a much needed update.....

it's been a while since last updating this. i've been doing a lot, keeping busy, but none of it on the bike. a few weeks ago my neck chronic neck problem that's plagued me for about the last 10 years reared it's ugly head again. i had been doing ok with it, but i started to get headaches and just felt like i had a lot of tension in my neck and head. well, i got x-rays and an mri. the x-rays showed considerable arthritis. the results from the mri were bulged disks in the c3-c4, and c5-c6 regions. i'm not too sure where i go from here. i'm supposed to go back for a follow up visit in the next week or two. i can fully function, but sometimes just have this ache and pain in my neck that just won't go away. i started playing hockey again after taking a year break and was not sure if the added strain was causing it to hurt, nonetheless i'm still playing. any damage is propably already done.

as for hockey i'm finally feeling normal on the ice again after a year and a half break, mind you i've always played hockey every year. even when i was in the marine corps i was at least able to play a little roller hockey. the two nights a week is going good although back to back nights can be rough sometimes. thank god it's not full contact anymore. i've even started buying some well needed new equipment. it's funny how out of date i am with the latest and greatest when it comes to hockey equipment. it's just like biking stuff, something better always comes along, as much as you resist the new stuff always wins. i'm old school with my skates though, but i finally broke down and bought some bauer vapor xxxx's. these are such a nice skate, i'm so impressed with them, but unfortunately i may have to get different ones since they don't quite fit right. i've got two new pairs, but i just don't want to spend the time to break in either of them when the ones i really want are the new graf 703's. i have such narrow feet that graf skates may be the way to go, plus i used to have a pair and they fit like a glove.

skates is doing well, he's getting bigger, but i would've thought he'd be much bigger by now. he'll hit his growth spurt soon and be as big as bailey soon enough. as it turns out, i wasn't feeding him enough. i was going by the recommended feeding on the bag and was told by my vet that wasn't enough. bailey is bailey, always wants to play ball, she's a good girl.

i've actually gotten on the trainer the last couple of days and did a few spinning classes. that's about all the desire i have right now to be on the bike. enough to get my heartrate up an break a sweat.

Season in review....

Well, it's been a while since I've posted here. I guess I should end the road/mt. bike season with some sort of season in review, so here it is. The goal back in March was to concentrate on the mt. bike races, and even go back to Indiana to do some Dino races, well, let me just say that went out the window. Most of the early mt bike races were either rained out or mud fests that I was not inclined to do. I also didn't get in as many races as I would have liked.

The best part of the season would have to be the road races early in the season. I got in the main races I wanted to get in and was in lead group for most of them. Dogwood was a blast. Hermann was another sufferfest, but a fun race. The state race really had me mentally and phyically abused. I was in the lead group until about the last 15-20 miles and was not recovering from all of the attacks before being dropped. I guess it was a blessing. I was able to recover and then solo'd a few miles by myself until finally catching the group and just missing the top 10 for 12th. That race really had it's ups and downs for me and I'm not talking about the terrain.

That brought me into July with a bit of a break from the road and got in some short track xc racing. Those were too much fun. Then in August came Jeff City and my first crit in about six weeks. I didn't think I'd do too well because of not getting much high tempo work other then a couple stxc races. Well, after suffering for the first part of the race I ended up getting a great line to the finish for 9th, my best finish of the season.

That would be my last good finish because the rest of the season was just a bad nightmare. Some of my old injuries from years of playing hockey started to flare up. Mostly my ankle tendons which were suffering from tendonitis and some neck pain which I'm now going to the doctor for. It turns out I've got arthritis in my neck and propably some torn ligaments, not good. I get an MRI in the coming days. Anyways, back to the races, several DNF's and a couple crashes pretty much brought my season to an abrupt end. Not to mention I ruined a set of Easton EA90SLX's that I still need to send off to get fixed.

That brings me to what I've been up to lately, hardly any riding at all. My legs would make sasquatch proud!!! I've added a new addition to the family, a siberian husky puppy that I name Skates. Speaking of skates, I've also laced up the skates and started playing hockey two times a week. I'm playing with and against some of my old beer league and Jr. Blues pals I played with years ago. It's nice to see old faces. I gotta say I've missed playing hockey again after a two year hiatus away from the ice. You would think that with all the riding I'd be in great shape, but riding doesn't do anything for your upper body and you've got to retrain those fast twitch muscles to start firing again. It's taken a couple weeks, but I'm finally feeling comfortable out there.

Although the bike has been pretty much put up, I'm sure in a couple of months I'll be raring to go. Hopefully this much needed break from the bike is just what the doctor orderred. That's about it, thanks for reading and see you next season.