Yesterday it set in that maybe I’m not going to be able to race cross at all this season. I’m thinking it now because I rode to watch the Kansas State Championship race yesterday and didn’t have the smallest amount of anxiety that I wasn’t racing. That means to me that I, even though I haven’t addressed it, my mind knows that I’m not anywhere near to the point to be able to dismount a bicycle and do a cyclocross race.
That is sort of interesting and depressing at the same time. I have physical therapy in an hour or so, and might ask Burt if he thinks I could try to go and run a little bit and see if it works. For sure it would be painful, but I’ve found that pain isn’t what necessarily dictates what you should be doing in recovery for injuries sometimes.
Like I said yesterday, I watched both the women’s and men’s World Cups yesterday on the internet live. I’m not sure about allowing everyone in the top 50 in the UCI rankings to race. 13 Belgians in the race seem a little ridiculous, if we’re really saying this series is by country. If it is just another race, then, for sure, all the best riders should be at the line. If that was the case for the Olympics, then there would be country sweeps of the podium lots of years by one country.
So yesterday was all about cross. I watched the best in the world race in the morning, then road my bike over to watch the best we have around here ride around on grass. I’ve exclusively ridden back and forth to Lawrence on the Scenic River Road this past week. Three times to be precise. It is my favorite ride around Topeka and it is especially great during fall when the trees are turning and the fields are changing. The farmers are just about done harvesting their crops, so it looks a little barren, but it gets rid of the big trucks, thus dust, hauling the grain away.
The race was good too. Benn, Brian and Shad Smith were set to duke it out, but Brian had a mechanical and Shad ran out of juice towards the end. Benn has been riding great and won, with Shad finishing 2nd. Micah Gordon rounded out the podium.
We had a little impromptu team dinner after the race in Lawrence. The new guys that are racing cross for Tradewind, Ben Stover, Austin Elser and Garrick Valverde came and ate burgers and drank beer. Nice after cyclocross handout. I miss the after cross camaraderie more than the racing I guess.
Okay, like I said above, I have PT now and then am going to hopefully put in a new floor, plumb and build a new shower base. Sounds a little ambitious now that I think about it.
Just heading out of town to get to the River Road.
The gravel is pretty smooth right now. I just ride my road bike back and forth.
Benn leading Shad and Brian early on.
Eventually they all got together, but not for long.
Podium, Kansas style. Bromont is always a photo hound.
Benn, Shad and Micah.
Team dinner photo after the race.
Nice to see not all ppl are affected by this helmet disease spreading all over the planet.
Steve’s got a hard head, but it isn’t THAT hard . . .
Don’t worry, Steve doesn’t crash
Holy hell! How old is Steve? How long has he been riding? If he doesn’t want to wear a helmet what business is it of yours?….Ok, yes it is “statistically” safer to wear a helmet but that still doesn’t guarantee shit. If it is imperative that we take every precaution let’s just not ride our bikes at all…All this lame ass whining makes me myself want to stop wearing my helmet just to spite would be whiners. Jeez….
Actually, statistically, the incidence of head injuries is proportionately less than head injuries that occur in auto accidents. By that logic, people driving cars should all be wearing helmets. The most common cycling injury is a broken collarbone, not a head injury. I don’t wear one sometimes, and there’s always some busy body who comes up behind me and yells “helmet!” as they pass, and scares the crap out of me. :o)
I got to watch racing this weekend also,,, still not cleared to race after that whole Fat Tire Forty issue.. Was hard at first but enjoyed cheering,, I agree I miss the hanging out more than anything,, Racing is my time to see my extended family..
Do you have a steel or ti plate picked out for your skull?
Some of ya’ll are funny, Steve is a grown man, let him decide if he wants to wear a helmet
See:
http://www.startribune.com/local/279877782.html
or
http://www.kttc.com/story/26825587/2014/10/19/body-found-on-riverland-college-campus-identified
Most grown men I know have things like jobs and responsibilities? Just sayin’
Sounds like they got messed-up priorities.
Wait, how did The Bromont get to the race?
Not if they’re retired.
Helmet issue……Yawn. Who cares? Besides, its not like ST constantly falls off his bike…… Wait.
Lots of jock sniffers defending the hero though. Good job boys, don’t forget to come up for air occasionally.
Helmets not an issue. You are. Hope your head cracks b4 it hits the ground from all the obnoxious stupidity that’s pressing from the inside.
This is a family place, no need for all the hate
Trolls in Tilford’s comment section. Tough times, I guess.
Umm…. Did you just call ST stupid? That’s not very nice.
If there is no pressure from the family for him to wear a helmet we shouldn’t care either. They will be responsible for the care, feeding and support of the head injury patient. When I started riding my father said if I buy you a helmet will you wear it? That’s where the pressure needs to come from.
levi’s AWSOME!!!
I may not agree with the Tilford all the time, but the only jocksniffer here is the troll who calls himself Levi. Levi, you are cordially invited to sniff my jock and maybe it reliev my bolas azules affliction. Jus sayin’.
Seeing a guy go down on a training ride after crossing wheels and hitting the road with his head, not even head first, his body hit first and his head came back… and he was out cold and not responsive, and he had to be life-flighted out to the regional trauma center which was luckily about 10 minutes away by air, three months later he was learning to walk again, but he was done with any kind of advanced education and done riding bike – that made me a believer in helmets, especially since another rider in the same group took a similar fall and hit, and walked away although his helmet was in pieces. The laws of gravity and physics still apply whether Steve wants to realize it or not. So far he’s been lucky.
Yawn… The reason your bolas are azules is because you spend too much time here sniffing jockstraps. You need to come up for air every now and then.
Ja, you make the point. You win award for longest sentence in Amerika. Gut for you.
Steve,
Time to start blocking certain people from your comments section if at all possible. This is getting ridiculous. I actually can’t believe people come here, read your posts, and consistently write negative, mindless drivel.
Troll fight! Troll fight!! Troll fight!!!!! OMG!!!
All you hand-wringing helmets zealots need to chill. Where do.cycling head injuries fall on the list of daily activities causing head injuries?
It’s all about risk assessment. If riding in a group or race, I’ll cover my head. If I’m alone or with a couple of riding buddies whose abilities I trust, I don’t. Bike riders are at the greatest risk of crashing when riding with other bike riders.
It’s possible to ban IP addresses, if Steve decides that it’s necessary. It may be necessary because the comments here were at one point pretty good areas of discussion.
I don’t know what people get outta trolling here.
For us old pros I like to tell people the real rules of being required to wear helmets. Much like the NHL when they made helmets mandatory they allowed previous NHL’ers to be ‘grandfathered in’ so those that played helmetless needn’t wear one for the remained of their careers. The newbie up-comers need the the hard shells and old pros get to sport their dignity. Fair is fair.
I’ve got nothing on William Faulkner.
Is that flying monkey brewery.i travel a lot for work , stopped there once couple of yrs ago. Beer was good. Didn’t have my helmet on.