Scary stuff

I read with horror the account of Australian cyclist Stuart O'Grady collapsing following a VIP lap on a superbike the other day -- literally, he got off the bike, went to the hospitality tent, and then went into a full-on siezure a few minutes later. Holy crap.

Well, the theory is that the G-forces from the motorbike ride might have caused a lesion on his brain, on account of a prior head injury that hadn't healed. He's had two serious head traumas in the past 10 years -- one bike-related, one a mugging -- and they think there might have been lingering side-effects from one of them.

Whew. That totally took the wind out of my sails. First off, I really like Stuey -- everything I've ever heard about him indicates that he's a stand-up guy. My thoughts are with him as he recovers -- all indications are that he will. But that has to be so scary.

Second, and selfishly, I have to wonder about one of the things on my life to-do list. See, I turn 40 in a couple of years, and I really want to celebrate with a day at a Richard Petty Driving School. I know the cars don't turn as many Gs as the bikes, but I've had more than two head traumas -- way more -- and so a little part of me wonders if it's a good idea. It's been a few years since I bonked my noggin, so hopefully everything is fine ...

Inspiration redux

So this weekend I held a big-ol' pitty party for myself -- after spending all day Saturday in the office (except for the quick ride home and back for some parts), working and working on my dad's bike, I woke up Sunday and just wanted to go back to bed. I played with Kate for a bit, until she and Kim went out to see Kim's family (doing much better but health issues still lingering -- thankfully no more hospital!), and then, sure enough, I curled up into a fetal position and woke up several hours later.

Then I dragged myself to the couch, and wouldn't you know it? NBC was showing coverage of the NYC Marathon. Paula was just coming apart at the seams, and Meb was just about to drop the WR holder, and, well, I was riveted. Sure, it sucked that they had commercials, but that just allowed me to jump over to the MLS playoff game ...

Anyway, something in my head sort of snapped while I was watching the bizarre split screen images of Central Park. I haven't been feeling well on the bike, nursing some lingering issues from a very long season, but I hadn't yet gotten the gumption to do any other physical activity. Until then. So I laced up, headed out, and had a wonderful 2-mile run to the lake and back.

And then I did it again yesterday, during lunch.

And today? I feel great. I'm ready for NEXT. Not sure what NEXT is, but I'm ready for it. I still have some lingering bike-related things going on, but I know I can work through them with some off-bike rest and relaxation. And with some relatively heavy travel on my plate in the next few weeks, having the option to run is a good antidote to the do-nothing blahs. Who knows? Maybe I'll even get going on some core exercises like Kim?

* Speaking of bike-related issues -- my hand has been messed up since I crashed at Outdoor Demo at Interbike, more than a month ago. I watched as my right hand crashed into a rock, splaying my index finger outward at an odd angle. I don't think it's broken, but I've had swelling off and on around the knuckle where the finger connects to the hand for nearly 5 weeks now. Unfortunately, it gets re-injured every time I shake someone's hand! Anyone have any experience with this? Best way to heal?

Turn the page

Almost exactly three years ago, I had a hex placed upon me by a witch -- no lie, I have a lot of respect for witches, but this lady fit every stereotype from every B-grade horror movie you ever saw. And she hated me. There may have been some lead-in, but I can point to the day I fired her as the start of a very long, very downward spiral in my life. There have been some amazing moments, and great successes in the past three years, but there have also been some pretty dark times.

Until now.

Coming out of Interbike, I turned a page. Something just clicked, and I realized I wasn't who I want to be. I wasn't who I was 4 years ago. I was a shadow of that person, and was clearly not living up to my potential.

The change was sealed last evening. See, three years ago -- almost to the day -- I fired the witch, and that night was hit by a car on my ride home. I was already frazzled from needing to fire an employee, and that impact completely fried my nerves -- especially so, since it wasn't my fault and I did everything I could to avoid it.

In a sweet bookmark to the end of that chapter of my life, yesterday I completed a perfect commute -- on city streets. That's right, 9 miles of Chicago traffic and traffic devices, never put a foot down. I've done it via the LFP, but never in traffic -- I can't think of a better way to mark the closing of a chapter that began with being hit. And it happened yesterday, of all days.

So what's next? I honestly have no idea, but it's going to be great. This morning a black cat crossed my path, which thanks to Valya I know is a good omen. I'm a new person -- well, I'm re-newed. I'm ready. Bring it on!

Before you leap

I have. Have you?

Pretty please?!

It's even a Exclusive Anniversary Edition!

Left out?

Today is maybe the second time where I'm acutely feeling the difference between my previous 30+ years of existence and the past 10-1/2 months.

For those of you not in the cycling world, tonight is the premier of "Race Across the Sky" -- a one-time "happening" in theaters across the country. It documents this year's Leadville 100 race, a 100-mile mountain bike trek in the Rockies won by Lance Armstrong. Facebook is all a-twitter with updates from folks who are going.

I'm not a huge Armstrong fan (there, I said it. Love what he's doing with LiveSTRONG for cancer patients and survivors, but as a rider and person? Respect? Yes. Like? Not the right word.). I wouldn't be going to see him win. Rather, I'd be going to see some pretty amazing scenery in one of the storied (albeit boring, from a course perspective) epic races of current-day mountain biking. Run at altitude, this race demands physcial abilities unlike any others, and maybe -- just maybe -- I may do it someday. So call it course intel? (Funny aside, I've been asked more about doing Leadville than any other race ever, since Armstrong's win this summer.)

But ... I'm not going. If I really wanted to, I'm sure we could find a sitter, or I could go alone ... but I'm not. Instead, it's just another routine night of bottle-book-& bed. Two years ago, heck, even a year ago, Kim and I may have gone to the theater, stood on line, and watched the movie, even if we hadn't planned it until today. Now? Notsomuch. Funny how things change.

So have fun everyone, can't wait to hear about it!

(Rant on/ I have one other issue with this film, and with so many that are coming out about our sport. "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." I'm not ashamed to admit that Jason Berry's work is a huge inspiration to me, and is really the reason I'm a) a mountain biker; and b) an endurance racer. But now that pretty much everyone has access to an HD camera and editing software, at what point does an artform become a commodity? /rant off.)

X12 6266

This post is mostly a hedge, because as we're learning in California, prior douche-bag-like behavior can, in fact, be an indicator of future, dangerous, harmful events.

So here it is: Businessman driver of dark-colored Infinity SUV with license plate X12 6266, traveling northbound on Clark last night, Wednesday, 10/21/09, just north of Touhy at about 6:35 p.m.:

GET OFF YOUR DAMN PHONE AND PAY ATTENTION WHEN YOU DRIVE! YOUR (ILLEGAL) TEXT IS NOT MORE IMPORTANT THAN MY LIFE!

Oh, and don't mess with a cyclist with a near-photographic memory.

Uno más

If you had asked me last Thursday whether I would spend yesterday at a kitschy art fair or racing at Rock Cut, I'm not sure I could have told you. Neither sounded particularly appealing, as the thought of crowds made me shudder and the racing bug sort of went into hibernation.

But then the sun came out on Friday, and I had a good ride home from work, so I thought maybe, just maybe, I'd be up for one more go-round on the pain train this year. After a fantastic pre-race workout on Saturday, I confirmed it: Do the Rock was a go!

I lined up with about 20 other folks for the 3-lap, 36-mile "OUCH" class, enjoying a beautful day and ready to go all-out on some (OK, just about all) of Rock Cut State Park's best trails. Any ambitions I had for this race were sort of dashed in warmup, when I discovered my the chain I put on the night before just didn't want to settle down on the chainring, and I couldn't apply power while standing. Oh well, I thought, these are my home trails, let's just have fun!

(I don't normally like to do drivetrain overhauls the night before a race, but in this case the sand in the chain from Moab was just too much and it needed to happen!)

Sure enough, I lost the front group before we even got to the road, and I found myself alone, dangling in 5th ... going about the same speed, but unable to really push it lest I kill my bike. At some point early on, my shift lever got screwy, so I stopped to fix it ... only 10 minutes or so into the race, I was probably in last place, so I resolved to just push it as hard as I could and have fun out there!

I managed to catch back most of the field, digging deep where I needed to and having a blast on some of the cool route choices. It definitely helped that I knew the trails -- at least once or twice, a guy I was chasing mis-timed a shift or blew a corner, while I knew exactly what to expect, giving me an advantage. By the start of the second lap, I was closing on one guy, until I messed up a bunny hop and landed on my knee. D'oh! Chase, chase, chase ... thankfully, a season of enduros meant that as hour 2 began, my fitness was in high gear, as guys in front of me started to pop.

The third lap was my cleanest, no stops for mechanicals and I was as smooth as I'd been all day. My chain had settled in, and I was having so much fun, especially in the rollercoaster down by the river. As I entered the finishing field, I could see one guy in front of me ... into the singletrack, turn, up the finish hill, and if only the course were 50 meters longer, I might have taken him ...

Anyway, I finished 7th on the day, closing in on 6th, as Ronsta ran away with it in something like 2:04. For 36 miles! In fact, the "largest state park in Northern Illinois" fell victim to a full-on invasion from across the Cheddar Curtain, as Regina took 1st in the 2-lap race, and it sounded like most of the podium placers had Wisconsin hometowns. Very cool to see such a good turnout at the Cut!

So that's it for me in terms of racing, and I closed out the year with a delicious treat from the Big S. And then Kim and I stopped at Diary Mart in Huntley on the way home, the first time we've been there in years ... Oh yeah, the off-season has begun!