Spooooooooky!

Scary Stuff Here. I am actually racing The Hillsboro Roubaix tomorrow am. 66 miles of potholes, wind, HILLS, cold & piranha's to fend off. I have never finished the race with the main field. Heck, I have never made it past the 8 mile mark with the field. Going to have fun, see my buddies that I haven't seen for a while (some years) tell lies after the race about how I could have done better if I wanted to etc. Wish me luck!

Give it to Me Straight

Back in the training mode. Did a grueling workout last Saturday at Coach Stan-O's house, consisting of 2 sets of 20 minute LT's, with 5 VO2 max efforts at the end. This was some serious stuff. I have to admit, that this one burned off almost every match in my book. The following morning, since I had a 3 hour submax ride on my plan, I hooked up with the local cycling club, Proctor Racing.

We had about 10 guys show up in 28 degrees & sunshine. I figured it would be a semi-tame stroll through the fields of Central Illinois. Three plus hours and MANY efforts above the 400+ watt range, and I was a wounded soldier. I have to admit, that my friend Pain did stop by, only for tea & crumpets though. By Monday evening, I had shuffled him out the door.

Last night, we had more LT efforts to do, again! 2 x 15 minutes each at 95% effort. Grueling. The Badger & Myself pounded them out, with The Young One nursing some athlete's foot or something.

One of the "important" things that Coach Stan-O looks at when we are done with each set, is what our cadence, or revolutions per minute are on the cranks, for pedaling. High cadence, like 90-100 is good, I guess. The Turtle on the other hand, seems to be inflicted with a hereditary, non-curable displacement called "Low-Cadence Syndrome" or LCS as they call it in the athlete/medical world.

I get an e-mail this am regarding my workout file I sent to him last night, and he sent his feedback, starting off as follows: "Nice solid intervals Stevo. Your cadence sucks however - 83 on 1st and 79 on second" I in turn explain that I was born with LCS, making it impossible to turn a higher cadence for such efforts, all turtles are inflicted with this non-curable syndrome.

I even included the most recent photo of myself, for your viewing pleasure. As you can see, I have a VERY short inseam, which means that I cannot turn pedals faster, unlike The Badger, who is born with longer legs, good for cycling, running, gathering prey & lawyering. Turtles are also very low to the ground, which makes them vulnerable, especially when cycling. (Throw me a bone here, I'm reaching)

After my self esteem was knocked down several notches, I e-mailed Coach Stan-O back, and asked, could you be more honest? He already included the response I was going to get, "Tough Love my Friend!"

Agenda

Back From Tucson, had a wonderful time. Our trip had a very detailed but brief agenda as follows: Sleep, wake-up, eat breakfast, ride, get back, shower, eat dinner, sleep again. That's about all we did the entire week. Climbed Mt. Lemmon twice, rode from Tucson to Oracle, AZ once (90 miler) and did a couple of recovery rides in between. Darby wanted to go with us, so the morning I left, she hopped in my suitcase!

The dinosaurs were from the Denver airport, stamped in the walkways, I thought they were cool. I also had Robert take the photo of me at 8000 feet, just to prove I did it. Mt. Lemmon is actually peaked out at 8900 feet, but you descend to the 8000 foot mark. It was really cold up there. Glad to be back, but I brought a cold/flu with me.

Ultimate "Peep" Show sent over from J-LO

The Call You Hate to Get

Got a call yesterday evening from Coach Stan-O, from VQ Spring Training Camp in Solvang, Ca. I really have not spoken to him all week, as they are out there, having a blast. Coach Stan-O, The Badger & Dr. Reid all made the trip. I could tell at the beginning of the conversation, that this may not be good.

He tells me The Badger had a crash on the bike, and they are at the hospital. The Turtle, not being a stranger to hospitals knows this is more serious than a saddle sore, or a bug in the eye. I said the hospital? Like the big white building, with patients in it? Stan-O confirmed my question.
What happened? Well, it involved a descent back into town after a huge days ride of maybe 450 miles or so, a couple of cyclists, including The Badger went down. The Badger took the brunt of it. OUCH! Nothing broken, but lots of road rash & some silly speak after hitting his head. Man, I love the fact that a helmet saved my life, and probably his as well. He is doing OK, and will be home tomorrow w/ the VQ Ratz. Keep him in your thoughts for a quick, speedy recovery, as he was doing awesome this fall & spring on the bike, almost able to contest a "stop ahead" sign sprint with The Turtle. The Badger has a following, like TMZ with their paparazzi, so I was able to attain some photo's right after the incident.

The Badger EMT calling for assistance

The Badger ambulance, performing emergency stabilization at the scene, preparing for transport to The Badger Hospital















Badger ICU, getting fluids & observation











Just before being released from the hospital, The Badger is quietly resting in his bed, letting the Vicodin do it's job!

Go Badger! We're rooting for you!