Last weekend, in two different professional races, support motorcycles ran into riders.  I’m not sure if this is happening more than it used to, but for sure we are all hearing about it more.  I think that it has been going on for a long time and now that social media is so engrained, we hear about each and every occurrence instantly.

It really doesn’t matter, it is bad.  Guys getting hit by motorcycles or support cars is always not a good thing.  It has never ceased to amaze me that more guys don’t get killed by support vehicles during a bicycle race.  And that more support vehicles don’t hit pedestrians either.  It is chaos, but mostly, it seems to be relatively controlled chaos.  But relatively isn’t good enough in some situations.

I’m not big on so many vehicles being intermingled in a bike race.   The race itself is very dangerous and adding a bunch of heavy, two and four wheeled vehicles to the mix, exacerbates it immensely.  I’ve always hated it.

But me not liking it doesn’t mean it is going to cease.  There are always going to be a certain number of support vehicles in a race.  Allowing those vehicles access to the riders is another thing.  The media seems to have a carte blanche ticket at races.  I understand the importance of media at sporting events, but not at the risk of the riders health.  Same with the police motorcycles.

This has been going on for a long time.  The problem is that many of the guys on the motorcycles are ex-racers and guys that are caught up in the competition.  These guys are riding their motorcycles like they are racing them.  It is somewhat normal reaction to a tense environment, but it just adds to the stress and danger.

I’ve never been hit by a support vehicles, but I can say that I’ve had a few very close encounters.
One year at Redland’s, at the Oak Glen stage, I was riding at the edge of the field, a break was 5 minutes up the road.  It wasn’t really going that hard and I was coasting off my seat, stretching my back.  There was about a meter or two to my left of open road.  I was going to go into the gap and move up, and for some reason I happened to look over my shoulder. A California Highway Patrol motorcycle was coming by the field at over 100 mph.  I shit you not.

The guy was passing the whole field of 175 guys at over 100 mph.  It was insane.  I just happened to glance back.  Normally I would have not done that.  If I hadn’t, I would have disappeared into a millions pieces, along with a bunch of other guys.

Anyway, races promoters need to figure this out.  I’m not sure it is up the UCI, as Jim Ochowicz, BMC manager, keeps addressing.  BMC has had a bunch of bad luck with their riders from this. But, it is happening at all races, not just UCI races.  I can’t see how the UCI can make a rule to address each and every support vehicle/rider interaction.

We just all need to be more cognisant of the dangers involved in the sport and try to work as a group to make it as safe as possible.

Tucker was too interested in KU smearing Texas last night to win the Big 12 conference outright. He was trying to recharge to use his little puppy teeth to cause damage.

The NAHBS was last weekend in Sacramento.  If you’ve never had a chance to make it to one of these shows you need to make a point of it.  It is a gathering of the best of the best current handmade bicycle manufactures.  It is more like walking into an art exhibition that an bicycle show. You could spend a whole day at nearly each and every booth.  There is too much cool stuff to even come close to absorbing.

Anyway, my sponsor and long time friends at Kent Eriksen Cycles won 2 awards there this year. They won the best gravel/cyclocross bike and best TIG welded bike.  This isn’t anything of a surprise. Kent and Brad normally bring home a ton of awards, which the truly deserve.

I’ve known Kent forever.  I won the first MTB National Championship riding a bike Kent made and now I’ve been riding Eriksen’s titanium cross bikes this whole century and honestly can say that they are the best cyclocross bikes made, bar none.  Titanium is a perfect material for cyclocross/gravel/and MTB’ing.  It is virtually bombproof and has an incredible ride feel.  Titanium has improved a ton since the old Merlin/Litespeed days.  It is lighter, stronger, thus for the road, my bike is nearly as stiff as that of a carbon frame.

Frankie Andreau came up to me at Joe Martin, a few years ago, when he was running the 5 Hour Energy team, and asked me if he could ask me a personal question.  I said sure, having no idea what he was going to ask.

He wondered why I was riding a titanium road bike?  I was expecting something way more personal.  I told him that I wanted a bike that if, or more honestly, when I crashed, I could reach down and pick up my bike off the ground, knowing that it would not be in pieces.  I had ridden carbon frames for the previous 3 seasons and had broken a ton of them.  As soon as a front wheel from another rider hit my carbon frame, it was done.  I’d broken stays, main tubes, integrated seat masts, etc.

I told him I didn’t ever have a car following me that had another bike ready and available for use, so I’d prefer riding a bike that could take the rigors of bicycle racing.  He understood.  It was April and he said that his team had already went through 10 frames, which was about the same as my experience, just on a lesser scale.

Anyway, I can’t say enough about Eriksen frames.  When I retire, I’m only going to have titanium bikes hanging in my garage.  They are going to outlast me, which is how a bicycle should be built.  It’s a privilege to be riding them.

For all the show winners, here is a link to Bikeradar, which has them all listed.

This video is a little fussy, but Brad gets across the pertinent information.

Almost forgot Tucker’s picture. He had to remind me.

I’ve been going about my business and crossing my fingers that all this little issues I’ve had occur the past couple months will just take care of themselves.  They might be, but not quickly enough to appease me.

I’ve gotten pretty beaten up the past couple years.  Just beat up enough that I can still ride a bike, but doing daily tasks and normal life things is a struggle.  It is hard not to get frustrated on an hourly basis.

Right now the list of injuries that are still mending are as follows.  My right thumb and ring finger are still broken.  The thumb feels better than the ring finger, but that can change in a second if I hit a big bump in the road.  I tweaked my neck when I broke those fingers and it bothers me in the morning and then after I ride for more than a couple hours.  I had a x-ray done and it wasn’t broken, so I guess the diagnosis is something akin to whiplash.  This actually seems to be getting worse than better.  Plus, my right thumb is still achy.

The big injuries from the past couple years, right rotator cuff/surgery and then a left broken hip are just what they are.  The rotator cuff is never going to be back to normal, so it is what it is. The hip has been hurting more this year than last.  Mainly around where the incision scar is right over the IT band.  I’m just going to keep an eye on this and hopefully it is just a short team mending deal.

Last week, my left ankle hurt riding.  I couldn’t remember twisting it and sort of forgot about it over the weekend.  On Monday when I was riding, my ankle hurt pretty seriously.  So much that I couldn’t really stand up on it while riding.  I ate a bunch of ibuprofen and iced it.  Tuesday I rode and it felt pretty normal, maybe a little achy.  Then Wednesday morning, the first step, I could hardly walk.  It was seized up.  I iced it again and more ibruprofen.  Yesterday riding it was fine.  Then this morning it feels alright.

Cycling isn’t really an overuse type sport, it is very easy on your body.  You have to do something really dumb, like putting your cleats way, way off, or taking a challenge to ride huge gears up an mountain pass to injure yourself.  I didn’t do either of these things.  I’m not sure if this is just a passing problem or is going to become worse.  I’m thinking passing, but nowadays, I never know.

Man, after writing all this down, I’m not feeling all that great about my body and the prospects ahead.  I was hoping to be racing the Fatbike Birkie on Saturday, but can’t hold onto my MTB bars, thus I think it would be impossible to hold onto a fatbike’s handlebars.  It is strange that I can hold onto brake levers when my wrist is in that position, but if I rotate my hand flat, my thumb doesn’t work too well.

Okay, glad I got all that off my chest. Recently, I’ve felt like the little boy that had to put his finger into the hole in the dam, but there are too many holes and not enough fingers.

I had another prescription for an x-ray of my left hand.  I’ll probably do it after this weekend.  I guess I’m racing a local criterium here and then driving down to Tulsa for a 70 mile road race.  I need more race miles and this is the best I can do as of now.

Tucker is very playful in the morning.

I’m not sure why every once in a while I feel like venting my frustration with my body.  I think as an athlete, it isn’t that uncommon, but it really isn’t that common to make the issues so public. This website thing really exposes many topics that I would never have guessed would become a topic for public conversation.

I’ve hung out with elite level athletes my whole life.  And I can’t think of one that just goes about their business quietly, keeping their health worries to themselves.  Actually, it sometimes is “worse” with athletes that are trying to get to the elite level.  Sometimes those guys are so consumed with their quest that it is nearly impossible not knowing every chink in their amour.

Anyway, I always find the comments section interesting.  I usually have no idea what direction a comment thread will go.  Many times it takes a 90 degree turn and ends up being about something that has virtually nothing to do with what my topic is.  That is fine.  That is one of the best things about social media.   New ideas and thoughts aren’t created by run-of-the-mill thinkers.

But yesterday, I found it interesting that so much of the comments got on the topic of age and addiction.  Not that there were off base, it was that I don’t think that some of the issues I’m having have anything to do with either.

All athletes, at least all successful ones that I’ve met, have an addictive personality.  Most the successful people I’ve met in general, have this trait.  I’m not saying you have to have an addictive personality to be successful or happy in life, but in the society we live, many of our leaders and sports figures are very driven.  I don’t take it as a slam.  It is what it is.

But the age thing, to me, seems to always consume everyone.  

Okay, I’m pretty old to be doing what I’m doing.  That is a given.  But I don’t pay much attention to that.  I don’t feel that much older than the guys I race with and don’t take it into consideration when I’m competing.

Let’s look at what I was complaining about yesterday.  Broken fingers, stiff neck, aching from broken hip and torn rotator cuff.  All these things could and do happen to guys that are half my age.  Actually, if I had a website from the day I started racing, this stuff would have been on it when I was a teenager.

Bicycling did an article on me nearly 20 years ago, with a photo pointing to all the broken bones and injuries I’d had in my life.  It was substantial.  Collarbones, wrists, legs, shoulders, ribs, you name it, I hurt it.  That is one of the downsides to this sport.  Moving fast and then stopping abruptly is not good for the human body.  Hitting the ground, cars, trees, other cyclists, or just about anything can, and will eventually, be very bad for your short term health.

Okay, I’ve had a streak of bad luck recently.  Twice the past two months I’ve crashed.  The first time, my own fault at Cyclo-Nationals.  The 2nd time, breaking a crankarm.  Both times I broke things.  Really, I think I got out of both crashed fairly unscathed.  I’m not sure about what is going on with my neck, but breaking a few fingers and cracking some ribs isn’t that high on the injury list.  But, it is enough to bother me racing and for sure, in general life.

But, I’m not convinced that age has anything to do with any injury I currently have.  I fell on wet pavement and broke my hip.  Tons of people filled out the questionnaire on my website and it isn’t an age deal.  That could have happened at 20.  It just happens that I was in my 50’s.  Same thing with my rotator cuff being destroyed.   Obviously, as you age, your rotator cuff can become compromised.  But, that wasn’t my issue.  I fell extremely hard, on rutted ice and slid a whole hill pretty much only on my shoulder.  Not good.  But not age related.

Did you see that Lindsey Vonn is done again for this season?  She has had her fair share of injuries.  She was getting knee surgery in Vail, at the Steadman Clinic, when I was doing rotator cuff surgery there.  Think everyone is saying that she is too old for sport?  Some are.  But, they are off base.

Here’s the deal.  Injury in sports is inevitable.  The longer someone is involved in sports, the higher chances they have of being injured from that sport.  Cycling is great because very rarely it is an overuse injury. Cycling is very easy on your body in that regard.

But the crashing is another thing.  That is something like downhill skiing.  Like I said above, going fast and then stopping abruptly, or not so abruptly in downhill skiing, is very bad for the human body.

We are all participating in a sport that always has this chance of injury.  I’ve accepted that and think I normally do a good job of dealing with the issues.   I’ve had a ton of issues and I’ve overcome nearly all of them, short term.  I realize that I most likely will have to deal with these same issues again later in life.  Just because I write about it, what seems like often, is because it is what is on my mind at the moment I’m posting.

I’ve raced bicycles for over 40 years.  Probably average 50-70 races a year, so that is 2000+ races.  Road, criteriums, cross, MTB.  I find it amazing that I haven’t been hurt more.  That isn’t even counting the chances of getting hurt just out training.   The human body is unreal and pretty resilient.  But sometimes it has had enough.

Age comes into play, but not as much as you all seem to believe.  And the benefits of the sport outweigh the potential injuries and downsides by a huge margin, in my opinion.

Did I mention that I have a saddle sore.

We all hope to ride off into the sunset as painlessly as possible. We have a good sport for that.

We took Tucker out to the country and this was his first encounter with a pond or lake. He did a little sniffing around, walked up the bank, turned around and ran full speed into it and started swimming out. He soon realized he didn’t have any idea what he was doing, turned around and swam back to the shore.

He got a little cold and wasn’t sure about it. Tucker has now been around a month and he has been a super friend.

Isn’t it weird how the bike racing season now starts in January and ends whenever.  I’m talking about the road season.  With all this social media and new events throughout the world, guys are doing stage races in early January and already have a dozen race days by the time that some guys do their first ride on dry pavement.  It is only the first of March.  Today I’m doing race #4.

Anyway, yesterday, Bill, Kris and I rode over to Lawrence to the 2nd Spring Fling Criterium.  The day was nearly perfect.  Mid 60’s and pretty calm.  Of course, here in Eastern Kansas that means that they burn the fields.  Very bad.  But, they do it every year and I usually try to bug out for most of it.  I’m not sure how much of that I’m going to miss this year, but I hate it.

The race went okay.  I woke up yesterday with a super scratchy throat.  I was sick for two weeks, felt okay for 3 or 4 days, then yesterday bad.  There are three possible reasons.  1, I swept up a bunch of super dusty stuff for a couple hours the day before, 2, the smoke is just making me raspy, or 3, my brother has been pretty sick for the past few days and it is something new.  I don’t mind 1 or 2 much, number 3 has me a bit worried.

Like I said the race was alright.  It is a points race format, so there are three sprints before the final sprint.  I’m not sure how many guys started, maybe 40 or so.  The race wasn’t the quickest early season race I’ve done, but it was a nice race.  Lots of mini jumps, a few short breakaway attempts, and of course, the sprints.

The Olathe Subaru guys had the numbers again and dictated the race.  All of them have a quick sprints and they were just helping each other out.  I missed up nearly each one.  Most of them I started way too early, bogging down before the finish.  Once I was close, think I finished a close 2nd.

The final sprint I was good, but tapped my brakes at the wrong moment and ended up 4th.  I think I finished 3rd or 4th in the race, but once again, we had to take off to ride the 1 1/2 back to Topeka, so didn’t see the final points tally.  It was an 80 mile day, so that was good.

This morning we’re already gone.  5:45 departure time.  It was super smokey in the city, which isn’t that usual, so they are burning a lot.  I woke up this morning with a super clogged up throat.  Hopefully I feel better by 10 am, the start time of the Tall Chief Road Race outside Tulsa Oklahoma.

I did the race a couple years ago and it is a nice course.  18 mile loop with a couple hard climbs.  We do 4 laps, so I guess it is around 70+ miles.

Okay, kind of short of time, so that is all I got. Enjoy your Sunday.

Jack Funk and Bill waiting to ride to the race.

Kris and Bill on the way home.

Bill checking out a new blaze. Perfect weather conditions for burning.