an update

So it's been a while since I've updated. I need to cover a few big weekends. I'm sure I'm missing something but I'll start with Iowa. I opted out of the Road Race as my first day of racing has typically been my best, and my second my worst this year, and I wanted a good result at the snake. I can blame the wheels I rode that chopped around the corners on the descent, but realistically I just didn't feel great and couldn't breathe. I also couldn't breathe the next day at melon city. Rock Island I was able to get things under control and finish what, at the time, was the hardest crit I'd done. Coming home, and after a trip to the doctor, I'm somewhat sure that I have athletic induced asthma. The solution, instead of waiting a long time for tests, was to just give me an albuterol inhaler, and see how it works. I had it for Tulsa and I could feel a noticeable difference. I could breathe, and my chest didnt feel tight 15 minutes in. Until the last day when we were off on our start time by like 45 minutes and rushed out of the hotel to the race. I forgot to use my inhaler, and only remembered 15 minutes into the race when I went from feeling great and having my best legs of the weekend to completely locking up in my chest. Neither weekend was a complete bust though. I had a great time at both races. Tulsa in particular. That race is so well organized and professional. The last day has such a crazy party on the hill which is awesome.

This reminds me that I didn't update about Joe Martin either. It, on the other hand was horribly run/organized. The results were off almost everyday, and the crit course was even more of a deathtrap than before. I had a good tt, in 23rd. Held 25th overall through the 2 road races and then dropped to like 36th or something after the crit.

As I write this I'm sitting in a hotel in Parker Colorado on my way back from Nationals in Bend Oregon. We went up after tulsa, with a brief one day layover in boulder to pick up Stein. It was a long ass drive. It wasn't fun, or good for anybody. I think this long drive was a factor in me getting sick. I think we got in to Bend on a thursday, and I started feeling pretty bad on Friday. I was coughing up crap, my head felt pressurized and I had a sore throat. I felt bad all week, sleeping more, taking vitamins and anything else I thought might help a common chest cold. Jim finally said that me, and grman who also started feeling bad on monday or so, go to the doctor. We went on thursday or friday of the next week and I figured out I had Strep Throat. So I got some antibiotics and started feeling better within the next two days.

I didn't do the tt because I didnt have a bike. When every guy starting the tt has a bike, disk and aero front wheel, there's obviously no point to race without a bike. The crit was the first race up for me. It was the fastest and hardest crit I've ever done. A few crashes on the first lap had me sitting last 10 guys. The course was pretty much a 4 corner rectangle crit, with one tight turn that was actually easy to move up on. I was jumping a lot and spending a lot of energy trying to move up, and just stay on the wheel infront of me. We started at 50 laps (i think) and I got popped around 16 to go? I came around the second corner behind a mountain khakis guy, and he swung off leaving a 40 foot gap that I just couldnt close. It was disappointing because my legs still felt good, it was just that one gap that was too big, and in the headwind. A little reassurance from Jim, was that in his peak of racing (which was good) he said he couldn't have done what I'd done. Sitting at the back and jumping out of every corner for 34 laps. It's reassuring but at the same time, I know I need to ride more attentively. He also said, that riding like that never really lets you know how you can do in a race, which actually means more. Because I know I'm fit, but the way I'm racing doesn't allow me to show and test that.

I got to the house in Bend weighing 132lbs, which was definitely up from the car rides and bad food on the road. I was down to a more normal weight of 129 within the next day or two. On the morning of the road race I weighed myself at 121.8lbs. I had no appetite the whole time I was sick, and really afterwards either. I think this really affected my road race. I started the race and felt good, until the first uphill. I just had absolutely no power when I had to stand up and pedal. I felt just empty, and weak. I got popped the first time up the hardest climb with about 15 other guys. We grouped up and worked our way back up, through the caravan and got on right before the second time through the feed zone. We hit the really hard climb the second time, and I just saw Trek-Livestrong on the front hammering it. The pack took off, and I couldn't follow. I rode to the feed zone, and was simply feeling completely drained. Totally weak. It was disappointing, but I think a lot of it has to do with missed training and lost weight both due to sickness.

So now we head back to stl and hangout for a bit. We're supposed to go up to superweek on the 14th, but I might campaign to go up the 19th. I wanted to do soulard, which is now babler, but I'd like to do that too. I also want to go up with keaton, and austin is even thinking of going too, but both after babler. We'll see. Then gateway, then some rest, then cross. Oregon got me excited for cross. We rode like 30 miles of singletrack that made it seem super appealing.