Good Lord Almighty. Following the progress I’ve been having with my shoulder-slow, but steady- I decided in the eleventh hour that the last TMBRA race of the season would be a good morale booster. I was even hopeful that I could still hang with the big boys in the Singlespeed Open category. It is always important to separate your hopes from your expectations! ESPECIALLY after 9 weeks off the bike. Especially when you decide to restart your racing career riding a rigid singlespeed on the course I had to ride Sunday with the weather that ensued.

New for the Rocky Hill race this year was a Euro style short 4 mile loop. The Pros had to do 5 laps, and singlespeeders got a “break” only having to do 4 laps. I parenthesize “break”, because the course was not very singlespeed friendly. A lot of new trail had been cut connecting some of the hillier parts of the course making it a constant up or down slug through the woods. The new cuts weren’t broken in yet either, making for a bumpy ride. Either that, or I’ve just become extremely wussified. I think had it not been around 95 degrees with 75% humidity it would have been a little more tolerable. Instead, it turned out to be one of the worst suffer fests I’ve ever endured. Thank God it only lasted 1 hour and 49 minutes.

But still, I’m usually able to excel in difficult weather conditions. It is blatantly obvious to me how important conditioning is to overcoming such obstacles. My body was working double overtime trying to hang with the field, and that effort, compounded with the heat, nearly put in me in heat exhaustion. I thought about throwing in the towel mid way through lap two. This thought was reinforced when I came across Jeff Campbell, a super tough singlespeeder catching his breath at the top of the worst climb on the whole course. He was cussing the heat and saying how he was going to quit when he reached the finish. Must have changed his mind, because after I changed my mind to keep going I saw him taking off for the third lap. That third had me questioning whether my decision to continue was a good one. At this point I was forced to walk the tougher climbs.

On the last lap, I was starting to feel cold shivers and could feel things starting to shut down. Luckily, there was a beer party sponsored by Shiner hanging out at the top of “The Wall”. I desperately needed something cold, and this place had my answer. With a simple left arm reaching towards the masses, a cold pint of Shiner Bock beer magically appeared in my hand. The frosty beverage was downed in one fell swoop, and after paying my respect to the hecklers I was off again. It was just what I needed to make it to the finish line.

I spent some time at the Bicycle Sport Shop tent (my wife’s team, she raced earlier in the morning) cooling down with ice and more beer. There didn’t seem to be any shortage of beer at this race and I’ll be damned if I wasn’t about to enjoy it after that hell hole of a bike ride. I ended up 5th of 8, only because 3 riders Did Not Finish ( I think the heat took its toll on them too). The price for my “moral victory” was quite steep. Heat exhaustion is no laughing matter. But in the end, I’m glad I went out and gave  it a go. The support from fellow racers and spectators who were happy to see me back out doing what I love was very encouraging. Thanks to everyone who passed along kind words or pats on the back.

From here I start doing what I should have done prior to this race, gradually get back in shape, and who know maybe I’ll find some odd races to do in the summer  but Fall will remain my main focus. That day long race at the end of October is still kind of on my mind too Hope everyone has a fun and safe memorial day weekend and enjoys the start to another summer!

Caveman

Here is a little less painful looking picture on the first lap when I still had a little zip in me!

It was about two weeks ago I remember picking up my slingshot to see if I could still draw it. I couldn’t. It was a bit demoralizing. Things are starting to change though. Sunday, I felt it was time to hit the trail once more. I grabbed Big Tex and the dog and we made a trip to the holiest of places in Austin, the Greenbelt. We started out pretty chill, and I tried my best to keep it this way. The shoulder felt fine. The legs and lungs surprisingly felt fine. My technical skills hadn’t diminished one  single bit, in fact, they almost seemed better because I was riding at such a chill pace. I wasn’t planning on hitting up any backtrails since they are more technical than the main trail and fewer people use them, meaning I could be in trouble if I took a spill, but after Bird and I got to the dam and swam, we decided that it was just too nice a day to go home so soon. So we pushed deeper into no man’s land hitting up woodchip hill and then Travis Country. There is a nice little spot atop a bluff where you can stop and overlook the valley below, so we stopped for a little sunbath and to give thanks to the Creator for the beautiful day and many blessings bestowed upon us. I don’t know how, but I cleared that entire section of trail all the way to the power line. It was like my skills had gotten better with the time off the bike. We took the powerline trail all the way back to the creek before heading back to the 360 parking lot. It was about a 3 hour trip including stops, and surprisingly enough, the shoulder felt ok.

My first physical therapy (PT) session had occurred the Friday before, and I had noticed some improvement, which spurred me to go for the ride. Although there wasn’t a lot of pain, the ride sort of cinched things up and we had to work it back out with my Monday session. I don’t have regrets for doing the ride, and besides, you don’t know how an organism responds to a stimulus without testing it out. The Monday PT session wasn’t as promising and much more painful, to the point that I came close to blacking out again, but these things take time.

Today, Tuesday, something happened that inspired me to see if I could draw my hunting bow. I took it out and tried and nada. It was set at the maximum 60 lb draw weight from when I was healthy. So I took out my allen wrench and backed off the weight some. Don’t know what it is, maybe 35 or 40 lbs, but I can draw it! First shot I tried to take and my string peep exploded and the arrow just fell to the ground. Nock must have slipped causing a “dry fire”. So now I’ve got sight pins, but no sight peep. The pins are pretty much worthless without a peep, so I take the pins off and I now all I have is my instinct. I’m also having to shoot with a finger tab since my trigger release glove has made my draw length too long (I think because I let so much weight off). Shooting a modern compound bow with old school techniques is interesting. But you know what, after a few shots of learning where the arrow went relative to my reference point, I nailed the target!

After that got a little tiring, I decided to play with the slingshot, which had demoralized me in the first place. I found a nice round rock, and happen to notice an ugly bird staring at my tomato plant which has some nice green tomatoes on it at the moment. I draw, take aim, and BAM! Rock hits the ground about 1″ away from the bird. A non-lethal shot, but effective, nonetheless.

So, all these things are small victories for me. Not as exciting as winning a 24 hour race, but the journey to success starts with a single footstep. What footsteps are you needing to take? Thanks for reading.

Caveman

It has been almost 8 weeks since the accident that dislocated my right shoulder. It’s been a little over 2 weeks since I launched the new website. Time flies. It seems like yesterday I was laying on the couch watching movies on netflix with my arm in a sling. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to do the things I loved ever again. The body is a resilient thing though, especially when you follow the Paleo Diet and and live like a Caveman!

I’m happy to report that I can do push ups and pull ups, cut down trees, work on the house, run , and you guessed it, ride a bike. Now just because I can do these things doesn’t mean I am, at least not in any intensity that leads me to believe I might pop my humerus back out of the shoulder joint. Riding my commuter around town doesn’t hurt at all so at least I can get places without having to drive. Driving sucks.

I have hopped on some fat tires to take the dog for a run in some neighborhood parks and trails.It feels alright as long as I take it easy. Big bumps and roots hurt. My desire to be racing again by the fall shouldn’t be a problem. While I never enjoy injury, I do enjoy bouncing back from it and coming back a little stronger. I long to be doing classic greenbelt rides so badly, but they will have to wait and I have full confidence I could sustain a fall without re-injury.

I start rehab this week and hopefully the doc can help break up all that scar tissue and restore my range of motion. Currently, any motion with my arm raised above my shoulder is painful or just not possible. Swimming might be something I won’t make a full comeback at, but I’m not going to say never!

I’ve been thinking a little bit about what to do with this blog. Now that the other heavy duty Paleo site is up, I won’t be posting anymore articles about the Caveman diet, workouts, or lifestyle on this blog. Those will all be on the new site. I will, however, continue to post race reports and personal insights that I feel worthy of sharing. I might even revamp this blog so that I own it and wordpress doesn’t. This will give me some flexibility that the free wordpress platform doesn’t (plus my own domain name!) No hurry though. If that day comes I will certainly announce it on this site.

Hope everyone is enjoying this lovely spring weather. Summer is right around the corner!