We drove back to Kansas from Madison most of the day yesterday. I should probably be writing something about Lance’s doping confession or my thoughts about the Elite races on Sunday, in Madison, but I’m pretty preoccupied by my own injury issues.

I went by the hospital and got a copy of the MRI and the written report of the findings. I really hadn’t heard the particulars about what was exactly wrong with me and I was mildly surprised, maybe more like startled, when I read the report.

It stated- ROTATOR CUFF: Full-thickness full-width tear of the supraspinatus tendon with approximately 6.7 cm medial and Proximal retraction. There is also a full-thickness near full with tear of the infraspinatus tendon intact fibers with retraction of most of the fibers medial and proximally by approximately 3.9 cm. The teres minor and subscapularis tendons are intact.

In layman terms, this means that two out of four of the tendons/muscles in my shoulder are completely disconnected/severed. That isn’t a good thing.

I called a friend, Stacy, an orthopedic surgeon that happens to live in Louisville, and talked for a while on the drive home. She is actually working at the Cyclocross Worlds, which I didn’t know. Anyway, she gave me some good advice on things I should do to try to race in Louisville in a couple weeks. I also have an appointment Wednesday, with the orthopedic surgeon that works on the pitchers of the Kansas City Royals. I know he see some jacked up shoulders. My shoulder is pretty common. Stacy said she does about surgery on about 400 of them a year. That number seems gigantic to me.

So, this morning I’m heading over to Lawrence to see a sports PT doctor about my left leg, but am going to try to get him to focus more on my shoulder, trying to get some of the swelling and inflammation to subside. Then Wednesday, in Kansas City, and hopefully I’ll be riding outside soon.

I’ve crashed on my bike a lot of times. And broken a lot of things. This injury is pretty debilitating. It is very hard to find the “sweet spot”, where the shoulder feels in alignment and there isn’t much pain. Especially at night. Stacy suggested I sleep in a recliner. I’m not to that point yet, but if I don’t sleep some soon, I might have to go out and buy one, just to try it. I slept some on Friday night, but Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and now Monday, I didn’t hardly sleep at all. It is getting a little old.

Okay, I have an early appointment in Lawrence, so have to head out. I’m not sure if I’m optimistic or not yet. I’m too beat to figure it out. Hopefully that will change soon.

I drove nearly all the way home, but a couple hours out, I laid down in the backseat with Bromont. I couldn’t really get comfortable, but finally fell asleep about 10 minutes before we got back to Topeka. Go figure.

Image of a Rotator Cuff.

I was apprehensive about writing anything at all about this, plus I don’t have all day to go over this Lance announcement. I have a couple doctor’s appointments in different cities, and depending on how they go, I would like to try to ride my bike some too.

So, what I have to say right now about this Oprah/Lance confession is that the guy must of lost his mind. I can, sort of, understand Lance’s denials all these years. At least I can conceptually understand his thought process. But, after all these years of denials, law suits, fuck you’s to nearly everyone in the sport, including the fans, I have no idea why he would “come clean” now.

“I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the skeptics. I’m sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. I’m sorry you don’t believe in miracles. But this is one hell of a race. This is a great sporting event and you should stand around and believe it. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I’ll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets – this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it. Vive Le Tour.” Lance Armstrong after winning his 7th Tour.

There are 100’s of quote like these. No one forced the guy to say them. He could have just went about his business racing his bike and kept his mouth shut. But, no. Lance has no ability to do that. It truly wouldn’t surprise me if the Lance outs everyone involved in this whole thing. That would confirm my believe that he is a complete, selfish, ass. Not that I didn’t have enough information to come to that conclusion already.

I read somewhere that Dick Pound said that cycling might lose its’ Olympic eligibility from this whole mess. That would be a tragedy. But, I wouldn’t blame anyone. The people watching the chicken house seem to have been eating chicken dinners for a long while now, so they might have to go vegan for a bit.

Someone once left a comment on one of my posts that Lance was a sociopath. I didn’t really know what that was, but after looking it up, it fits his actions exactly.

I don’t know if I even get the Oprah channel. I guess I will watch the interview if I do have it. I wish they did it in one shot, instead of dragging it out over two nights. But, after saying that, I realize it will be a complete waste of time. I know that much of what he says, if not all, is going to be warped and half-truths at best. The really sad thing is that I think he is going to believe, as always, what he says is the truth.

Here’s a radio interview with Al Trautwig, longtime commentator of the Tour de France. Al sums up pretty much exactly how I feel.

From Comedy Central.

And here Lance is explaining the tactics involved in screwing your ex-team mates here.