"You know, I think you try harder when you're scared..."

Update: Docs told me that I tore my meniscus. Once I figure out how to scan them, i'll post pics of my MRI.

Surgery probably at end of summer. Sux.

---------------------------------------
Look. An update. Finally.

So, there's a lot that's been going on, and it's a little hard to keep this up-to-date. But since my last post dealt with the AIDS/Lifecycle ride, and it's coming up in a month, i'll just keep on that theme.

I've been fielding a ton of questions about training, how far am I going, where do I go, how often I ride, etc... Well, training's going alright. I've been putting on some serious mileage this year training for the event. I think I'm almost at the 1000 mile mark this year alone. That may sound like a lot, I've actually have been wanting to ride more than that. I'm a little behind in my riding actually. But i'm doing my best to keep on the bike, going anywhere and everywhere noteworthy around where i live. I think it's pretty much settled that I'm totally nuts and have lost my mind somewhere along the way, probably on the way up a mountain or something. It happens. =)

So, how far do i go? Well, that's a complicated question to answer. It really depends. I do try to keep my mileage for my long rides over 60-70 miles. Ya, that's more that some people drive in a week (*coughdokescough*), but it's keeping me in a strong training regimen. The longest ride to date has been 102 miles.

Speaking of which, that was my first organized century ride. So, a century is 100 miles, in one day, in one go. You start in the morning around 6-7am, and hopefully finish before 5pm. It's just about the closest thing to a marathon, if you want to compare events. That ride was around Gilroy (the outlets?), and just went up and over every possible mountain they could find. They give us a route sheet, and looking at the thing, it had all the turns mapped out, all 80-90 of them. That list was looong. Oh, and for those doubting that God has a sense of humor, I can attest otherwise. The event is called "Tierra Bella", or beautiful land in spanish. A more accurate name should have been "Aqua Bella", since it rained the whole entire time. I think about 50% of the people signed up to go actually showed up. Go figure. They were the sane ones. People were joking that somewhere along the lines, we had failed a sanity test by showing up for the ride. And, as if God were in on the joke, it poured cats and dogs everytime we had to start climbing up the roads, and be dry and sunny when we had to descend the mountain. Awesome.

All in all, riding my bike around the bay area has been a real eye-opening experience. There's a huge variety of everything here: shacks vs. mansions, busy streets vs. rural paths, sunny warm weather vs. cold rain with gusty wind, dogs in a park vs. herds of cows grazing. It's all here. And retarded drivers. I can't emphasize enough how absent-minded people get when they drive. I can't even count how many close calls I've had with rear-view mirrors grazing my ears, people slamming on their brakes in front of me, cutting me off when they turn right/left, or just play being annoying and honking or revving engines. I actually did get in a little tussle with a car back in february. Stupid car didn't pay attention and cut me off making a right turn, causing me to bump into the rear of the car and threw me to the ground. Nothing major happened other than a few bumps and bruises, and a few tickets to the driver. But it just illustrates how crazy it can get out there on the roads.

I've also recently found out that all these biking escapades have been wreaking havoc on my right knee. Yes, i'm an old man. I hobble around for a few days after my long rides nursing my bum knee. I'm not exactly sure what's wrong, but the docs have me on pain killers and some general scolding about over-training and the need to take it easy. Maybe in another situation, I would heed their advice and try to stay off the bike until I healed up. But I have this AIDS/Lifecycle ride coming up. I need to go. I didn't work this hard and have the incredibly-uncomfortable/satanically-unforgiving saddle wedged in my butt for hundreds of hrs for nothing. After all, this ride isn't about me, right? =D

"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place It will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit, it is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much can you take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! "
- Rocky Balboa




Climbing Mt. Hamilton


On the top of Mt. Hamilton (Lick Observatory)



The first rest-stop of the very soggy "Tierra (Aqua) Bella"