing i did like about south florida was the warm spring weather. it was an interesting trip though. i learned a lot in class and got to at least experience south beach. if you've never been, you've got to experience it at least ONCE.

south beach, baby!

2007-03-05T21:56:00.000-05:00

i'm coolin' down in miami, F-L-A. well, actually you folks back in meechigan are cooling it while i'm chillin in a beautiful 66 degree night under a full moon. what a gorgeous day it was today! low 70s and sunny! a little warmer tomorrow as we head down to south beach after class.

had an AWESOME dinner tonight OUTSIDE at a trendy nicaraguan restaurant. their chimicurri is to die for! short sleeves and flip-flops baby!

so south florida is pretty cool this time of year. not too hot and way nicer than the dreary late winter days of michigan. it's pretty cool that i'm down here all week. the downside is that i'm dropping tons of cash. work won't comp alcoholic drinks. party poopers.

oh yeah, i had my cardiology appt. last week. it went well. i'm scheduled for an echo and a stress echo next tuesday morning when i get back. the stress portion is done on a treadmill, so i'll have to run. it'll be one day shy of 5 weeks next tuesday. so, if i finish that with no significant pain, i'll start my journey towards my half marathon. i'm planning on running 3 days/week. tues, thurs, and sat for my long run. it'll be 4, 4 and 6 to start and i'll add one mile to my long run each week. the week before the half i'll be doing a 4, 4, 11, so i should be ready for the 13 the following weekend. well....that's the plan anyway. it all depends on how my shins hold up. i'm keeping my fingers crossed because i REALLY want to do this race. i'm sooooo bummed that i can't run right now because it would be SO nice to be running outside this week. omg, have i mentioned how NICE it is outside???

well, i've got to get some rest so i can get my drink on in south beach tomorrow night with all the honeys!

damn viruses!

2007-02-25T21:11:00.000-05:00

i'm sick again. not exactly sure what i have but i've had some weird symptoms (go figure). i had a stiff neck and a headache when i go into work on tuesday. now i'm all stuffed up and my lungs feel "itchy". i hope i get rid of this pretty quickly because i've had zero energy this past week since i've done zero physical activity. so, overall, i feel like crap.

i've got a cardiology appointment on tuesday afternoon. hopefully, he'll do the necessary tests to make sure my heart is healthy. it's always scary to hear of young, supposedly healthy professional athletes dropping dead. and yet another one this past weekend. a denver broncos running back. yikes! it's funny that the docs never take me seriously. oh, you're young and in good shape. how could you possibly have a heart problem? look at jiri fischer. greg johnson had to retire this past summer because they found a hereditary heart problem. good thing they finally found it before he keeled over and died. all i ask is they do a stress echo to see what my heart is doing during exercise.

enough on that crap. i've been holding off for the longest time from looking at the mtbr 29er forum. i took a peek tonight after about 3 months. yikes! now i know why i stayed away! everytime i see what everyone else is riding, i want something new too! whether it's the latest custom frame or the latest bling parts. but no major purchases this season! i'm going with what i have and will most likely get a custom, dream bike next year after all our debt is paid off and we're in our new house. so, i'll have a full year to decide who i want to build it and what parts i'm gonna put on it, and lastly, whether or not it'll have gears.

oh yeah, i'm gonna have to make a change to my racing schedule. no 12 hours of addison for me. instead i'll be spending the weekend in chicago celebrating my birthday and checking out the arcade fire at the historic chicago theatre on 5/19. no big deal, i'll find something else to race. my april race schedule is still up in the air. it all depends on whether or not i run the half. if i do, i won't do yankee, but if i don't i'll race both pontiac and yankee.

my shin still causes me random pain so it'll be at least 2 more weeks before i try a brisk 30-45 minute walk to see how it feels. it sucks because i'm heading down to sunny south florida next weekend for a week for work. i was hoping to go running outside in shorts and a tee but i don't think that's gonna happen. too soon. but if i'm fully recovered from my cold, i'll definitely be partying it up in south beach on of the nights! yeah, it's 5 days of training but i heard it's like a mini-vacation so i'm gonna have FUN!

is it spring yet?

2007-02-18T23:24:00.000-05:00

okay, so i'm officially sick of the cold. it's like 5 degrees out right now. but i can see the light at the end of the provebial tunnel. next sunday it's supposed to be in the upper 40's! can you say spring fever? the worst thing is that i haven't run in about 10 days and it feels like it's been 2 months! i was hoping my shin was getting better since i was experiencing very little pain last week but it was hurting again today. i'm still hopeful about the half mary at the end of april. we'll see what happens in another month.

i've been too lazy to set up the bike on the trainer, but i'd better get to it. i need to stay in reasonable shape while the shin heals up. i didn't ride the bike on friday like i had planned. i ended up working too late and then had plans to go out. good thing i don't go out to often any more because it would just get me into trouble. why is it that i can't just go out for a few drinks? it's fun while you're doing it but i sure do pay for it the next day. i didn't get up until 4 pm yesterday! yikes. at least i have one more day to recover. president's day is an official company holiday so i'll spend the day painting the house. getting the house ready to sell this spring. it's about damn time!

i need to get the bikes to the shop for tune ups. i need to find a decently cheap fork for the fango to get that ready to sell. i still need to unload the cross bike. i'm still thinking about putting a cheap ss together with the old homegrown frame and getting rid of that. i need $$! get the last of the debt paid off and then buy that new house! it's really weird. i'm like a grown up....sort of. i've been more motivated at work then i've ever been. we'll see how long that lasts. i guess i'm trying to get that promotion later this year. as much as i want that promotion, my play time and family time still remain at the top of my list. it's just weird that running still remains at the top of my play list right now.

one year

2007-02-16T12:26:00.000-05:00

well it's my blog's first birthday today! a full year's worth of garbage from my existence. well, there's a number of holes in there when i didn't feel like writing, but it's all good!

hmmm...so what's new? i've taken a week off of running so far. has it really only been one week? it's not too easy to just quit something you love. i don't have a ton of pain in my shin but it still hurts every once in awhile. hopefully, it's healing up okay. if there's no pain in 3 weeks, i'm gonna try a short run and see what happens. since i haven't done any cardio in over a week, it's time to hit the stationary bike tonight. bo-ring! at least i've started lifting again this week. i can't believe how much muscle mass running has eaten up!

the mri last week was uneventful. i still need to get up off my ass and send it into the surgeon. not that i anticipate them finding anything.

i can't wait for spring! i'm pretty much sick of the cold although the snow this week was definitely welcome. we have to have at least one significant snowfall this winter, jeez! so, i guess spring is around the corner. 2 months until the pontiac lake tt. i'm guessing i'll be ready since i've been REALLY active this winter. but you never know. going anaerobic for 45 minutes doesn't sound like much fun if you know what i mean.

so, not much new going on here. just taking things slow and steady. c'mon sunshine!

happy birthday bloggy!

s.a.d.

2007-02-09T19:04:00.000-05:00

seasonal affective disorder. i think i've got it. all the classic symptoms and i've felt the exact same way at the exact same time of the year for the past three years. it sucks. i have little motivation. not that i can ran anyway. i was stupid and did my first every speed workout on wednesday night on the dreadmill. it kicked my ass! and really did my left shin in. it's definitely broken. so, i won't be running for quite awhile. obviously, the half mary at the end of april is in doubt. that sucks. everytime i want to do something, my stupid body fails me. well, i guess it wasn't too smart to increase my mileage like i did. i thought i could get away with it. nope. running puts way too much stress on your body. you really do need to increase mileage by 10% per week.

so that has me doubly depressed. i guess i could lift but i've had little motivation lately. it looks like i'm gonna have to bust out the ol' trainer and ride that. that sounds like fun.

so i'm still sittin' here at work trying to kill two more hours. it's time for my annual mri and it's scheduled for 9:30 so i didn't feel like driving home and then back out to a2. joy. they get to inject me with more radioactivity. if you had special glasses, i bet i'd glow green like in the cartoons. my blood work came back normal this week. so that's some good news. i don't expect them to find too much on the mri...meaning not much is up there....ie no brains. get it? good.

february?

2007-02-07T16:29:00.000-05:00

my how time flies. i can't believe it's been almost a month since i last wrote. i promise to write more often. i've just been really busy with work. a stupid presentation i had to put together for the end of january. that had me mucho preoccupied for most of the month.

some running related injuries made me cut back some of my miles. i ended up with, i think, 120 miles for january. i'm back to about 30/week for this month but i have a sneaking suspicion that i have a tibial stress fracture in my left shin. i'll try the dreadmill again tonight and see what's up. that sure would suck if i had a stress fracture. how would i ever be able to train for my half mary at the end of april?

it's february and that's usually when i feel my crappiest. this year is no exception. i went into the doc's last week to get checked out. you wanna know why i went in? get this...my left pec was twitching uncontrollably. yep, only crazy shit like this happens to me. i showed the doc and he said, "wow! cool!" so i asked if he's ever seen it before and of course he said, "nope". i must be a freak. yup. that's me. i go in for my annual mri on friday night. my blood work alread came back normal. yea! but my heart's been acting up again lately. that sucks. it's always one thing or another with me, isn't it?

i did it!

2007-01-09T22:29:00.000-05:00

i finally completed my first 10 mile run! 10.17 miles to be exact. it was very windy. it was very cold. i hurt. that's all. good night!

run, run, run!

2007-01-08T00:02:00.000-05:00

wow! what a weekend of running. it was friday and i hadn't run since new year's day where i put down a 9.33 miler so i knew i needed to put down some serious miles this weekend to keep up with my challenges. what do ya know? i leave work on friday and it's raining cats and dogs. grrr...not again. i had just set up a new challenge to run 21 miles by sunday night. i HAD to run on friday. so the rain finally let up somewhat by 11PM so i headed out into the light rain/heavy drizzle with a full belly. we had huge burgers and fries for dinner at like 8 o'clock. i was still stuffed. but ya gotta do what ya gotta do to rack up them miles. so i ended up with a modest 5.63 miles. that would be enough to make the rest of the weekend manageable.

on saturday the sun actually came out! so i took advantage of that since i usually run in the dark. i ended up with 9.02 miles so just another six and half on sunday. well, i got up late today and the rain moved in. i totally wasn't gonna run tonight but i saw that pretty much everyone else in my challenge completed their 21+ miles so i HAD to do it. luckily, the rains let up a little tonight so i head out into the drizzle once again. i felt good tonight and ended up with 7.29 fast miles. so that puts me at 31.28 for the week!

i also just signed up for my first half-marathon! april 28th down in lousiville, kentucky (said in my best southern accent). this is one of the premier marathons/halfs in the country! we get to do about a mile on the infield of churchill downs! now how cool is that! the marathon is held a week before the kentucky derby and it's actually a two week festival down there. it should be cool!

as you can see i posted some of the races i'm planning on doing this year. it's modest, but hey, i'm not really a racer boy either. i just hope to stay healthy this year and do my best. and no, i will not be racing in any mudfests this year either. if it's raining or the course is muddy, i'm out!

ugh! back to work tomorrow. i had gotten used to this not working stuff...

it's about time!

2007-01-04T15:32:00.000-05:00

okay, so i figured it's about fucking time i wrote. i can't believe it's been well over a month! the holidays have passed and it's a new frickin' year! can you believe it?! i've been meaning to write--i really have but just haven't had the motivation. i was planning on doing a year in review and all that but somehow went by the layside. um, i meant wayside.

so what's new with me? oh, you know, same old shit. me and my mental issues. yeah, mental issues. maybe it's just winter but i'm always depressed this time of year. it's not that bad though. really. so i had 12/23-01/02 off and guess what? i got sick on the morning of 12/23. yep, just my shit-ass luck. i've been coughing ever since. i'm still cough today. it's not as bad as jackie though. i think she's been coughing for over a month! but, that hasn't kept me from playing with my new toys! nope, they're not bike related either! if i wasn't so fucking lazy i'd post up some pics.

i finally got an mp3 player. i decided on an 4gb ipod nano. the only reason why i chose an ipod over another mp3 player is the compatibility with the nike+ system. if you're not familiar with the nike+ system go check it out and take it for a test run on their site. http://www.nike.com/nikeplus/

i was planning on getting a polar speed/distance watch with a foot pod for xmas but decided to get the ipod/nike+ instead. they're about the same price, plus i get a 4gb mp3 player on top of that, so the decision was easy. oh mah gawd the nike+ is sooooo cool! the coolest thing is that you can "challenge" other runners from around the world! There's over 70,000 current users so you can get literally hundreds of people in one challenge or you can challenge say 25 people who are similar to your own running abilities. it's unbelievably motivating. even while i was sick over vacation i managed to run over 50 miles. i've done numerous 8 and 9 milers...which are the longest runs i've ever done. unfortunately, after the new year, there were so many new users that nike's challenge site went down and is yet to return. good think there are a TON of other addicted runners like me out there who just can't wait for the site to come back up. how else can we get our fix?

so, needless to say i've turned into a runner! can you believe it! i'm really looking forward to doing the multisport events this year and hopefully all this running is gonna help me out. i guess this mild weather has helped too, but i think i'm ready to run in the cold this winter. i'm looking to increase my mileage from 25/week up to 35/week. i finally have a shoe/orthotic combination that actually works for longer runs. i'll keep my fingers crossed that they continue working because it sucks running in pain all the time!

i'm still planning on doing some sort of year in review post. there were lot's of noteworthy events that took place in 2006. but one lesson i did learn....I NEED TO STAY THE FUCK OUT OF OTHER PEOPLE'S BUSINESS!!!

hmmmm

2006-11-26T02:36:00.000-05:00

drunk on a saturday night. what's new? typical stupid bar people. blah. they all suck. sometimes i hate people. maybe that's why i don't have very many friends.

rode today. fabulous. i finally got out of that "grandma" gear as it was called on thursday. i'm now running a 51" gear. big deal. but, i like it. it's more funner than the wimpy gear. plus, i'm faster. but, of course, there's a trade off. i get tired more quicker. 3 laps at maybury was all i could muster. the legs burned and yet i was fast...for 3 laps. the mud sucks. this weather rocks!

turkey roll on thanksgiving day. fun! absolutely gorgeous weather. i was in a good mood on thursday. a very good mood. my turkey turned out awesome. my gravy was to die for. really.

i've been active this week. 5 mile run on monday. a lap and a half @ novi on tuesday. brined the turkey on wednesday. yeah, i know that doesn't count but at least i had a hopslam! fast 2.5 mile run on friday. 3 laps @ maybury today. not bad....

BUT, the scale is telling me i'm gaining weight. 176 today. why? that's 11 more pounds than when i had that colonoscopy back in, um, was it the summer? so what gives? am i sick again? i haven't weighed this much since my surgery. kinda scary. but i feel okay. i really don't think anything is happening. i feel fine. but it is that time of year for the annual test. mri. bloodwork. blah, blah, blah. some days are better than others. some days you just feel like dying...

blah

2006-11-19T21:54:00.000-05:00

the cold of late fall has settled in and it's something i need to accept. i haven't been on the bike since last sunday, and on top of that i'm nursing another hangover. big surprise. that's the worst part about partying is having to pay the price the next day. i'm too old for this. but it sure is fun while you're doing it!

i went for a hour long run up at bloomer yesterday. that was the first time i've run up there. good trail and i got to see the infamous stairs. i wish it wasn't so far away. i'd definitely do them regularly.

i've decided to do the turkey roll on thanksgiving instead of the turkey trot. as much as i want to run another race, i think 10,000 people would be a bit overwhelming. so ride it is. plus, the weather is supposed to be nice all week. so i'm planning on joining the tree farmers on tuesday for their anniversary ride. run tomorrow, ride tuesday, maybe a run wednesday and then ride thursday. that sounds like a plan! still undecided about going out on wednesday. i do have to cook the turkey this year, so i'll probably be too busy wednesday night to go out and party like i did last year. and what a crazy night that was!

okay, off to bed and hopefully i'll feel A LOT better tomorrow...

i'm a runnin' fool!

2006-11-16T21:32:00.000-05:00

lightfest was a blast! well, the run part was anyway. we had a good turnout...11 of us in total along w/ the other 1000 runners/walkers. my achilles felt halfway decent when i got up so i was really hoping it wouldn't flare up during the race. i told junior i was gonna kick his ass. just a little spirited competition. the kid doesn't run so i thought i might have a chance at beating him. god knows i won't ever beat him on a bike!

i generally start my runs slowly. it takes about 2 miles for me to truly warm up and get into a rhythm. sure enough as i pass the 2 mile marker i have my breathing under control. i take a peek at my watch 16:00 on the nose. cool. 8 min miles. my goal was 40 mins for the 5 miler. right on target. now, the only question is can i keep this pace and can i outlast junior? he has an akward stride but he was going pretty good. i stayed about 5 seconds behind for the first 3 miles then i started picking things up. mile 3 goes by then mile 4. one more mile to go. chris is still right with me as was eric. half mile to go. i put the hammer down. i was running as fast as i could. i felt great. where's the finish? i thought i had dropped chris but out of nowhere he passes me on my left. damn that young whippersnaper. i was hoping the finish was a litte bit closer. so he's gone. i hear the announcer at the finish announcing times. 39:25. 39:35. oh shit, i need to keep going or i won't be under 40. i crossed the line at 39:47! yea! i finally achieved a goal! well, i didn't beat junior, but having him pace me throughout the race definitely helped me get under 40 mins. what a blast that was! i would totally do that again. i can't believe i like running. how weird.

so we waited around for the bus back to the start so we could get out of our wet clothes and get some food and beer. i felt pretty good aside from my aching achilles. luckily, they didn't bother me too much during the race but they were definitely on fire afterwards. i changed into a dry shirt and some jeans and hit the road. that was when it started. my body was aching...like it had the flu. it just got worse and worse until i finally got home and had the chills so bad i crawled straight into bed. my bones hurt. my head pounded. my skin was a touch pad for pain. i was soooooo cold. i couldn't stop shaking. then i started sweating. i hurt so bad i couldn't fall asleep. i thought i had come down with a serious case of the flu. i woke up around 6AM and surprisingly felt pretty decent. what gives? what the fuck happened to me the night before? could the flu go away that quickly? this stupid body of mine does some strange ass things. things that doctors can't even explain. oh well. i'm alive. i feel pretty decent. i can run. i can ride. i'm happy. mucho happy!

lightfest

2006-11-13T21:28:00.000-05:00

running. that's what i'm doing. well, that and single speeding. so i'm supposed to run 5 miles through the light displays on hines dr. tomorrow night. not a problem, right? well, if you guys know me well enough, i always seem to make things interesting. interesting, meaning i hurt myself or get sick or some other stupid-ass reason. i thought i'd get the legs loosened up tonight by doing a quick 3 miler. after 15 minutes both of my achilles started killing me! this has never happened before. ran 4.5 miles last wed. and felt fantastic. so what gives? i have no idea. i just know that i'm limping around and will probably have a hard time completing the 5 miles tomorrow. i'm definitely not doing it in 40 mins, which was my goal. it's so weird that out of nowhere my achilles hurts. i'm gonna tough it out, have a fun run and kill the pain w/ some beer and good friends afterwards.

i've gotten out on the single speed two more times. last thursday at stoney and yesterday at pontiac. oh my gawd is it addictive! i'm not the best climber on it...yet...but i think with a little bit of practice, i'll get a lot stronger. i'm really digging the rigid fork as well. it's not as bad as i thought and i'm riding it much smoother. my hands didn't even hurt after riding pontiac yesterday! like many other people, i just love the simplicity of the bike. no rattling chains, no mis-shifts, no ghostshifting and best of all no noise! i knew i'd be back into riding right as the cold weather rolls in. i just did so little riding this summer and now i'm regretting it just as i knew i would. i hate the cold but i should be able to get in another half dozen or so rides before it gets too cold for my pansy ass.

anyway, here's to limping my way 5 miles along hines drive! yee haw!

iceman

2006-11-07T21:15:00.000-05:00

i've finally mustered up enough energy to write a post-iceman report. one word can describe the race for me...DISAPPOINTING. it seemed like so many things worked against me. i am not making excuses. i gave it everything i had, and i sucked. i came down w/ the stomach flu late friday morning. i thought i was in the clear when i woke up friday morning and still felt decent. but a couple hours later, at work, it hit me. same shit mason and jackie had. nausea. and lots of it. you just felt like you wanted to puke your guts out but you never really reach that point. then the throat started hurting. then the body chills set in. by the time i got up to traverse city, i was in rough shape. oh yeah, i almost forgot. my legs felt like hell on friday! they hurt so much i was walking stiff-legged (not the good kind either) because they were too shaky when i bent them. BUT, i tried to shake all this off and pretended i felt fine. i picked up some drugs to help w/ the nasea and chills. tried to eat but had no appetite. i just wanted to sleep. so i did. around 11:00. i totally expected to wake up in the middle of the night w/ a 102 fever and chills and puking my brains out. i woke up at 3AM. nothing. well, i had a bad stomach ache but that was all. no chills. no sore throat. no fever. hell, i felt so good and was so excited, i was ready to race right then and there. no dice. it was three in the fucking morning. i tried to fall back to sleep but just tossed and turned for the next two hours. talk about torture. i guess you could call it chinese torture, right? i finally fell asleep and awoke to daylight. i knew it was time to go.

i got up, choked down some oatmeal, which didn't sit to well and packed up for kalkaska. the familiar nervousness that comes before every race settled over my body. we were running a touch late. actually, we were running really fucking late. by the time we geared up and got the warmers positioned, the tires inflated, the chain lubed, it was time to go. i mean people show up one, even two hours before the race to get settled and warmed-up. nope. not us. our start time was 10:10. we still had to ride to the start and drop off our clothes bag. it was 10:03 at this point. i handed off my bag and told all the riders that were already in line that i was in the next wave. luckily, they were nice enough to let us get into our proper wave. 10:07. damn, that was close. too close. 3 minutes and off we go. but another road block was thrown up when i heard the announcer say that they had extended this year's race course to 28.2 miles. fuck. not good. my longest training ride was only just over 2 hours. i was hoping that would be good enough. i took it easy the first 5 miles. hell, i took it easy the whole race just to conserve energy for the hills at the end.

about half way through, things were going pretty smoothly. i felt decent, my stomach was okay, the legs didn't hurt and i was cruising along. until some racer boy came out of nowhere and cut in front of me throwing an inch diameter stick into my front spokes. it was in slow motion. i remember seeing the stick come up, and then i saw the tread on my front tire...not moving. at that point, i knew i was going over. and over i went. involuntary noises. i hit the ground hard. my left foot got caught in the pedal and tweaked my foot so hard my calf locked up. that was what hurt most. i was rolling around on the ground trying to unlock my calf while there were several riders that stopped to see if i was okay. it must've been quite a spectacular crash. imagine someone going 17-18mph and then locking the front wheel. i must've flew quite a long ways. luckily, i was okay. i bit shaken, a sore left calf and a slightly sprained left wrist. i got back on the bike and was on my way again. i probably lost about 45 seconds.

mile 20. that's where the fun starts. and that's when my legs started fading. oh shit climb was what did me in. i walked up the hill with pretty much everybody else and my legs were cramping up mildly. luckily, i brought a reserve supply of endurolytes so that took care of the cramping. but, i got slower and slower. i was going so slow, i wasn't even breathing hard. i just had no juice in the legs to push the pedals. so i started getting cold. and miserable. and nauseous. i just wanted the race to be over. last aid station. 5 more miles. fuck. that means i'll be out here another half hour. the last 5 miles were ridiculously slow. my legs were weak but they never burned. thanks to sportlegs. if you have legs that burn on the climbs, check this product out. it really works. my legs didn't burn at all the whole race. now, they don't help you w/ endurance or anything but, hey, no pain. there was one point i asked myself what i was doing out there. i didn't want to race ever again. it was stupid. i hated the race. i hated the course. i hated it even more when i entered the campground and thought i was done. nope. i had to ride another 1km through that stupid-ass maze before i finished. 2:30 and some odd seconds. sad. i felt like puking. not because of the ride but because i was sick as fuck. nothing ever came up and i slowly started feeling better. hell, by the time i picked up the car in kalkaska and driving back to tc, i was saying how much fun i had and how i couldn't wait til next year. once you're bitten by the bug, you're hooked...forever.

so, looking back at the race, i really wasn't physically ready for it. i looked at my ride log yesterday. i didn't do ANY rides over 2.5hrs since the addison mudfest back in may. so, the whole summer not one long ride. no wonder i failed so miserably. you just can't do infrequent hour and a half rides and expect to kick ass at iceman. it's a tough course (for me) period. i don't care what anybody says. the last 6 miles are brutal. i WILL be ready for this one next year. more long rides, and more hills. maybe even single speed.

24 more hours!

2006-11-03T10:02:00.000-05:00

24 hours from now, i'll be inching my way up to the frigid start line hoping my legs feel better than they do today. i think they're worse today than they were yesterday. oh well, not much i can do about it now. i've been REALLY excited about this race and really looking forward to it. sure i want to do well, but i'm just going to go out and try to have a fun race. the only thing that will keep the race from being fun is if my legs cramp up again. that will remain at the back of my mind until i can complete this race without aforementioned problems. see, i'm purdy smart. i can still use big words! in the spirit of dustin, i'm gonna go out and thurally enjoy my ride tomorrow! BRING IT!!!

what was i thinking?!?!

2006-11-02T11:44:00.000-05:00

so i wasn't gonna do anything last night...no running, no lifting. and then i thought that maybe i'd do 10 body-weight squats just to get some blood flowing in the legs. that felt good. so i did 20 more...then 10 more...then 15 more...then 20 more...then 10 more...what was i thinking??? afterwards, i could barely walk up and down the stairs. i guess the legs weren't recovered from monday's ride and i just blew them way out. they're really sore and weak today...and it's already thursday! i really hope they recover somewhat by saturday morning or i'll be in a whole lotta hurt halfway through the course. i should've just rested them until saturday but i was thinking that may be too much rest. well, looking back now, i guess more rest is better than blown out legs. i'm such an idiot.

snow?!?!

2006-11-01T20:22:00.000-05:00

so the latest forecast is calling for 1-3 inches of snow tomorrow and an additional 2-4 inches tomorrow night! will the snow still be on the ground for the race saturday? hmmm...things could get interesting!

i'm really hoping i don't get sick before saturday. mason has the stomach flu and jackie is sick too. i feel like i'm on the verge so i started taking the zicam's again. i feel pretty run down so i think i'll just stay in tonight and get to bed early. i was thinking about going for a run tonight but my legs are still feeling it from the ride on monday. i guess a little more rest can't be bad for saturday. i do know that i'll be REALLY pissed if i get sick before the race. i'll be really bummed (no pun intended) if i don't get to smack some azzes on the race course. that's what racing's all about, right?

boo!

2006-10-31T14:17:00.000-05:00

happy halloween! four days until the iceman! i think i'm ready. if not, then that'll just be a good excuse to drink more after the race. looking forward to the race and the post-race parties. looks like i may have a little friendly competition going on w/ my roommate, macromius. we're in the same age class so we'll be racing against each other. i think that if he loses, he needs to parade around the loading dock in tom's man-thong. now that would be a wager!

i can't believe how excited i am for this race. i must be thinking about it WAY too much because i've dreamt about it the past two nights. i imagine i won't be sleeping too much on fri. night. the only other 2 races i've done this year were yankee tt and 12 hrs. of addison mud. i was pretty excited about yankee even though i wasn't in very good shape and the rain the week before addison definitely put a damper on things. so, this will be my one BIG race of the year so i'll give it my all. even though my goal of 2:05 isn't great, i need to be realistic. if i actually trained and rode this summer, i'd definitely be under 2 hrs. oh well, i have to go with what i've got. it ain't much, but it'll do the trick! ;-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MASON!!!

last training ride

2006-10-30T19:07:00.000-05:00

what a fantastically, gorgeous day it was today! i couldn't have planned it any better. today was another day off for me and am i glad i used a vacation day. being at work today would've been torture. it hit 70 degrees today! as scheduled, today was my last iceman training ride. i was looking to get in over 2 hours at race pace and i did it! 33.56 miles, 15.7 mph average, 2hrs 7min. i don't know how good that 15.7mph avg. is but for a hilly route, it seems decent to me. i know any expert/elite rider would smoke that but who cares, i've only been "training" for 6 weeks. i think i'm ready to finish the iceman comfortably. my goal will be 2:05 on a dry course. it looks like it's gonna be COLD this weekend. i'm guessing the temps at the starting line will be in the high 20's...about 40 degrees colder than today! i had a short sleeve jersey and shorts on today! i can't wait for the race this weekend. after it's over, i can have fun on the single speed. training isn't a whole lot of fun. but, i'm getting used to riding the hills and they're really not that bad. hopefully, i'll feel the same way about the hills on saturday. i just need to figure out a way to stay WARM!

new toy!

2006-10-26T16:42:00.000-04:00

i finally picked up my first single speed yesterday! i never thought i'd do it since i luv my gears so much but after my training ride at kensington on the 5th of this month, i realized you could climb big hills in big gears. i picked up the raleigh xxix. it's a steel frame and rigid steel fork. decently equipped and low $$. a combo that can't be beat. thanks to ernie at cycletherapy for hooking me up! btw, he's got all 3 sizes currently in stock, so stop by and check 'em out!

well, yesterday was supposed to be hill training ride #2 of 3. i was too excited to get on the ss that i headed out to pontiac lake instead. i figured 2 or 3 laps out there would be a good workout regardless. my plan was to do the first lap on the ss and then switch over to the geared bike. well, i never got on the geared bike. the first lap was so much fun, i took it back out for the second lap! it took a little while to get used to the rigid fork. i haven't ridden one of those in about 13 years. with the amount of leaves covering the trail, it made it a little tricky. hidden rocks would really jar you whereas w/ a suspension fork, you would barely even notice it. surprisingly, i made every climb on both laps! granted i was running a low gear combo but, hey, i still climbed them in a much taller gear than on my geared bike. for some reason, i think that standing on the climbs made my legs burn much less than spinning up them in a low gear. weird. i need to get stronger on the climbs so i can run a bigger gear because i was spinning my brains out on the flats and going nowhere. i don't think i could've climbed w/ a bigger gear yesterday. MAMA!

single speeding is definitely a full body workout. i can't believe how sore i am today. my upper body, especially my back and my legs. i think i'm gonna pick up some of the specialized bg grips or the ergons. my hands and wrists were really feeling it towards the end of the second lap. maybe slightly less air pressure in the front tire as well. although i don't know how much lower i want to go. i was running 28psi the first lap and then let out some more air so i'm guessing i was somewhere around 25-26psi...lower than i've ever gone before. those exiwolfs sure are plush!

so if the weather holds out sunday, i'll ride the ss and then i've taken monday off for my last training ride. that'll of course be on the niner. 9 more days til race day!

one down!

2006-10-18T13:59:00.000-04:00

just got into work after a morning iceman training ride. man, is it nice out! started out at the kent lake parking lot and hit the huron valley trail. took that up mt. trashmore, under 96 and then left on the dirt road leading up to buno rd. turned right on buno, climbed the hill and went down to the railroad tracks. turned around and then climbed the big-ass-long hill and out towards kensington. into kensington i rode to the golf course turned around and turned left down the little loop road. there was a steep climb on that road. don't think i've ridden it before. then went all the way back out to the other toll booth and then back through kensington and the 2 monster hills and back to island lake where my car was. whew! i need a gps! 29 miles, 1:50 ride time, avg speed 15.7. i don't know if that's good or not but i was just happy to make it up that last, long climb. no cramping! my quads thought about it going back up the little steep hill under the connector bridge from kensington to island lake. my legs had almost no juice left when i got back to my car. so, the question is...was this training ride harder or easier than iceman? i don't know, but to be safe i'm gonna throw in some more hills next time i do it. i think i'll do this 2 more times and i should be ready. it just kicks your ass mentally and physically to train at race pace. i don't know how people do this for an entire season.

though it was painful, it was still fun. the dirt roads were muddy as hell so it reminded me of the springtime training rides. the bike really needs a bath and a tune-up. the views were spectacular on top of the hills in kensington. you can see for miles with the beautiful fall leaves in all their glory. i can't wait to take another half day next week to do this all over again!

always wanting...

2006-10-17T12:29:00.000-04:00

...a new bike! so i finally broke down a couple of weeks ago and order a 29er single speed. i never thought i would do it but finally figured out it's great training pedaling a tall gear up hills. whowouldathunkit? i had ernie order me up a raleigh xxix. with any luck, it'll be here at the beginning of next week. BUT, me never being satisfied w/ any purchase, i go shopping on the internet. now i want a fisher rig. looking for a good deal on a used one. i really liked the geometry of that paragon i demo'd in the spring plus, a reba would be nice too. of course, there aren't any in my size available. either smalls or larges.

it's not like i have any money for a new ride, especially since my computer crapped out over the weekend. i'm hoping the motherboard didn't get fried but the computer geek here at work thinks that might be it. if that's the case, it's time for a new computer...which wouldn't be all that bad.

this crappy weather is really putting a damper on my iceman training. tomorrow looks like a decent day to ride except i'll be going to the killers show after work. so, i think i'm gonna take the morning off and do a 2+ hour race-paced ride at kensington and see how my legs feel. i just need a handful of long hard rides and i should be ready to go....i think. see, so much doubt. one thing's for certain though...

the tigers are going to the world series!!!

19 days and counting!

2006-10-16T15:56:00.000-04:00

so, i've been training for this race called iceman and i have less than 3 weeks to go. since i hadn't ridden very much all summer, i know i had my work cut out for me when i decided to start "training" during vacation--the week of labor day. so, i've been at it for about 5 weeks and i'm still not where i want to be. i know i don't have the strength and endurance to finsh how i want to finish so i'm just looking to finish comfortably. my one and only iceman race two years ago must've left a pretty big scar because i'm frankly scared to death of this race. sure it's only a two plus hour race (for me, hopefully) but still, those hills kicked my ass the first time around. and for someone who averaged 1 ride every 10 days over the entire summer, i haven't built up any race pace endurance.

let me refresh your memories...i had brain surgery on june 7th of that year and finally got on the bike on july 17th. so that gave me 3.5 months to get my ass in shape for the race. i did a lot of riding that summer and fall, but they were mostly group rides which meant lots of stopping to regroup. i ended up being in the best shape of my life despite weird things coming out of my nose from the surgical site. regardless, my goal was to get on the podium for the sport class in my age...top ten seemed totally do-able. i had the race of my life up until the end of the race. i cramped up really bad on the second to last hill but continued on. not knowing whether or not there were any more climbs, i thought i would be getting on the podium. then it hit me. that last woodchip climb. as soon as i got off the bike, both of my legs locked and stayed that way. at that time i was at 1:51 w/ only 1 mile to go. i couldn't walk up the hill and i certainly couldn't get back on the bike. so i sat and waited...and waited...until finally my legs allowed me to walk up the hill. i sat on the side of the trail for 11 minutes. my heart was broken as i finished at 2:06, which was a pretty crappy time for such fast course conditions. that thought of me sitting on the side of the trail still haunts me. everyone tells me i'll be fine this year. but they all say that. i know my body better than anybody and it still scares me. i've trained pretty hard the past month and a half but i still have some work to do. i've been doing lots of running on days i can't ride and ride pretty hard on days on the bike. i've even done some hills at kensington. so, will i be ready to conquer my fears this year? i don't know. we'll find out november 4th at around 12:15PM.

jake for sale

2006-10-01T20:01:00.000-04:00

the jake's finally for sale...reluctanly, i might add. but, that was the deal for me to be able to buy the niner.

mason's early bday present

2006-09-28T21:18:00.001-04:00

mason got his first "real" bike last night...about a month before his birthday. i thought he'd get more use out of it before halloween and the colder temps. he loves it! he even had his first crash tonight. face plant! i thought he was gonna be seriously messed up, but he walked away without even a tear! couple of pics...

weekend up north

2006-08-15T14:14:00.000-04:00

ah! finally back on the bike again. it had been 24 days since i last straddled my big cheater bike and boy did it feel good! it was an absolutely perfect day up in harbor springs. mid-70s, low humidity and not a cloud in the sky! now that's my kind of ridin' weather, not the 100 degree bake-fests we've had in the past few weeks. (and no, i'm not referring to tom in amsterdam!) we took the lift up to the top of the mountain and followed the xc trails. i'm not a big freeride fan so i really didn't want to hurt myself on the stunts. unfortunately, elizabeth was a bit more adventurous. she followed chris and mike into the freeride park. she came out w/ an arm she can barely move. i've yet to hear back from her so i don't know if it's broken or not.

the trails are poorly marked. we got lost on our first loop and spent about 2.5 hrs before we came back down. 8.5 miles. yikes! so we went back up and did it again. this time it had a lot more flow since we sort of knew where we were going. the trail had some fun sections but definitely not worth the drive or the $15 lift ticket. it was fun to just be back on the bike nonetheless.

so after 19 miles, it was party time back at the condo! all i can say is that i drank for nearly 12 hrs. and almost drank a fifth of liquor which consisted of copious amounts of jager, grey goose and even a large shot or two of tequila. some stupidity ensued, of course and i felt like shit on sunday. so, no riding for me. just a LONG drive home. i'm just starting to feel somewhat normal today.

i'd like to get on the bike again this week. maybe maybury tomorrow and pontiac over the weekend. i miss riding.

mid-week musings

2006-08-09T12:43:00.000-04:00

yummy lunch at this crappy place i call work. this place sucks ass. so they've been trying to get us fairly compensated for the last year and a half by doing all this research into salary ranges for our industry. they told us we would be at the 25th percentile for our job description salary range. personally, being in the 25th percentile does NOTHING for me. so three-quarters of all other employees doing the EXACT same thing as me are making more than me. so what incentive do i have to bust my ass and now hang out on the luv board all day? NONE! keep in mind that they want to bring us up to the 25th percnetile since we are currently below it. so my boss told me last night they're gonna make a 6.5% adjustment. i told him that was unacceptable and that i had a certain dollar amount in mind...roughly twice what they were offering me. yeah, yeah, everyone says they're underpaid but i have the proof by looking at salary surveys and talking to other people, not to mention looking at actually salary ranges within other companies. so my awesome boss talked to human resources this morning and told them what i wanted and that it would cost them more money to go out and look for a replacement. he also told me that what i had asked for would put me right at the 25th percentile. WTF???? i thought they were automatically putting us there. so instead, they were gonna short change me again. uh-uh. not this time. i really hope they follow through and put where i think i should be, but what company EVER does that? so hopefully things work out so i can get the rest of my medical bills paid and out of the ghetto neighborhood we live in!

i said goodbye to my beloved WRX yesterday afternoon. some stranger drove it off into the distance. i was, however, rewarded with a hugh wad of cash! i don't think i've ever held that much cash before! unfortunately, it's money that's already spent. not on anything good but on brain surgery. well, i guess it's good because i probably wouldn't be here typing right now if i didn't pay for it.

so, i'm looking forward to the weekend! i've been WAY too busy to ride. it's been 3 frickin' weeks! going up to boyne highlands for some play time. hopefully, it'll be fun and i don't bonk because i'm sooooo out of shape!

hello

2006-08-05T23:45:00.000-04:00

damn, it's been WAY too long. i'm surprised people are still visiting this sad site i call my blog. anyway, i'm sipping on a grey goose and red bull right now. make that a double. sir-mix-a-lot's in trouble. i'm in a weird mood tonight. slightly depressed (don't know why), slightly lonely (don't know why) and WAY out of shape. the last time i rode was that double island lake i did for o2s training more than 2 weeks ago. needless to say, i'm out on o2s. i HATE the heat and it's been so damn hot lately that i just had no motivation to ride. i could've ridden the trainer but there's NO way i'm riding a fucking trainer in the middle of the summer to train for a stupid race. it just wouldn't have been worth it. a day off of work, 3 nights in a motel plus the long drive up to the U.P. about a three hundred doh-lar trip. i'd MUCH rather spend that money on a family trip than to ride 24 miles, cramp up and then suffer the last 24. maybe next year. i'm still planning on doing iceman. anyone have any suggestions as to what tires i should run?

went to see dashboard confessional last night...ALONE! i've liked those guys for a long time but never saw them live. i got some tix off of craigslist. 5th row. no one wanted to go with me so i had to unload the extra ticket for cheap. i make such a bad salesman. big surprise. little did i know i'd be in for a teenage scream-fest. O-mah-gawd! i think chris carraba is talented and all and i like some of his songs but come on! lot's of creamin' going on. it was such a young crowd that they didn't even sell alcohol at the venue! so it went like this...i stood outside of the MI theatre for about an hour before dumping the ticket. then, i headed to the closet bar to get some drinking done before the show. 2 pints and 2 shots of jager in 20 minutes and i headed into the theatre. that's when i found out they weren't serving. since they allowed readmittance, i headed back over to the bar. 2 more pints and 2 more shots in 10 minutes on an empty stomach sent me flying into the concert. had a brief conversation w/ the seventeen year old kid i sold my other ticket to. wondered why one of his friends was such a bitch. obviously, it was her parent's fault. i know what NOT to do as a parent...um, for the most part.

so, i'm a fucked up kid. slightly depressed, slightly lonely and getting slightly drunk...

o2s training

2006-07-20T12:42:00.000-04:00

i finally got back on the bike last night. unfortunately, another 10 days had elapsed since my last ride. that's a trend that's happening all too often. i, at least, had a good excuse this time...i'm recovering from bronchitis. i'm still coughing quite a bit but feel fine otherwise.

i decided a couple of laps at island lake would be a good start for me. what a nice night it was! i'm not a big fan of the heat and last night was perfect! it started out moderately and kept telling myself to keep that pace every time i felt like hammering. my lungs felt pretty damn good out there and the climbs were not a problem. the cheater bike is STILL having drivetrain issues. i'm still thinking it's the rear hub/freewheel. the chain kept skipping and dropped on one of the rooty uphills. frustrating. very frustrating. i'll try a thorough cleaning and then go from there.

i finish the first lap a few seconds under an hour which i was fine with and then stopped to hit my bottle of HEED. unfortunately, i had less than i thought...only 2 scoops...so i downed that along w/ 4 ecaps and was on my way for a second lap. as soon as i left the parking lot, i felt a slight twinge in my left calf. uh-oh, cramping already? c'mon, i just did 15 miles at island lake, there's no way i could be cramping up. well, i was. about 10 minutes into my second lap i could feel my quads start to cramp up. so, i was thinking to myself, 'man, i'm in terrible shape and will have to cut out early and just finish up blue'. the cramping got a little worse but i could tell the ecaps were keeping them at bay. by the time i reached the yellow turn-off, i said what the hay, and continued on. i'm glad i continued but damn, i had no energy left in my legs at the end. none. my legs were screaming at the end of that loop and i felt very weak and shaky when i got back to my car. a big reason for bonking was the number of calories i consumed during the day. only about 1000...and fairly low carb at that. i finished that second lap in a miserable 1:07...probably my slowest lap out there EVER! so, bottom line, i've got a LONG way to go to be ready for o2s. all of this not riding is catching up to me. my lungs, however, felt great the whole ride. i just need to get my legs used to pushing those pedals again. can you believe i've only done 203 miles since addison??? no wonder i'm cramping up at island lake. i still have time though...double poto anyone?

nct plans foiled

2006-07-13T02:28:00.000-04:00

well, i'm up at 2:30 in the morning coughing up a lung or three. it looks like whatever i have has spread into my lungs. it feels like i'm drowning. this, with my asthma is a bad combination. so, i'm going to have to very reluctantly back out of the nct trip. what a crappy summer i've had. i haven't been able to do shit. it started w/ the crappy addison race. then health issues caused me to miss two races i really wanted to do and now this. what shitty luck. i know everyone's gonna be having an AWESOME time up there but i just can't do it. a chest cold and 90 degree weather this weekend would just equal a miserable time for me. plus, i don't want to get anyone sick...especially dustin. whatever. if only i could get some zzzz's...

nct weekend

2006-07-11T21:45:00.000-04:00

i'm really looking forward to this weekend...BUT, i'm sick. blah. mason was sick all of last week and now i've finally got it. it's not too bad right now but it's slowly creeping south into the lungs. that's not good. old joe would tell me it's a no go with a chest cold. i'm hoping i start feeling better but i have a sinking feeling that i haven't gotten the worst of it yet. i've been getting a good amount of rest and drinking a ton of vitamin c. i'm still run down although i've lifted the past 3 nights. i need to stay somewhat strong for the weekend.

not sure who's all going but it's bound to be a riot! i just hope i'm feeling well enough to party it up. plus, i really need to behave myself. ;-)

it's about damn time!

2006-07-10T11:51:00.000-04:00

okay, i've talked to a few of you and you guys want some updates! i really didn't think anyone really read these let alone be interested in updates. my life is boring, people. but really, this is my 100th post and i'll try to get back on track. it's just hard sometimes because there's so much on my mind, and i'm just not sure where to start.

i will start by saying that, for those of you who haven't heard, that my biopsies from my scope came back benign. that's good news but it still doesn't tell me what is causing my pain. i still have abdominal pain here and there but it's the worst in the morning when i get up. i don't know what it is and it seems like the docs don't know either, so i've started riding my bike again. i looked at my ride log for june and i did a paltry 98.5 miles and a total of 6 rides. no wonder i have no endurance. thankfully for my cheater bike, i haven't lost too much speed. i'm still riding as fast as i did a 2 months ago but i can only do it for about 45 minutes. i've got a ways to go before i'm ready for o2s, but that's still almost 5 weeks away.

i also wanted to say how much my biking friends mean to me. yeah, yeah i don't want to get all sappy and shit since that's not my style (like i have any style, pft) but i did want to mention a few people in particular. let's see there's tom, fireman, hodaddy, soupy, erin, andrea, marty, martin, claudia...all of these people (and forgive me if i'm forgetting others, which i probably am) with their support helps me get through another day. i'm sure half of these people have no idea what they mean to me since i don't see you guys too often but you guys are like a second family to me. and for that, i thank you! okay, now i have go wipe away these tears...of joy...no not really...i'm not that sappy. now get back to whatever you were doing because it was better than reading this crap! (well, except for you, soupy!)

weekend happenings

2006-06-26T15:43:00.000-04:00

okay, so the scope is said and done. do i know anything more than i did last week? not really. they biopsied three areas and i should have the test results later this week. i'm not really sure what it is that they found but jackie said the doctor "didn't seem too concerned". that's a good thing, i guess. but what caused these things. one is a nodular lymphoid hyperplasia and the other two are called apthae. not much came up when i googled them. so who knows? i still have two areas of pain so it hasn't gotten any better. oh well.

so, i'm not supposed to lift anything heavy or partake in any strenuous activity for a week. i'd like to get on the bike for at least an easy ride some time this week. but it also means no stoney marathon for me. that sucks because i was really looking forward to that race as well as the brighton duathlon i missed yesterday. there's always next year so i'm not too bummed.

despite the scope on friday, i still had an AWESOME weekend! the scope was like it never happened. they drugged me up enough that i don't remember any of it. i hardly even remember friday evening/night. i wanted to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary so we had to think of something to do. our anniversary is actually this coming saturday but with jackie's mom's brain surgery this friday, we knew we wouldn't be able to do anything. so, we decided to take mason up to huckleberry railroad for a ride on the train. after that, we headed up to frankenmuth and decided to stay there for the night and let mason play in the many pools the hotel had. i hadn't been to frankenmuth since i was in elementary school so i had no idea what to expect. it turned out to be cooler than i had expected. it's a good place to hang out with the family. the beauty of the whole weekend was that we didn't plan any of this. we didn't pack anything so we had to buy a bunch of stuff to stay the night. i really miss doing stupid, spontaneous stuff like that. unfortunately, we had to come back to reality (ie. work) yesterday. blah. at least i'm in love again!

cheater bike!

2006-06-21T09:28:00.000-04:00

my cheater bike and myself made it out to pontiac lake last night for my first ride in a week. i haven't been on the bike since we did maybury last tuesday. way to "train" for the stoney race, huh? anyway, i saw a bunch of people i knew out there including my old teammates! unfortunately, they already finished their lap so i rode alone which was fine too. i had every intention of doing two moderate paced laps and finish around 8:45 and not need lights. after the first 2 miles, i was hurting pretty good and didn't think i wanted to suffer through a second lap. again, i know, MAMA! it took me FOREVER to feel warmed up. maybe about 35 minutes in which i was almost done with the frickin' trail! i couldn't believe how S-L-O-W i felt on the climbs. i was also having all kinds of issues w/ my chain skipping around on my cassette. yeah, i know, lose the gears but WHATEVER! after i finally warmed up, i hammered out the last two miles and finished the lap at 44:33...my fastest lap of the year! i honestly couldn't believe it. i think with a little more riding...like 3 times per week and a drivetrain that was working, i could shave another minute off that time. i'm tell ya, it's the bike. i was in WAY better shape when i was riding on the fango and couldn't even come close to 45 min. and now i'm under that. so, from now on the EMD will be know as the cheater bike.

other than the ride last night, life has been fairly uneventful for the last week. still waiting on the scope friday afternoon and hopefully, i'll be good to go after that.

oh yeah, my back is killing me right now! it's been hurting like this a day or two after my rides lately. i'm not sure if it's a fit issue or if it's the added shock my back is taking by riding a hardtail again. i think i need a slightly longer stem. i'm running a 90mm right now because that's what i had laying around but i think i'll pick up a 100mm and try that. i would like a bit more weight under the front wheel because it's been hard to keep the front tire on the ground during "steep" climbs. i think i'd also be a little more comfortable in a slightly more stretched out position. i'm hoping that will solve my back problems because i don't want to get a squishy 29er right now for obvious reasons.

another day

2006-06-14T13:12:00.000-04:00

hey, i'm feeling better today than i have in quite awhile! my back is a bit sore but i'm only experience "mild" abdominal pain today.

what a ride last night! it was good to see some old faces especially that of the fireman's. i still have a lot of fun out at maybury. and yes, the niner, or cheater bike as it's now lovingly termed, handles beautifully out there. what an awesome bike. i've fallen hopelessly in love with her. although my old back is not used to riding the hardtail again. i'm so careless with lines on that thing. roots, i'll hit 'em. rocks? what rocks. it rolls over everything but all that extra shock gets transmitted straight to my lower back. i've quit doing abdominal work since my pain started. it seems to aggrivate it. that definitely is contributing to my back problems. i just need to learn to be smoother on that thing but it's so tempting to just blast over everything on the trail!

after sunday's debauchery, i took it easy last night and limited myself to only one pint. and a tasty pint it was. hopefully, i'll be primed and ready to go this weekend...after the cheater bike gets a thorough cleaning and tune-up!

stuff

2006-06-13T13:48:00.000-04:00

despite all the shit i'm going through, i had a fantastic weekend! it started off by meeting chris for an A2 local loop ride. the niner handled beautifully through all of the technical sections, and i rode some stuff i never did on the fango. afterwards, we walked into town and had some grub and beers at grizzly peaks. the beer wasn't great but palatable as was the food. after three 22 ouncers, i got a text from elizabeth and we decided to do some drunk bowling on the west side of A2. an interesting crowd to say the least. i don't know what they put in that bowling alley beer but all three of us were WAY hungover on saturday. my plans of mowing the lawn and going for an afternoon ride were replaced by my bed, tv and computer...and bed.

on sunday, i was gonna get up early to do a pre-ride before the wonky poto ride dana organized. i got up at 9:00 and realized i wouldn't have time for a pre-ride. oh well, i suck. so i met a surprisingly large group out at the poto at noon. what a perfect day for a ride! there was a fast group where we could hammer from one section to the next before regrouping. let me tell you, the niner screams out there! although chris had 30 more miles on his legs than me, he was chasing me the second half of the trail! i don't care how tired junior is, he never chases me! we were definitely moving out there. did i mention the bike is just plain fun?

the ride was followed by a bbq at elizabeth's sweet condo in dexter. that was fun and turned into a stupid drunk sunday night where i got home around midnight. yeah, dumb, i know.

the awesome weekend was followed by a shitty ct scan appointment yesterday. i had to down 2 24 oz. bottles of barium and then they injected some more radioactive dye via IV. grrrr....

i had a bad start to the day when i got a voicemail saying the the doc who's doing my scope was going to be out on the 22nd so they would have to reschedule. are you fucking shittin' me??? i was soooo pissed AND frustrated...AGAIN. wtf? so, i don't know when i'm gonna have the scope and whatever this is, it's still getting worse everyday. it sucks. but at least i'm riding after work tonight. ah, the niner...

change of pace

2006-06-09T13:09:00.001-04:00

okay, so i'm sick of all the negativity that's been going on in this blog lately. although i'm getting progressively worse, i'll try to stay positive and keep my mind off of things.

woo-hoo, it's friday! i'm looking forward to finally riding again tonight after work. i sherped-out last night because it was pouring when i got home. so, i haven't been on the bike since last saturday. i'll see how things go tonight and whether or not my body will hold up. if i do okay, i'll be heading out again tomorrow in preparation for the big group ride on sunday! i think it's gonna be a fun weekend. at least i'm looking forward to it and being around people helps me forget about my problems.

i'm excited to ride the niner again! every time i look at that thing, i can't help but notice how sexy it is. what a sweet looking bike! not to mention it's a blast to ride! i'm so sick of all the comparisons being done to determine which is faster/better. who cares? i like it and it's just way more fun to ride than my 26er. plain and simple, end of story.

now if the afternoon would just fly by....

fuck it all!

2006-06-08T09:58:00.000-04:00

doctors are idiots. plain and simple. they really don't have a clue...well, at least very few do. so i meet w/ the surgeon yesterday and asks if he's looked at my ct scans. he says no but he has the report. there may or may not be an abnormality with my appendix. wtf? i thought when i talked to the other surgeon last week, he said it wasn't my appendix and that they found an abnormality in my large intestine next to the appendix. i'm frustrated beyond belief. no answers. they've scheduled me for another ct scan on monday. yea! more radiation. and i have to wait 14 more days for the ass cam. great. so it's gonna be about 5 weeks after i was in the ER before they have any answers for me. ridiculous. i give up. really.

so in the meantime, i'm gonna live as normally as i can even though whatever this is, it's getting worse. i ran to my car yesterday in the rain and every step i took it hurt. at least riding isn't as jarring as running. i'm really looking forward to attempting a double poto on sunday. i've lifted the last three nights and feel good in that respect. so goes another day in the life of a chronically sick boy...

2 year anniversary

2006-06-07T09:55:00.000-04:00

well, today marks the two year anniversary of when i got rid of my pituitary tumor. two years later...and i thought i would be doing a lot better than i am now. today's my appointment so we'll see if i can get any insight from the doc.

i was hoping i would be able to ride on the anniversary date but it looks like the rain is gonna keep me off the bike again. didn't ride last night either since i felt like crap when i got home. whatever this is, it's getting worse. i just want it over with. i need answers. as much as i try not to think about it, it must be in the back of my mind because i'm getting very mentally tired. and irritable. i was yelling out the window at this guy coming in to work this morning. well, other than the fact he was an asshole who almost caused me to crash into him...it's just unlike me to actually yell at someone out my window. hopefully, i'll have some answers soon and can put my mind at ease.

i just want to ride my bike. is that too much to ask?

want to ride

2006-06-06T12:22:00.000-04:00

ugh! i just want this over with. the discomfort is getting progressively worse and spanning a larger area. they just need to find out what it is ASAP. it ridiculous because the fucking ER doctors should've found this weeks ago. they better NOT give me the runaround tomorrow.

i just wish everything was okay again so i can ride my bike and get on with life. it's been so nice out the last two days. i didn't do anything outside after work last night but i did lift some weights. that was fun. it's been a long time so i'm pretty sore today.

i kinda want to ride tonight. maybe hook up w/ the novi group later tonight. it seems like jackie's going through more than i am right now. later this afternoon she's going w/ her mom to consult w/ her surgeon to schedule her surgery. as if jackie doesn't have enough to worry about, her mom was diagnosed w/ a brain tumor back in the winter. unfortunately, she waited on the surgery and her mri last week revealed that the tumor has grown quite a bit and the surgery is going to be a little more complicated. that sucks. what are the chances that her mom and husband both have/had brain tumors? weird.

it's a waiting game

2006-06-05T13:28:00.001-04:00

not much i can do right now but wait. i have a stupid "consultation" appointment on wednesday afternoon. i just want the scope and find out exactly what i need to deal with. i'm still hopeful that they'll do it friday, but it's unlikely. so, it probably means i'll have to wait another frickin' week before i find out if i have cancer or not. blah!

whatever it is, it's not getting any better. it seems to be getting worse but, of course, that could just be in my head. oh well, 2 more days and i'll know at least a little bit more.

i had a very good weekend to keep my mind off of things. i was too depressed to go into work on friday so i met up w/ some old friends for a ride out at pontiac. that was definitely fun! after the ride we had some post-ride beverages and i headed home to watch the pistons get blown out. oh well, at least i had plenty of jolly pumpkin to get me feeling good enough to sing karaoke in the basement *alone*. don't go and start feeling all embarrassed for me.

saturday, i decided to go ride instead of hang out at pontiac and watch people ride their bikes as i was definitely not racing. yeah, i kind of miss seeing all my racing buddies but it was too nice out not to go ride. i went with an old friend to brighton. we decided to just do the murray lake loop. it started out sunny but a couple of miles in, it got dark and windy and started raining. it was a light rain that just basically packed the sand and dust down. so, out for a second loop the same thing happened except it rained a bit harder and there was some thunder. we decided on a third lap and this time it was dry and sunny! that niner is soooo much fun! i'm really starting to get used to it and like it. i don't miss the fango at all.

after an afternoon of biking i headed way the fuck up north to metamora for a friend's bachelor party. it was good seeing the guys. i see my non-mountain biking buddies only a couple of times a year now. we don't have too much in common anymore...well, except for drinking!

now that the weekend's over and i'm back to work, it's hard to keep my mind off of stuff. it's kind of an emotional rollercoaster especially when i don't know anything right now. it's hard not to speculate but i do know that i'm ready to fight. if not for me, then for mason. he deserves to have his daddy around for a long time. it's funny because on friday night he asked me out of the blue if we'd be friends forever. that right there makes it all worth it.

bad, bad news

2006-06-01T17:24:00.000-04:00

okay, so i was almost expecting something like this to happen. but maybe not. i got blindsided this afternoon after i got back from lunch. the message light on my work phone was blinking. i call the voicemail and who was it? the surgeon i saw in the ER. now let me tell you from experience that if you get a call from the doc after they tell you everything is okay, it's a very bad sign. so i give him a call and sure enough, they found an "abnormality" on my ct scan. it's in the area of the large intestine called the cecum which is next to the appendix. of course the doc wasn't willing to jump to any conclusions. "oh, it's probably just nothing." i've heard that one before, and it turned out i had a brain tumor. they just don't want to alarm the patient before they know for sure. since i still have pain in that area and acromegalics are at least 2.5 times more likely to develop colorectal cancer, it's pretty obvious to me as to what it is. now it's just a waiting game. i need to have a "consultation" appointment w/ the doc who's doing the scope before they'll even schedule it. so that appointment is next wednesday. ironically, next wednesday is the two year anniversary of my brain surgery. so, we know something is there. is it just a polyp? a benign tumor? or is it a malignant one? only time will tell. if it's the later, then i'd say i'm in a whole heap of trouble. it's the number 2 (no pun intended) cancer killer in the western world. basically, if you have a malignant tumor that has metastisized, you're pretty much toast.

so maybe wishes do come true. i wish for death and here i'm faced with it. i'm not sure how i feel about it at this point. all i can think about right now is it's party time! i feel like drinking and getting fucked up. why not? i'm not taking any of this beer with me to the grave.

some time away part 2

2006-06-01T11:36:00.000-04:00

so i got my new bike. i should be ecstatic, right? well, i was...until i rode it. i stopped by the shop on saturday and watched while tony finshed her up. after a phat bar burger and 3 hours, she was finally done. what a sight she was! HOT was more like it. (pics are coming, i promise!) i took her for a spin around the shop and couldn't believe it was actually mine! with it being saturday, i had officially been off the bike for 2 weeks. i had planned to ride with elizabeth so it would be an easy inagural ride. we decided to meet up at maybury. we did one casual lap and decided to drink beer instead of do a second lap. that was completely okay with me. the bike felt pretty comfortable with maybe a few minor tweaks in store.

elizabeth is a very cool chick to hang out with. we headed up to the deadwood to sit on their patio since it was a very mid-summer-like evening. after a jolly pumpkin in the lot at maybury and 3 pints of oberon, we called it a night.

when we finished up our lap at maybury, i was talking to this guy who was asking some questions about the niner. he is having a custom ti 29er being built up by quiring. cool. he's an expert level racer and i told him i'd be riding pontiac on sunday. he wanted to join me (for some odd reason).

the high on sunday was supposed to be in the low 90's...ridiculous for may. i got up around 10 and checked the weather. the heat index was already up to 88 degrees. i knew i'd be in for a scorcher as we were meeting up at 1:00. as we headed out on the trail, i felt pretty decent but nervous (for some odd reason). maybe it's because i hate holding up faster riders. so i went all out and rode as fast as i could. the chain kept jumping from the middle to small chainrings when i pedalled over bumpy sections. that was VERY annoying. i could just feel the waves of heat hit me in the face...much like when the heat hits you when you open a hot oven. by the time we climbed up the long hill after the bowl switchbacks, i was toast. burnt toast was more like it. i really had to stop. i couldn't believe how hard of a time i was having. on top of that, my seatpost was slipping too. which at this point was about 2 inches lower than normal. being too lazy to adjust it, i rode on. i kept getting slower and slower. at one point the guy asked, 'are you sure the 29er isn't slowing you down?'. grrrr. that's the last thing i wanted to hear. you're supposed to have the ride of your life on your first real ride on a new bike. nope, that was one of the worst rides i've had this year. i finally get back to the lot ready to pass out. i ask if he had anything that was cold. i needed something cold ASAP. at this point, i had stopped sweating and felt like i was getting the chills. not good. luckily, he had an ice cold bottle of water in his jeep. i sucked that down and a few minutes later started sweating profusely again. a good sign. by the time i got back to the lot my seatpost had dropped 3 full inches! it was like i was riding a choppered out bike. that may have been one reason why i had no power on the climbs. another could have been the fact that i was in the hospital hooked up to IVs 5 days prior. so for right now, i'm not blaming it on the bike. i'm just a bit out of shape from not riding for 2 weeks and being sick and all. sure, it may be a bit slower on the climbs but it sure makes up for it on the downhills and the rough sections.

there was no way i was going to do another lap in that heat. in the parking lot under the sun, it was 105 degrees! yikes! instead, i headed over to tom's bbq. more on that in part 3.

some time away part 1

2006-06-01T09:18:00.000-04:00

it's been over a week since i've last written...much has gone on. more bad than good, more depression than cheer. where do i start?

let's see...i went to meet w/ the surgeon last thursday and he finally confirmed that i do NOT have appendicitis. yea. big deal. i don't have appendicitis but something else is wrong with me. no one knows what. i'm sick of doctors so i'm not going to find out what it is. i've made the decision that whatever it is, even if it's serious, i'm ready to accept the consequences. even if it means i die. i'm ready. really. i've just been sick for so long. it's been about 5 years now. i don't even know what it's like to feel healthy for more than a couple of months at a time. really. wednesday night i was so depressed that i hoped that i had appendicitis just so it would burst and i'd do nothing about it. just keel over and die. really.

so maybe this is just another phase i'm in. i get depressed every so often but i don't ever remember being like this. well, maybe when i got dumped back in college. but that's different. i'm feeling overwhelmed with life. everything. the house, work, the commute into work...it goes on and on. maybe i need a vacation. it also sucks that the majority of my vacation time is used for stupid doctor's appointments, tests, and hospital visits. so, i haven't had a vacation since ore to shore last year...late august.

i also can't believe how out of shape i am. i did seven rides in the month of may. that's it. how ridiculous. i'm also eating like shit too. two HUGE meals a day. and not-good-for-you meals at that. i haven't lifted in almost 2 weeks and have only been on the bike twice since addison. and what an awful experience it was last weekend. that story will be saved for part 2.

officially out

2006-05-23T22:59:00.000-04:00

i officially withdrew from the boyne race today. i thought it was only fair to my teammates to give them a definite answer early in the week so they could find a replacement. as much as that hurt to pull out from the biggest 24 hr race in michigan, it had to be done. there's no way i could risk riding a lap in the middle of the night and have my appendix burst. i would be a deadman out there. as some people have told me, it's only a race. i guess they're right.

i wasn't feeling any better this morning so i made an appointment to see my primary care doc. she wasn't sure but also didn't think it was my appendix based on a physical exam. so wtf? the ct scan showed inflammation and a blockage but i don't have enough pain right now to confirm the diagnosis. so, it's still a waiting game. i meet w/ the surgeon again on thursday to follow up. i'm going to request they do another ct scan to see if the appendix is still blocked. if it is, it's going to eventually rupture, so that means surgery. ugh!

on the brighter side, i picked up my parts and dropped them off at the shop. i finally got to see my frame in person. it's a beaut! i can't wait for it to be built up! they said it'll be done by saturday at the latest. again, i'm not in any kind of hurry so they can take their sweet ol' time! i hope things work out for me and i get the green light to ride this weekend because it's gonna just kill me to stare at that thing and not be able to ride it! keeping my fingers crossed...

sigh

2006-05-22T21:28:00.000-04:00

my health has once again taken a turn for the worse. i woke up early yesterday morning with severe abdominal pain. it was just a constant pain, and i couldn't get any relief whether i laid down curled up or standing around and pacing back and forth. it hurt so much, i got nauseous and threw up a couple of times. not too much came up since my stomach was empty. after about an hour and a half of this, i decided it was time to go to the ER. it just wasn't getting any better...in fact, it was getting worse. by the time we got to the hospital, i was in so much pain and discomfort, i started going numb. my chest, hands and legs started getting tingly. they took me back, hooked me up on an IV but gave me no drugs. a doc had to see me before they could order anything for me. i was in such agony. puking, moaning just wanting it to stop. and it wouldn't. not even for a second. it was the most intense and relentless pain i've ever experienced.

they finally have me some pain meds but that didn't take care of my nausea. they tried 3 different meds before my nausea finally subsided. from what i remember, they took a couple of xrays and i had to drink a bunch of radioactive contrast dye before getting a series of cat scans done. since they didn't get the shots they wanted, i had to drink yet another 16 oz. cup of radioactive cocktail. yum! actually, at this point it was kind of refreshing since i hadn't had anything to drink.

so the ER docs came back and said my appendix looked like it was inflammed and had a blockage since the dye didn't appear to go through. they said i needed emergency surgery...so off to pre-op i went. my first question was how long is recovery? no lifting more than 10lbs for 6 weeks. 6 weeks? fuck! no boyne, no duathlon, no stoney marathon, not to mention no riding my brand new 29er! double fuck! i talked to the pre-op nurse and then one of the doctors. finally, the surgeon came in and did a physical exam. he said he didn't think it was my appendix based on the physical exam. hmmmm...that's strange. the other docs sure were anxious to get me to the OR for emergency surgery so what gives? he thought that if it was my appendix, i would be in A LOT more pain while he palpitated. so, he thought he'd keep me overnight for observation. as soon as they moved me to the inpatient floor the pain and nausea came back with a vengeance. i started feeling really sick again and finally threw up. after that i felt much better. they ordered some more drugs and i could finally eat and drink. i ordered some chicken broth, jello and popcicles. i was able to keep everything down.

this morning another doc came and checked me out and didn't think it was my appendix either so they released me. i'm supposed to call the surgeon on thursday to update him on my condition. so far, i'm still not back to normal and i'm not fully convinced that it's not my appendix. it's still a little tender in that area but now excrutiating pain. it's just a little crampy down there. they think it might just be viral gastroenteritis. who knows. i mean, we don't know if this is in any way connected to the stomach/abdominal pains i had been having the last month or so. they pretty much went away until this happened sunday morning.

so, i'm up in the air about boyne. i'll have to make a last minute decision. i would hate to be up north and have my appendix burst. that would not be good. also, my new frame and parts came in today. it's pretty hard to get excited about that with all this other shit going on. it's funny because i was feeling pretty good on saturday. i went for a 5+ mile run and ran faster than i ever have. i also lifted saturday night too. who knew what was around the corner. well, it seems like one problem after another for me. i'm just hoping it was viral in nature and i'll recover okay.

4 for four

2006-05-18T22:22:00.000-04:00

i've been out drinking and eating every night this week! that never happens. i guess i'm milking this birthday stuff for all it's worth. that also means i'm 4 for four with no workouts. nada. none. zilch. i haven't done shit since addison. all i've been doing is eating like crap and drinking tons. and i'm liking it! i need to get my bike fixed so i can get back on it next week in preparation for boyne. boyne. that damn race kept me up all night last night. the boyne nightmares have already started!

omg, i'm sooooo excited to get my new bike! my parts will be here on monday and the frame is expect early next week as well. if tony can get my wheels built in two days then i'll have her at boyne. and that's a big IF! i won't be too disappointed if i don't have it for boyne. the fango deserves one last hurrah before i let her go. addison was not a worthy send-off.

soooo...can i make it 5 4 5?

after the rain

2006-05-17T22:42:00.000-04:00

ah yes, it's the nelson twins! flowing blonde locks, small town good looks, and angelic voices. early nineties power ballads at its finest. gotta love 'em....or not. it sure seems like this rain is endless. the trails won't be ready to ride for quite awhile. my bike won't be ready to ride for quite awhile.

i'm sooooo excited for my new bike! everything is now rolling so it's now just a waiting game. i've waited all spring for this moment and now i'm only a week or two away from rolling my very own 29er!

the fango is sad and in very bad shape. i need to give her some tlc so she'll be ready to go for boyne next weekend. boyne....hopefully, i'll turn in a better performance than at addison. i definitely will because i'm NOT going to let my teammates down.

i'll ride again...after the rain.

it's on!

2006-05-16T14:10:00.000-04:00

got a call from ernie this morning and my niner is ordered! should be here by the end of the week or early next week. now if i can get my parts in by then, there's a small chance i'll have it for boyne!!!

happy birthday to me!!!

the carnage

2006-05-16T09:28:00.000-04:00

i really haven't inspected my bike too closely but i know it's not in good shape. i hosed it off on sunday night during a thunderstorm and took it into the garage, and it was looking angry. the brakes don't work anymore, the chain is rusted out as well as the cassette. haven't looked to see if the derailleurs are still working. it needs some new cables and housing and probably a new chain for now. as indecisive as i've been w/ buying a new bike, i've once again changed my mind. i should have a shiny new, black niner emd 9 here hopefully by next week! after assessing the damage from addison, there's no way i'm transferring those parts to a new build. so, realistically, the quiring is out of my price range. there's no way i can justify a $2k + purchase right now when we're trying to get the house ready to sell, we have things to buy for the house, and jackie has a medical procedure that we have to pay for. i mean i'm selfish and all, but i'm not that selfish. it's very unlikely that it'll be ready before boyne, so i'd better have the fango up and running by then! this rainy weather is just getting plain stupid...

addison mudfest

2006-05-14T21:43:00.000-04:00

whoever said addison was in good shape should be shot! no, not really but what were they thinking??? i was having reservations about doing the race on friday night and with only 2.5 hrs. of sleep on friday night, i really wasn't in the racing spirit. to add to that, when i got to addison, it started raining! so, i got in line to register and was seriously contemplating whether or not to do the 6hr instead of the 12. not wanting to be a big pussy, i reluctantly decided to sign up for the 12. as the 10AM start time rolled around, i started getting excited. little did i know what i was in-store for.

the solo racers started last--two minutes behind everyone else. i stayed at the back of the pack as there was no need to "fight" for position in a 12hr. race. as soon as we hit that first climb and then headed into the singletrack i knew this was not going to be a typical race. i went really slow and had to dismount to get through some of the deeper mud. i think the first lap took me close to an hour. as each lap passed, the course got worse and worse. by my fourth lap i was walking about 1/4 of the trail. it took me just over 4 hrs. to do 4 laps out there! i was thinking the whole time how stupid the whole thing was. i was kicking myself for giving the race promotors 80 dollars that very morning. $20/lap at that point not to mention my bike being trashed. unfortunately for me, i had very little clearance on my front tire/fork/v-brakes and they were constantly getting so plugged up that my front wheel would completely freeze up. on my 5th lap that i was talked into, i was scooping handfuls of mud out every 10 feet. i think that lap took me an hour and 45 minutes although i did stop and walk about a mile and a half w/ mike moss after he blew out his rear derailleur. parts of the course were getting to be completely unrideable...at least for me on my bike. there were obviously people who rode the course all day. maybe they had a better setup. maybe they're better riders. maybe they were mentally tougher. probably a little of all of those. i had nothing more to prove. it just sucked walking 2+ miles per lap. so i hung things up after a measlely five laps.

i was sooooo hungry and the beer was looking soooo tasty. i ate four dogs and had four bells when i went to check the current results. there were 4 guys in front of me w/ only 6 laps. if they weren't on the course then i'd have to do only 2 more laps to put me in third place. so, i put the gear back on and headed back out w/ a nice buzz and a full belly! that 6th lap was definitely my best of the day. i stayed on the bike for probably 90% of the trail and felt great overall! the trail was in the best shape of the day--the mud only plugged up my front tire once. i got back to the pits and jody helped put my light on and i headed back out. towards the end of that lap it just started downpouring and the trail was getting treacherous. i got back, cold and wet and was contemplating on and 8th lap. i went back to the pit to grab my rain jacket but looked at the best brown sitting there and grabbed the beer instead. so, i finished w/ 7 laps which put me 6th out of 8 riders. disappointing. two other guys did 7 laps but faster and then 3rd place had 9 laps. so if i would've went back out for that 8th lap, i would've finished 4th. not a big deal.

lesson learned...don't get pressured into doing a race. i paid $80 to race, my bike is COMPLETELY trashed as are my cycling clothes and shoes. hopefully, boyne will be much better although i'm not done w/ this 12hr solo stuff. i want another chance where conditions are more ideal.

rain! boo!!!

2006-05-11T23:11:00.003-04:00

it doesn't look like this damn rain is moving out any time soon. sooo...i'm preparing for a muddy and chilly race. got some toe warmers tonight and put on my "mud" tires. i have a brand new skinny schwalbe nobby nic on the back but my 4 year old geax blade wouldn't mount properly on the front. i guess i'm going to go w/ a conti vertical pro which got surprisingly good reviews as a mud tire! i'm going to suffer on my current saddle since i couldn't get a post in time. oh well! i got some chamois butt'r so hopefully that'll help. i've never used the stuff before but i heard it's a necessity for endurance races. so, 48hrs. from now i'll be done w/ my first solo endurance race and hopefully i'll be partying it up! i'm really looking forward to this and i'm just going to go out and have some fun in the mud!

tapering

2006-05-10T21:18:00.000-04:00

i did my last training ride yesterday. not a hard ride. just under 30 miles at island lake at an endurance pace. i felt good. the legs felt pretty good. no more rides until the race. i'll probably do a quick, easy spin on the trainer tomorrow night and nothing on friday. i just want to make sure the gas tank is full for saturday. i'm gonna need it.

the weather isn't looking all that great either. blah. it's raining pretty hard out right now and it's gonna be on and off showers for like the next 5 days. saturday they're calling for light showers and highs only in the mid-50s. i'll have to get some toe warmers because my feet are always cold!

i wasn't too nervous about this race but there's been quite a bit of talk about it the last couple of days so the pre-race jitters are settling in. i even dreamt about the race the past two nights. i don't know what to expect. i don't know how my body is going to react beyond 6 hrs. i'm going to race my own race and have fun doing it. i'm going to do everything i can to squeak out an additonal lap even when my body tells me no.

don't stop believin'...

i'm not a journey fan...honest.

journey

2006-05-10T00:40:00.000-04:00

mark your calendars. july twenty fourth. the day after the novi relay race. the more hungover the better. it's journey and def leppard at dte, affectionately known to us old folk as pine knob. why you ask? one word. awesome. you made out in the back seat of your daddy's car to "open arms". admit it. you lusted after steve perry after seeing the "separate ways" video. you air drummed wishing you were steve smith in "don't stop believing". you cried after you broke up with your boyfriend and you heard "faithfully" on the radio.

"do you wanna get rocked" by def leppard? you animal, you were in a state of hysteria when you saw that photograph and wondered have you needed someone so bad that you were afraid of bringing on the heartbreak yet you wanted to be foolin' so go ahead and pour some sugar on me and let your rocket explode but when love & hate collide you realize love bites.

july twenty fourth.

oh for the sake of f#@&!!!

2006-05-07T22:57:00.000-04:00

didn't get the bike this weekend. nope. no-siree, bob. i was all ready to go to the shop and buy it when i called to make sure it was still there. luck has it, it was sold a couple days prior. grrrr!!!! someone doesn't want me to have the bike. i knew that trek didn't have anymore in stock so i guess i was s.o.l. they told me trek was doing an early release of '07 29ers and would be receiving them the end of may/early june. so, no 29er for addison. no 29er for boyne. shit.

i did some more thinking this morning. i'll just get the quiring and put some cheaper parts on and upgrade when i can. that way, i can get a bike through the shop and be happy with a custom job. so, that's it. i'm emailing scott tomorrow and getting the ball rolling. i'm assuming it won't be done until close to the end of june. oh well, the best things come to those who wait.

i am sooooo not ready for addison next week. my riding this weekend consisted of 6 non-stop laps at maybury good for 36 miles and today i could only muster 2 laps at pontiac. so, only 57 miles for the weekend. ugh! soupy and paula did a triple poto yesterday! now that is hard core! both on a single speed, no less! sounds like they're both ready for the race next weekend. i was hurtin' pretty good after 6 laps at maybury. that's pretty fucking sad. all i know is that addison is going to be BORING! 6 laps at maybury and my mind was already going numb. i can't imagine doing 10-14 more laps. we'll see how i do. i'm assuming i'll bow out after 6 hrs. can you say DFL? yeah, i'm pretty positive, eh? but, i'm being realistic about this race. i have no endurance. period.

made a decision

2006-05-05T23:02:00.000-04:00

okay, i've finally made a decision on what bike to get. all this time, and all this thinking and i've settled on the fisher paragon. yes, a fisher. i really don't want to get a fisher but i liked the geometry. i remember the first time i got on it, i felt instantly comfortable. plus, it has the tallest bb of all the 29er hardtails out there. that's what sold me. so, i'm gonna ride the hell outta it for one, probably two years and then get a custom...likely a quiring. i hope i don't crack the frame but at least it's covered under a lifetime warranty so i feel a little better about that. i do feel bad about buying a fisher because it's a brand my shop doesn't carry which means i have to buy it at a competitor's shop. as long as their not paying me to race for their shop then i guess i can ride what i want. i tried to make something happen but in the end, i thought i'd be most comfortable on the paragon. gonna go get it tomorrow morning unless someone talks me out of it before then!

orange crush!

2006-05-05T11:37:00.000-04:00

okay, one more pic i stole from the soupster...

i finally got my team kit last night!(thanks for picking it up, soupy!) met up w/ the guys at pontiac lake, took some pics in the lot and headed out on the trail. it was good to meet some of the guys i haven't met before but have seen on the luv board. the second half of the ride ended up being a hammerfest. it was good to ride fast again!

trying to figure out what i want to do this weekend. i'm thinking poto tomorrow and then a long back road/trail ride on sunday. i'd like to hit addison if possible. the race is a week away! yikes! i don't know how ready i am for 12hrs. but i do know it's going to end up being a painfest. at least i won't be alone!

going to make a decision about the bike probably by this evening. i'm leaning towards building up a niner emd9. i need to work a few more things out before i make a decision. it'll definitely be nicer than the paragon minus the juicy 7's. i think i'd like the bb7's better because of lower maintenance. i like low maintenance. other than the brakes, the overall build will be nicer and it'll come out to be about the same price...plus, it's not a fisher!

5.5 more hours 'til the weekend!

team ride pics

2006-05-04T23:46:00.000-04:00

too tired to write, but here are a few photos i took...well, soupy took the one of me :-)

bike decisions...

2006-05-04T10:19:00.000-04:00

okay, so i guess i'm not getting a quiring. this sucks. not a knock on scott or anybody but i just can't afford one right now. i was led to believe that i could get a better deal on one. i guess not. i'll just have to wait another year or two before i can dive into the custom frame world. it must be nice to have endless money to spend on expensive custom frames, huh? me--i'm still paying for my surgery two years ago.

so what am i going to get? i don't know. i can either build up a niner emd9 or just get a fisher paragon. i've determined that the bb on the soma juice is too low for my liking. one thing that stuck out in my mind about the paragon was that i could pedal over the rocks and roots at pontiac lake without worrying about smacking my pedals. that was probably one of my favorite things about that bike! there's about a 3/4" difference between the fisher and soma which is significant. so do i go through the hassle of ordering parts for the niner build or just go with a complete bike? with the fisher, i could buy it this weekend which would mean i would have it for addison. big plus. but, for some reason, i can't see myself riding a fisher. i don't know why...maybe i'm just pretentious. i'll have to make my decision by this weekend. ugh! decisions, decisions!

i had my ultrasound yesterday. probably won't get results until early next week. i don't anticipate they'll find anything as my blood work came back completely normal. i think they're looking in the wrong area. it's actually lower than where they're looking, but what do i know, they're the doctors, right? it is still getting worse everyday, especially in the morning or when i'm hungry, so who knows what the hell it is. one day at a time, my friend...

ugh!!! again!

2006-05-02T12:56:00.000-04:00

went to the doctor's this morning to get checked out for my abdominal pains. she's not sure what it is but she's taking it very seriously. maybe pancreatitis? maybe gall stones? maybe neither. they took some blood and i'm scheduled for an ultrasound tomorrow afternoon. i hope this doesn't mean i'm going to have to withdraw from the addison race. the pain has been getting progressively worse which is not a good sign. it's pretty much constantly there now. oh well, tests are nothing new to me. just annoying. it seems like i'm doing them every couple of months. again, something i expected to do after being diagnosed with a lifelong disease. i guess i could look on the bright side. there's no saying that this is serious and i'm not sidelined as of yet. i'll keep my fingers crossed.

it's been awhile

2006-04-30T20:17:00.000-04:00

...since i've been on a bike. a whole week, actually. i've had a busy week taking care of things not to mention i haven't been feeling all that great w/ the stomach pains and all. i wanted to go up to the poto to do a double but just remembered this morning that they were having the trail marathons out there today. so, change of plans. i decided to meet amanda up at brighton. we did murray-torn shirt-murray at a very comfortable pace which was a welcome change from all the race pace pain-fest rides i've been doing lately. i actually got to enjoy the trail and the ride. i had a little crash on torn shirt which is nothing new to me. i always crash on that trail. nothing major. my front tire washed out on a loose corner. i did manage to smack something into my calf. not sure what hit it but it seems to be a deep muscle bruise. it's pretty stiff right now and i'm hobbling around. pretty lame after such a tame fall.

so amanda had to take off to study and i continued on. two more laps of murray for a total of four laps of murray lake and one lap of torn shirt. 35 miles of pure singletrack heaven! i think my total ride time was about 3.5hrs which is a little more than a third of my goal at addison of 10 hrs. ride time. yikes! i was kinda tired but not that tired. plus, that ride is way tougher than 35 miles of addison. still, the 12 hr. race is gonna be brutal. one more weekend for a long ride. i'm thinking of doing some sort of eastside epic next weekend with a goal of 60 miles. we'll see what pans out.

i guess everything is going pretty well except for this stomach problem. i guess i should go to the doctor's this week to get it checked out. it sucks to have to deal with stuff like this but it's not unexpected. people with acromegaly just have continual health problems. i guess i'm no different. i'm just in better shape than most and i'm thankful i'm healthy enough to have achieved that status.

all done!

2006-04-28T20:56:00.000-04:00

mason's surgery went off without a hitch this morning. we're all home now and he's doing awesome! as if nothing had even happened. i think he's just happy that his lashes are out of his eyes. he looks a little funky right now w/ the stitches and all but i think he's gonna look just fine when it heals!

omg, i'm so sore from running last night. i thought i'd do a quick run after work at maybury so i ran the hiking trail and then some. for some reason my traps are really sore today. um, maybe from holding my arms up while running? my legs are way more sore than after the yankee race. weird.

since mason's doing so well, i'll have some time to ride this weekend. i need to put in some serious saddle time this weekend and next since the addison race is fast approaching. i'm still deciding whether or not to pre-register. 6 hour or 12 hour? there's a $30 difference. i should just attempt the 12. really. see, i'm still trying to convince myself.

not sure what's going on w/ my stomach. it pretty much hurts after every meal now. not good. i guess i'll have to see the doc next week. again, i'm so sick of seeing the docs every other month...so it seems. but that's life for me.

life

2006-04-26T22:34:00.000-04:00

i didn't end up riding tonight. i've been having really bad stomach aches the last two days. the same kind that had me doubled over a couple of weeks ago after that tiger's game. i'm not sure what's causing them but i guess i'm getting used to my body failing me. i'll let this go and see what happens before i call the doc. no more doctors!!!

so, i did some much needed yard work tonight instead. yes, it sucked. i should've lifted tonight as well. it's been over a week since i've last lifted. not good.

i was thinking at work today (go figure) that i may want to do the fort custer race. i think i would do better in a xc race than a tt. i think the longer the better. it'd be 2 laps for sport so about 18.5 miles. sounds like fun! we'll see who else is going.

i hope i feel better tomorrow. i probably won't have time to ride as we kinda want to do something with mason before his surgery on friday. sooooo, i probably won't ride until sunday. again, not good. a whole week between rides and i'm supposed to be riding for twelve hours in 2.5 weeks! maybe i should try to take myself a little less seriously...like this guy!

yankee results

2006-04-25T18:51:00.000-04:00

the "corrected" race results were finally posted last night. i guess i took 5th with a time of 52:53 which at least seems reasonably close to my stopwatch time. the delay kinda killed the buzz so to speak. big deal, i took 5th. i don't even fully trust the results because there's still quite a few errors. andrea is still listed as having raced and finished. and what happened to farmer john and cary's time in the ss event? what a crappy race experience. the only reason to enter a race (for me) is so i can compare my time to other racers. yes, i want to see my name next to an "official" time on the promoter's website. petty, yes, but hey, i can go out any time with my stopwatch and do the same thing...all for free. so for my $30 entry fee, i have to get something out of it, right? oh well, there's always the next race. at least at addison i can keep track of my own laps!

did i mention i'm still at work? yes, it's 7PM and i'm still here. it'll give me a good excuse to go in late tomorrow since i'm planning on staying up for the wings' game.

it's supposed to be sunny and warmer tomorrow so i'll get back on the bike. how's a double pontiac lake sound? fantastic! great, we've got a date! see what too much work does to me? i need a jolly pumpkin!

yankee race report

2006-04-23T20:48:00.002-04:00

it started off with an early morning wake up call. 5:55AM. i'm quirky like that. met up with soupy and paula in novi and off we went. it only takes about two hours to get to yankee so it wasn't too bad. i had plenty of time to pick up my number plate and chat with some people i haven't seen in awhile. i hooked up the trainer and proceeded with my warmup as planned. 11:07 rolled around quickly and i lined up at the starting gate. i was looking very nondescript with a decal-less bike and just a plain grey wicking shirt. we're still waiting on our team kit so until they get here, i'll be flying under the radar. the guy next to me looked fast w/ his racerboy jersey and fancy steel hardtail. he looked at me and kinda scoffed. i paid no attention to him. so 11:07 rolls around on the clock and we start. i let the other rider take the lead because i wanted to time the race on my stopwatch. i hit the start button right as the clock rolled to 11:07:00 and off i went. i thought i would follow "racer boy" for awhile and then pass him later but after about 50 yards, he was going so damn slow, i decided to make my move. so he sees me doing this and then goes all out. i out sprinted him pretty easily and didn't have to deal with him the rest of the race.

there are so many details about the race that i can go into but don't really feel like typing them out. all i can say is that it was grueling for me from start to finish. it HURT the WHOLE way! it's hard to stay mentally tough during the race. there were several times i just wanted to slow down and make the pain stop. i wanted to be able to breathe normally again. i wanted the pain in my side to go away. BUT, i kept thinking that this was a priviledge to be able to ride. two years ago, i was uncertain of my future, not knowing whether or not i would ever ride again. that was motivation enough for me to keep the pedals moving. the further i got into the race the faster i went. i hammered out the last 3 miles as hard as i could possibly go and sprinted to the finish. as soon as i crossed the finish line i hit the stop botton on my stopwatch. 52:59. YES!!! that was better than i expected. i was excited but was too preoccupied with trying to catch my breath and trying not to puke!

so, all i could do was wait. would 52:59 be good enough to get on the podium? two hours went by before they posted the results. i looked through the top 8 which was printed on one page...didn't see my name. i look on the second page...down, down, down, 13th!?!? i look at the time 56:03. what the fuck??? i know when i started and stopped my watch. something was definitely wrong. so i ask the lady behind the registration desk and sure enough, she said there were a number of problems and they were working on it. another hour and a half passes and then finally they said it was too messed up to have results today. they'll be posted some time this week. wtf? that sucks driving all the way out there, paying the registration fee and not knowing what my "official" results are. yes, i'm frustrated. i turned a good lap time and want to be properly recognized for it. that's the reason for racing right? i just hope tailwind gets it right and my time is accurate. time will tell...

a big congrats goes out to soupy for turning a sub-52 min. lap and taking 2nd in the beg/sport ss class! also, erin kicked some major ass finishing second overall in the women's expert/elite! way to go to all the racers out there today!!!

here we go!

2006-04-22T18:20:00.000-04:00

well, the time has almost come! it's the night before the season's first race. it doesn't really seem like it's already here so i'm not too nervous...yet. yes, i get pre-race jitters. it's all good though. nothing like the adrenaline rush before the starting gun goes off.

i'm still trying to motivate myself to get on the trainer for an easy 30 minutes. i'm sure it'll do me some good loosening my legs up. we'll see.

it's going to be an early morning tomorrow. getting up around 6 to eat a full meal and then meeting up w/ soupy and paula in novi at 7:30. i just hope we get to the race in time for me to warmup properly. i'd like to spend 30 minutes on the trainer right before the start of the race. i'm going in with no expectations. i have a goal of doing the race in 55 minutes and the other goal is to have fun doing it!

i'll have a full race report and pics up hopefully by tomorrow night. it's go time, baby!!!

last training ride

2006-04-20T21:31:00.000-04:00

i completed my last training ride before the season opening race. what better way to do it than hit up the poto for some climbing fun! after stopping at the jolly pumpkin brewery to pick up some brew for the team, i headed up to the poto. i had a very good ride out there. i rode it clean except for this one sandy downhill which swallowed my front tire. it must've been amusing because i unclipped my left foot and was riding the top tube with my right thigh all while rolling on just the front wheel! i went about 10 feet like this before regaining control. i was so sure i was going over the bars. i don't know how i avoided it. i guess i just know the fango really well. like an old friend. i'll be sad to see her go but i'm sure the custom 29er will fill the void. i'm not sure if it's easier/faster with the new reroutes because i rode it non-stop at about 85-90% and finished quite a bit faster than last year. it's still 18 miles lot to lot. my stomach was a little crampy out there tonight and my calves were also twitching a little. that's the first time this season that my muscles even considered cramping up on me. not sure what triggered it. all the hills? regardless, it's a great trail that i should ride once a week...great training and it may even make me fast!

i have to make sure i warm up properly on sunday. i didn't really feel comfortable until i was about 45 minutes in. at that point i could just flat out hammer. so, i'm thinking at least 30 minutes on the trainer before the race. i need to go out and hammer from the time the gun goes off. the race is too short to try and warm up on the course. three more days!

another day off!

2006-04-19T22:34:00.000-04:00

well, i didn't intend to take today off but it just worked out that way. really. mason's cough had been getting progressively worse so i wanted him to go see the doctor to make sure everything was going to be okay before his surgery next friday. i had been getting very little sleep as of late so i decided to sleep in while we waited for the doctor's office to open. i ended up getting out of bed at 10:45. whoops! i wanted to eat some lunch before going in to work and next thing i knew it's 1:15PM so i called my boss and said it wouldn't be worth it for me to drive in and work for three hours. so i didn't go in. i actually got some worthwhile things done too! went to a tax advisor to get the taxes done correctly. we owe something like $700 for federal and state combined which is way better than the $4000 we were anticipating. so i guess it was $160 well spent. we also took our cars to get the oil changed...finally! nothing too exciting but stuff that definitely needed to be taken care of.

my plan was to go to brighton and ride tonight. well, after running all those errands, it ended up being too late. so, i was going to go to maybury to do a couple of laps but i've been wanting to switch out my back tire which i did but soon found that the tube had developed a leak. ugh! i guess someone didn't want me to ride tonight. oh well, i had more important things to take care of so i guess i'm gonna ride tomorrow night instead. i'm still planning on riding hard. screw this tapering stuff. i'm looking at the race on sunday as just another hard ride. two days off will be plenty for me.

still waiting for word from ernie about the quiring frame. my mind is pretty much made up. i'm buying one regardless of the cost. all i know is that it'll be under a thousand.

i've also decided to sell the wrx. we need money to try and pay off the surgery bill from two years ago and the only way we can get a lump sum of money right now is to sell the car. i should be able to make $4-6k on it. plus, with gas prices predicted to hover above $3/gal the whole summer, it only makes sense to get something more fuel efficient. it looks like another subie is in my future...model to be determined.

ah yes, another boring day in the life of this recovering acromegalic!

quiring?

2006-04-18T14:58:00.000-04:00

just got off the phone with ernie....so, i've been thinking...the juice is a helluva nice frame for the price BUT, it has horizontal dropouts with a derailleur hanger. it would be a major pain in the ass to change a flat out on the trail. you'd have to loosen the brakes in order to get the rotor/wheel to slide out. do i really want to deal with this? wouldn't it be so much nicer to have a geared specific frame? not too many choices out there currently. so why not have scotty q build me up a custom steel? ernie's looking into pricing for me. if he can get me a smoking deal, i'm in. what the hell...a few more hundred for a custom frame that i'm gonna have around for a long time would be totally worth it. don't you think? try explaining that to jackie!

tax day sucked!

2006-04-18T10:04:00.000-04:00

ugh! taxes! they suck. didn't make the deadline. didn't do them right. oh well, i guess we'll have to suffer the wrath from the gov'ment. i wasn't about to give them $3000 when we weren't sure that was correct. we'll have it all figured out tonight...hopefully. there's a chance we may not owe that much!

after work last night, i drove up to waterford from ann arbor which is an hour plus drive. i stopped by the bank to get some cash to pay for the team kit. doh! i forgot my debit card! fuck! so i drove all the way up there for nothing. luckily, ernie's a cool cat and told me not to sweat it. so, i'll just send the damn check to him this week! i also had him order up the soma juice for me too! i talked to the distributors last week and they said to get your orders in early because they will sell out within a week. and who says the 29er movement isn't growing!

after a stop at the shop, i only had enough time for one lap out at pontiac. i sure wished i had the 29er with me! oh my god, i worked SO much harder on my fango. i went all out and was still about 45 seconds slower than my first lap last week on the paragon. the difference was that i went all out last night and was only going maybe 75% last week. now if i could only race a 29er this weekend! alas, i'll have to ride the little wheeled bikes like most of the other racers. being frustrated with my efforts, i went home and did squats until i couldn't walk anymore. i finally just quit because i couldn't take any more burning in my legs.

the rising gas prices is ridiculous. we're so handcuffed as consumers. i mean, we have to buy the stuff. there's no way around it. so, i'm thinking about either selling the wrx or trading it in for something a little more economical. yes, me thinking rationally. that's a first.

lazy day

2006-04-16T22:18:00.000-04:00

i haven't done shit today. in fact, i've been up for less than ten and a half hours. the cool weather kept me in the house all day. lame, yes, but i didn't feel like doing anything today. yesterday, on the other hand, was unbelievable! i couldn't believe how clear it was yesterday. unbelievably bright sunshine and the clearest blue skies a spring day could offer. i went out to lower huron metropark with jackie and mason. we rode all of the paved paths down to oakwoods and willow metroparks and back. stopped about half way and had a picnic. the ride wasn't too tough until the return trip. a stiff wind with the uphills along with 70lbs. behind my bike made for a good workout. we ended up with almost 30 miles. it was later than i thought, so i couldn't make it up to cycletherapy to pay for the team kit. i was gonna go today but i forgot they'd be closed because of easter. oh well, i'll have to go tomorrow after work and hope ernie's okay with it. anyway, after the ride we got home, had some dogs and potato salad, laid around for a bit and then headed back out to maybury for an opening day trail ride. i wanted to do 3 laps but forgot my camelbak and waterbottle so i kept it to two laps. besides, there wasn't enough daylight to do a third lap. i couldn't believe how good my legs felt out there. two hard laps and a trip back to the main lot bathrooms gave me a total of 43 miles for the day. that's a good sign for addison. granted it's only about a quarter of the race but i felt like i could ride forever yesterday.

today, i slept in...almost til noon. i would've went up and ridden pontiac lake if the shop was open. but they were closed so i laid around all day watching tv. well, one more week until yankee. i'm as ready as i'll ever be. i can already feel the excitement building. i'm going in with no expectations except to have a good time and do the best that i can. two more HARD rides this week. monday and wednesday. pontiac lake tomorrow and then brighton on wednesday. two hard laps at pontiac and then a murray, torn shirt, torn shirt, murray painfest on wednesday. then, i'll have a rest day on thursday and an easy spin probably on the trainer friday. saturday is still up in the air since i'm leaning towards driving to yankee on sunday morning. so far the weather isn't looking too bad. as long as there aren't treacherous wet roots, i'll be fine! well, i wish i could be racing a 29er, but i don't need a cheater bike to have fun, do i?

fun day off

2006-04-14T11:55:00.000-04:00

what a great day i had yesterday! not only was the weather perfect, i had the perfect company as well! the day started off with a 4 mile trail run out at maybury. jackie was very impressive out there for her first ever trail run! all those intervals on the trainer this winter has definitely put her in the best shape of her life. it was hard to believe that i was actually doing a trail run with my wife! now if i wasn't so lazy i'd put her knobby rear tire back on her bike so she can do some trail riding!

we were running late for the game so we went home, took a "quick" shower ;-) and headed down to the ballpark. we had the $8 bleacher seats which are actually really good. they're behind the scoreboard in right-center field. we had 3 hits out there with one coming directly at us but fell about 2 feet short off the wall. the ballpark is not cheap. $8 beers! we limited ourselves to three large beers between us. after the game we walked over to the town pump for some oberon. mmmm, two pints later, i was feeling pretty good...except for the ridiculously obnoxious meat-heads who were causing a lot of ruckus.

we decided to head home and change before we went out to dinner. i knew if i laid down when i got home, i would pass out. so that's what we did. i think i slept about an hour and was reluctant to get up. i finally got up because i was getting hungry and we drove out to novi to benihana. sat at the bar and had a very strong mai tai while the postal service(!) was playing in the background. dinner was awesome as usual but left with a bad belly ache which got progressively worse. by the time we got home i was in so much pain, i just curled up in bed. not sure what caused it but it sucked. i woke up at 1AM feeling a little better, got a drink of water and the pain came back with a vengeance! it was worse than it was earlier. again, not sure what triggered it. maybe the mai tai? maybe the grey goose and sodas with dinner? who knows. it just ended up being a shitty way to end such a great day. oh well, there's always next time!

so, no more drinking for me until the race. gonna do a morning ride w/ the family and pulling the trailer at a local metropark and then doing a trail ride in the afternoon. it really sucks being back at work but we all know work is for suckers!

a day off!

2006-04-13T00:16:00.000-04:00

i've finally decided to take a vacation day and not have to go to the doctor's office or the hospital for tests and whatnot. it's gonna be 70 and sunny tomorrow so i'm going to the ballpark! yes, a tiger's game in the afternoon. mmmmm...beer, hot dogs and nachos. the perfect recovery food! recovery for what? well, you didn't think i was gonna sit on my ass with a race looming ten days away, did you? i'm planning on doing stairs in the morning and then getting the (much needed) oil changed in my rex. and if i don't have too many beers at the ol' ballgame, i'm gonna do some riding too! but i think that's gonna be a stretch.

i can't frickin' wait to get my 29er! i reluctantly drove back up to fenton tonight to return the paragon. i can't wait to ride a 29er again. i just can't get over how much fun they are! i'm hoping soma's distributors are right and they do come in the first of may. there could be a possibility that i'd get it built up in time for addison. that would rock! i pretty much came up with a build list and i'm trying to keep it under $1500. not an easy job. i was going back and forth between the aluminum niner emd and the steel juice. i think the juice would be way cooler than the plain ol' aluminum frame...plus the emd costs more. okay, off to bed...now i can finally dream about my 29er....

oh my gawd!

2006-04-11T23:40:00.000-04:00

soooo...i picked up the 29er after work tonight and headed on over to pontiac lake. i put on my own saddle and made some adjustments to the levers and shifters all the while some guy was eyeing my shiny new yellow big-wheeled ride. believe it or not i was the first one to demo this bike. it was brand new! this guy comes over and asks me all sorts of questions about the bike. turns out he's also on the mtbr 29er board and is currently building up a custom steel 29er. so this guy has a custom frame but he's never even ridden one!

i head out by myself and was getting used to the more upright position. the damn riser bars plus two 1/2 inch spacers put me a bit higher than i'm used to. i get to the 2 mile switchback climb and was thinking...hmmm, this is no better than my 26er. i'm working just as hard. it took me awhile to figure out the gearing. being in the same gear on the 29er is still a "taller" gear or should i say bigger gear inch. so until i got that squared away i felt the 29er was slower on the climbs. however, my mind quickly changed about half way through. i could not believe how well it cornered and how well it rolled through the little rock gardens and roots. it basically laughed at anything that got in it's way. i was going down the hills WAY faster and just carrying momentum through the rough stuff way better. so, how much faster was i than last thursday? on the first lap, i was 2:39 faster without even trying. last week i was going probably 90-95% and this week i was going about 75%. and i was more than 2.5 minutes faster on a 10 mile loop! unbelieveable! now get this. for the night lap, i was 5:15 faster than last week! both were similar efforts. and the night lap this week on the 29er was only 1:01 slower than my first lap! it really wasn't even about the speed. it was about how much fun i was having on the bike! i seriously can't remember the last time i had that much fun on a bike! i felt like a kid again. needless to say, i'm selling all of my other bikes to build up a 29er. i really wish i could have one for the yankee race but realistically i won't have one built up until probably mid-late may. i really could not find any weaknesses. maybe, it was a little slower on the long, grinder type climbs but it more than made up for it on the down hills. and that's just a maybe. it felt like i got through the hills faster. you go a lot further with each pedal stroke. i'm so giddy right now. just like a little kid! i can't wait to get my own! until then, i have to ride the little wheeled bike which i know is gonna suck and feel so slow!

oh one more thing, i weighed the 29er when i got home and it tips the scales at a portly 27 pounds! that's 2 pounds heavier than my fango and didn't notice it at all. it certainly doesn't feel that heavy even on the climbs. once again, surprising. now i'm not the kind of person to go and tell everybody and their grandma to go out immediately and buy one....BUT if you ever get a chance to ride one on the trail, go for it! just be prepared to sell off your current bikes!

contentment

2006-04-11T12:18:00.000-04:00

ya know, i can't remember the last time i was this happy with life. i'm actually content with everything that's going on in my life. yes, work still sucks and there's assholes to deal with everyday but i'm just very comfortable with my self right now. i'm finding time to ride my bike quite a bit, i'm spending time with my family and i'm spending time with my friends. a very nice balance.

so after all this talk about 29er's i'm finally demoing one tonight. i'm leaving work early to go up to fenton to pick up a paragon and then do two laps out at pontiac. needless to say, i'm pretty damn excited. assuming i fall in love with it tonight, i already called one of soma's distributors and the juice should be back in stock in about 3 weeks! i think it would be an awesome marathon bike...perfect for events like addison! there will be a full ride report later tonight!

oh, speaking of racing, i have a tentative 4 person coed team for boyne...dana, dustin, soupy and myself. unless dana and dustin changed their minds since saturday. oh wait, i wonder if soupy even knows. guess i'd better check with him since he does make up 1/4 of the team. well, maybe 3/16 at best!

okay, busy afternoon so i'd better start working so i can get outta here asap!

more weekend musings...

2006-04-10T12:03:00.000-04:00

my last entry was quite long and i didn't get a chance to put down all of my thoughts. after my road ride on saturday, i'm seriously reconsidering doing addison solo. i rode for only 2.5 hours and would have to do that same route three more times to be close to my ride time goal of ten hours. i definitely could not do that three more times. not even close. one more time would've been painful. two more times would've been death and three more times would've been just plain ol' impossible. i just don't think i have it in me. i don't think i'll have it in me in a month either. so, what do i do?

"training" has been a bit frustrating too. i feel so slow on the bike. and judging by my yankee times, i am slow on the bike. i was hoping i'd be a lot faster with all the training i've done so far. no, i'm not training nearly as much as the expert/elite guys, but i don't expect to turn expert/elite lap times either. i just figured i'd be more towards the top of the sport class and not mid-pack like i am now. so i've decided to take training less seriously (unlike some people) and just enjoy riding. that's what it's all about for me. yeah, it's fun to hang w/ the fast people but i'm never going to be committed enough to train that hard. so, i'm just gonna be content riding my bike, having fun and hanging out w/ cool people. i'm still gonna race this year but with different goals in mind. later this week will mark the two year anniversary of when i was diagnosed with my tumor. i remember thinking that i would probably never ride my bike again. well, here i am two years later, stronger than ever and enjoying life. no one is ever gonna take that away from me no matter how slow they think i am on my bike.

weekend happenings

2006-04-09T22:09:00.000-04:00

another full weekend. saturday started out kinda slow. i was feeling lazy and tired. at around 3PM, i finally mustered up enough motivation to get myself outside and ride. it was sunny but a bit breezy and a little chilly. i didn't want to ride the trails because we had gotten a ton of rain on friday. so the plan was to do all of hines. i know earlier in the week i said i would do six hours or sixty miles. i lied. i wanted to do 40 since i wanted to get to the fireman's party at a decent time. i parked at the warrendale lot just east of telegraph and headed towards dearborn. i didn't realize hines ends at ford rd. so i followed the paved path through u of m dearborn and ended up in a car dealer's lot. i guess the paved path is the rouge gateway trail. i recognized the bridges from pictures i've seen. so i turned around and headed towards northville. the wind sucked ass! it was a pretty easy paced ride but i was low on fuel. i put the last of my HEED in the water bottle and it was maybe two scoops. i finished in exactly 2:30 and the mileage back to my car was exactly 40 miles! my ass and lower back were killing me! i really need a new saddle for these types of rides. it's not so bad on the trails since i'm constantly shifting my weight and standing up but on a road ride it's just pure torture sitting there for hours! i think my lower back pain is from lack of abdominal strength. i never do ab work. there's no better time to start than right now!

i made it over to the fireman's party around 9:00. i'll just say that the party was a lot of fun and leave it at that.

i made my way home this morning and was WAY hungover. i'm just not used to drinking anymore. i briefly considered erin's offer of going to yankee w/ her and andy but i thought better of it and curled up in my own comfy bed. i slept until 2:00 and still felt pretty crappy. all that drinking and lack of sleep made my cold even worse! i was so congested i thought my head would explode! so i made some food and tried to decide what i wanted to do. it looked absolutely beautiful out! bright sunshine and not a cloud in the sky! too bad i was feeling so crappy. i finally made up my mind at around 4:30 that i was gonna ride. i knew i would kick myself if i didn't, plus i always feel better if i do something. soooo...i decided to go up to novi. it's close and well, it's close. i don't think i'm a real big fan of novi anymore. it's a slow trail. to many tight turns. it's like you're on the brakes all the time. i think i've been spoiled by pontiac and yankee. now those trails are fun! i forced myself to do a second lap even though i was seriously lacking in energy and my back was killing me again. so two full laps and then some thai food afterwards. yummy!

that wraps up yet another weekend. two more weeks until yankee!

good ride

2006-04-06T22:37:00.000-04:00

a near perfect evening for a bike ride! i wasn't gonna let a tiny cold stop me from enjoying the weather. even though i was run down and had some body aches from the cold, i still made the trip up to pontiac lake after work. to my surprise, there were several of the cycletherapy guys there along with nick and the jode! i had every intention of doing two slow laps...we stopped a couple of times including the top of 2 mile hill. after that, soupy and i took off and found a good rhythm. we turned a pretty darn fast lap for early april. i was just happy to be able to hang w/ soupy tonight! i figured out one reason i've been so slow on the climbs. i wasn't pedaling properly. i wasn't pulling on the up-strokes. i was just basically pushing the pedals up the hills. i can't believe what a difference that made! i felt WAY faster on the climbs tonight. i can't believe how much stronger i felt than i did last week.

soupy had to leave after one lap so i was on my own for the second. i don't ever recall doing a night lap by myself. it's probably not the smartest thing to do but then i again i don't always do the smartest thing. the legs started off a bit stiff but i warmed up quickly and was feeling pretty good. i did the entire lap non-stop which is good because i need to learn to recover on the bike after the climbs. i thought i did fairly well...as soon as i reached the top of the climb, i upshifted and hammered for about 50 feet to get up to speed. that will definitely come in handy especially in a sport level race. after the road crossing i spooked a couple of deer that were about 5 feet off the trail. pretty cool seeing their eyes glow under the luminescence of my hid. i finished the lap without taking any shortcuts and felt very strong on the last climb. well, at least i feel a little better about the yankee race now.

one 29er to go, please!

2006-04-04T21:22:00.000-04:00

i finally get to try a 29er out! well, as long as don't get sick. i've been fighting off another cold for about 5 days now. i'm feeling pretty run down tonight. i even fell asleep for about 20 mins. after i got home from work.

okay, so the plan is to pick up the 29er after work tomorrow and then meet up w/ soupy at plra to get my pedals and saddle from my crosser. so, a lap tomorrow night to get acclimated and then make any adjustments for two more laps on thursday night. that should give me a pretty good idea how it rides and handles. i'm hoping it's everything all the guys on the 29er board say it is!

i'm taking another day off from training. my legs haven't felt recovered in probably a month, not to mention my nagging hamstring that's been bothering me for probably the last two months. i hope this isn't something that's gonna be with me the whole season.

already thinking about weekend plans again. so much to do, so little time. fireman's party is this saturday. don't know if i'll make it. i would love to go but...then there's talk about going back to yankee on sunday. i would love to do that as well, but...mmmm...bells. now that's enough to get me back over to the westside of the state, especially if i can hitch a ride w/ someone. no driving=more beer=more happiness. i tell ya, last sunday was one of the bestest days i've had in a long time! now, if only i can keep this cold at bay...

juicy!

2006-04-03T22:29:00.000-04:00

okay, so i really am crazy. does anyone else have this sort of addiction? you find yourself constantly on the internet looking at bikes you want to buy, research the hell out of them and then lust after them until they are between your thighs? i've been doing this for at least three months. yes, i still want a 29er. i haven't even ridden one on the trail yet. this thursday. that's my plan. i'm calling sunrise tomorrow and seeing if i can pick up the paragon on wednesday after work and then getting it set up for a ride out at pontiac on thursday. so after all this research, i've decided to get a frame that isn't currently available. sold out. i think they should be in-stock in about a month. but i've heard that one before. the frame is a soma juice. for '06 they've upgraded to a tange prestige tubeset. mmmmm...prestige tubing. i remember riding one of my first mountain bikes back in the late 80s and it was made of tange prestige. all this for a retail price of $429. hard to beat. even for my hairy palmed tendencies.

sunday pics

2006-04-03T11:27:00.000-04:00

how do you spell pain relief? B-E-E-R

ouch!

i'm not wearing any underwear!

kerry and cary or is it cary and kerry?

andy's pos

bell's brewery

my ridin' pals!

ridin' pals + dork

what a weekend!

2006-04-03T10:46:00.000-04:00

the solsun was smiling upon us

okay, so it's been a couple of days. not that anyone reads these things anyway! so, let's start off with saturday. it was the typical saturday morning ride...met at the tree farm, back road ride into kensington and back. so much for the nice weather we had last week. it was dreary, cool, and windy. what else would you expect from late march michigan weather? i actually felt good on this ride. i felt like my training was getting me somewhere. i wasn't lagging behind everyone else on the climbs. in fact, the only person who beat me around kensington was soupy, but he was on my cheater cross bike! ;-) it was tempting to go to the bonfire after the ride but i knew i had a bunch of stuff to do around the house and my bike needed a little bit of work before our trip to yankee on sunday.

ah, our trip to yankee! what an awesome day it was! it started off early with the spring forward crap but i was excited so i reluctantly crawled out of bed and had a large bowl of cereal with some hammer whey sprinkled on top. i met up with soupy, erin, andy and the two kerry's in novi and westward we trekked.

all i can say is that yankee rocks! the first lap was a bit faster than i wanted to go but we stopped to regroup every so often which made for good recovery time. the flow of that trail is unbelieveably fun with the banked turns, swooping downhills leading up to some short, steep climbs. the fango is an awesome bike to have on a trail like this. it handles the roots with ease and climbs with unbelievable traction. the only limiting factor is my own climbing ability. i don't know what it is this year but i can't climb! i'm soooo slow. it looks like i'll have go out and do some hill intervals before the race if i want any sort of chance to get on the podium.

after our first lap, we were ready to hammer. i guess they didn't realize that i was already hammering on the first lap. oh well, these racer folks must've been holding back on the first lap. i knew i would be in trouble on the second lap so i didn't even bother trying to keep up with soupy and erin. i was dropped like cary's turds in a gas station bathroom within the first two miles. i didn't think i would see those two again until the i got back to the parking lot. i was wrong. about 7 miles in (if i remember correctly) there was a rooted downhill with a large stump in the middle and a big tree right behind that. you could either take the high line and go left around the tree or you could go right and go down on an off camber section. apparantly, erin lost control on the roots and then locked her eyes on the tree and sure enough when you fixate on an object you will hit it. from what she said she went into it at about 20mph with her back! ouch! visibly shaken, this was not enough to prevent her from finishing the loop. she is hardcore! i rode with her for about another mile or so and said that she really needed a beer when we got back to the lot. she said she was just thinking the same thing! i like how you think, woman! my legs at this point were totally screaming at me. when i say screaming, i'm talking about the fat woman at walmart yelling at her 7 kids, screaming! they would just not turn the cranks anymore. so, erin sped off to catch soupy. i rode by myself for awhile until i found andy on the top of a climb with his bike flipped over. yes, it was just one of those days for andy. he pretty much convinced me to never buy a full suspension bike. with three miles to go i kicked it up a notch. i gave it everything i had and still finished more than 3 minutes behind soupy. a nice reality check. no, i am not ready for this race and no i will not be on the podium. i'm slow, slow, slow! very frustrating. well, at least there was the post ride dark horse ipa! thanks, erin!

since the rains had moved in and we were spent and cold, we decided a trip to bell's in k'zoo was in order! mmmm...two hearted on tap...1/2 pound burger...cool new riding pals. what more can i say. an awesome sunday that's gonna be hard to beat! almost 12 hours after i left home, i returned. too tired to put my thoughts into words, i took a nice hot shower and went to bed. if this is a prelude to all the fun i'm gonna have this summer then......

didn't get it

2006-03-31T22:41:00.000-05:00

i didn't buy a new bike tonight. in fact, i didn't even go to the bike shop. during the afternoon, i remembered seeing a post on the mmba board from a shop that has a full fleet of demo 29ers....sunrise sports up in fenton. so i gave chad a call and he said he has a 17.5" paragon for me to demo. what a genius idea! there's no obligation to test ride their 29ers on a trail which will go a long way in helping me make a determination whether or not it's the right type of bike for me. that way i don't have to buy one to test out and then eat the 'depreciation' if i sell it because it's not working out. i also called a stocking salsa dealer in chelsea. they actually have dos niners in stock! one of the shop guys rides a medium so i'm gonna stop by next tues. to check it out. i really think i need a small but i'm worried about toe overlap. we'll see.

i was really hoping the rains would hold off tonight because i really wanted to take the demo to pontiac tomorrow. with the downpour we had tonight, i'm almost positive the trail's gonna be sloppy. so, i guess i'll have to find a dry day next week.

i hate spring weather! i'm not even sure what the plan is for tomorrow. i do know it's gonna be windy. if i don't hear from anyone, i guess i'll just do a paved ride by myself. yankee has been iffy because of the weather. right now it's not looking too bad. i think it's only a 30% chance of storms in the afternoon. we may be good to go!

this has been a long week. this lack of sleep has caught up with me. i'm dead fucking tired. no workouts tonight. i'm going to bed!

damn 29ers...

2006-03-31T12:32:00.000-05:00

so i'm still up in the air about buying a 29er. american cycle and fitness sucks. they're having their big 'super sale' today through monday, and i was hoping to get a good sale price on the x-cal. well, i called and it's the same price as normal--$1149. they told me it's normally $1249 but that's bs because i've called in the past and they've always told me $1149. so, i think that's a little out of my price range. with tax it'd be over $1200 and i would still have to swap out the shifters and rear derailleur. now i'm thinking i may go w/ the bottom of the line cobia. i can get it for $850 out the door. if i like it, i'll just sell it along w/ the fango and get a dos niner or a custom from quiring. i'll stop by after work to check them out.

last night's ride was AWESOME! it was so nice being back out on the trails. i'm a little frustrated at where i'm at conditioning wise but it's all good. i was hoping i'd be a little faster out there but i was slow as hell on the climbs. it's hard to believe that climbing used to be my strong suit. i'm definitely not in race shape yet but i still have 3 more weeks to get there! i was pretty impressed at my "endurance" though. it's still march and i did a double out at pontiac without cramping! riding the second half of the trail behind erin, i was amazed at how fast she can accelerate! she hits a flat, stands up for a few pedal stokes and off she goes! impressive. there's definitely gonna be some good battles out there for the women's expert class this year!

so we're thinking about going to yankee on sunday. unfortunately, the weather forecast has changed and now they're calling for storms on sunday. i guess we'll have to play it by ear. i really want to go out there this weekend and pre-ride the course. plus, talks about a stop at the fort is always enticing.

well, back to work...i may come home w/ a new bike tonight!

back in the market...

2006-03-29T22:25:00.000-05:00

...for a 29er! i've decided to sell my beloved cross bike and take that money to buy a fisher x-caliber. i HATE big brand bikes but i don't have much choice right now when it comes to complete builds that are reasonably priced. i was thinking about picking one up on friday at one of the "other" shops. they're having a super sale w/ everything in the store on sale. i'm also hoping they honor the mmba discount on top of the sale prices so i can get it for about $1k out the door. that would be a steal! of course, there's tons of fishers that get sent back because of cracks or whatnot. hopefully, it doesn't happen to me. if i love the 29er concept then i'll just sell the fisher along w/ my fango and get a nice, high end 29er. yeah, i know, i'm already jumping the gun. that's just me and how my stupid little mind works.

grrrr...an early morning for me tomorrow...and friday. we've got some ridiculous statistics workshop we have to attend at work. 18 hrs over the next two days. blah! whatever. i get to ride tomorrow after work. and it's going to be on a trail. and it's going to be 65 degrees tomorrow. yay! i just read that pontiac is in pretty good shape. soupy and i were thinking highland BUT if pontiac is in good shape, i think i'd rather go there. it's just more familiar.

okay, time for bed. i'll be dreaming about my shiny, new orange 29er!

i thinks i hurted myself

2006-03-28T22:45:00.000-05:00

what a ridiculous workout i had tonight! i hammered so hard on my bike i literally couldn't walk up the stairs afterwards. i couldn't believe i maintained such a hard pace...on a trainer of all things! i did a one hour workout to try and mimic the yankee race. i gave it ALL i had. my legs are WAY more blown out than after riding 35 miles, WAY more blown out than running stairs, and WAY more blown out than a trail run. and if that wasn't enough, i just did a ton of squats going 20lbs heavier than last week. mmmm...pain. i don't think i'll be able to walk tomorrow. oh well, that's what easy days are for.

i'm just chilling out to some wilco right now. i'm in a strange mood tonight. it's weird how listening to certain songs brings you back to a certain point in your life. i'm not so sure that's good for me right now. "...when the truth proves it's beautiful to lie."

a new love

2006-03-27T22:51:00.000-05:00

after work, i went for my first-ever trail run! i've actually been enjoying my road and track runs as of late which is very surprising. i used to HATE running! i decided to hit maybury on my way home. i've hiked the xc hiking trail in the past and know there are a few small hills. much different than the basically flat roads i normally run. i took off at ten after six which would give me about 45 minutes of daylight. i looked at the trail map and it said the entire loop was 6 miles. i figured i wouldn't have time to do the whole loop since i assumed i'd be pretty slow my first time out. i did the loop out and around the pond and back to the lot and then went back into the woods for the other loop. i don't think i did the whole trail. i didn't want to go into uncharted territory with the darkness quickly descending upon me. i ended up doing forty minutes...i'm guessing about 4.5 miles. and a splendid 4.5 miles it was! i couldn't believe how much fun it was being out in the woods all by myself and enjoying the scenery rather than focusing on the trail while i'm pedalling my ass off! it was actually easier than i thought it was going to be. granted, maybury isn't the most technical trail, but it isn't flat like the roads either. i thought the hardest part was maintaining control going down the hills! i can't wait for the brighton x-terra race. i would like to do the novi trail race as well. i think that's sometime in june.

i've just been feeling pretty damn good lately. i lifted hard tonight since it's been about 4 days. bench, lat pulldowns, rows, shrugs, ez bar curls, reverse curls. unfortunately, i'll be stuck with the trainer tomorrow night. other than that, the week is looking pretty good. nice weather for wed. and thurs. i'd like to do a trail ride on thurs. if the conditions are okay.

oh yeah, a stroke of good luck! after getting back from a run last night, i noticed on the roof of my car, wedged under my bike rack were my Rudy's! after the ride saturday, the first thing i did was take off those road grime encrusted glasses and set them on the roof of my car. miraculously, they stayed on the car despite 75mph highway speeds! it's about time something went my way! it really would've sucked to have lost my $130 Rudy's i so adore. plus, it would've drove me nuts trying to figure out what happened to them!

a day in the life of a recovering acromegalic

new chapter

look who's back

merry x-mas!

weekend musings

i'm back on me feet again!

here i am...

weekend doings

it's springtime!

lazy sunday

results?

on the road again!

springing forward

south beach, baby!

damn viruses!

is it spring yet?

one year

s.a.d.

february?

i did it!

run, run, run!

it's about time!

hmmmm

blah

i'm a runnin' fool!

lightfest

iceman

24 more hours!

what was i thinking?!?!

snow?!?!

boo!

last training ride

new toy!

one down!

always wanting...

19 days and counting!

jake for sale

mason's early bday present

weekend up north

mid-week musings

hello

o2s training

nct plans foiled

nct weekend

it's about damn time!

weekend happenings

cheater bike!

another day

stuff

change of pace

fuck it all!

2 year anniversary

want to ride

it's a waiting game

bad, bad news

some time away part 2

some time away part 1

officially out

*sigh*

4 for four

after the rain

it's on!

the carnage

addison mudfest

rain! boo!!!

tapering

journey

oh for the sake of f#@&!!!

made a decision

orange crush!

team ride pics

bike decisions...

ugh!!! again!

it's been awhile

all done!

life

yankee results

yankee race report

here we go!

last training ride

sigh