Yearly Archives: 2017

Little Short of Time

This entry was posted in Just Life on by .

Gotta make this short.  I have a MRI scheduled for 8:45 this morning.  Actually, more accurately, Stacie has a MRI scheduled for me at 8:45.  I was having some trouble doing it all on my own.  I left Moab and drove to California to do it.  I have a few things to do out here all ready, so it wasn’t out of the way, really.

I am pretty sure what the MRI is going to say about my shoulder.  It has been hurting since I hit my head 5 months ago.  Little movement, etc.  It isn’t a bone.  I think I tore my rotator cuff, which isn’t new.

I added to that in Moab, but that is probably a good thing.  I wasn’t going to address it without it being like it is now, which is sort of unusable.

Trudi is back in Belgium after doing a week long stage race with the BMC Development Team. Now she has a day or two, then is heading to Spain for a stage race with the BMC Pro Team. Then back to Belgium/France for Paris-Roubaix, I think.  It took her a while to get used to the time switch this year, but seems all good now.

Okay, like I said, I have to scoot.  It took a lot of phone call and maneuvering to get this scheduled.  I somewhere lost my driver’s license.  I have no idea where.  Guess I’m going to take my little plastic passport card to prove who I am.  I have my insurance card, which is kind of all they really care about usually.

I usually just fall asleep in these things.

 

 

Big Gear Climbing

This entry was posted in Comments about Cycling on by .

I have been riding some and have pretty much had to stay seated nearly the whole ride because my left shoulder has been hurting.  That isn’t “my normal” climbing position.  I can climb seated, but tend to stand pretty often.  I think that is to relieve the pressure and to add more power.  It seems like the older I get, the longer I can stand, which seems counterintuitive.

Anyway, I haven’t been climbing all that much, but enough.  And my knees seem to hate me for it.  Both my knees have been a little achy recently and I am sure it is from riding too long seated. Yesterday I couldn’t stand it anymore and started riding some standing up.  I was mildly surprised that my shoulder was somewhat working.

Anyway, any injury worries me now as I age.  Things just take longer to heal.  So I try to be observant and fix the problems before they become chronic.   Cycling is a pretty great sport because it is easy to fix positional and minor issues that arise.

I was thinking about my knees and wondering why they might hurt and then I remembered riding with Eric Heiden when he took a bet to climb Loveland Pass in a 53 x 12.  I wrote a few paragraphs about it a few years ago.   Eric climbed Loveland Pass, doing like 25 rpms and then a couple days later, had to go to Denver, to see a doctor, because his knees hurt.  Eric has unbelievable power, so that doesn’t surprise me so much.  But, I figure if Eric Heiden’s knees can’t stand too much seated climbing, overgeared, then for sure, my knees won’t.

I did a MRI on my shoulder yesterday and the results weren’t a surprise.  I have a screwed up rotator cuff.  It isn’t as bad as the right one I destroyed at cyclocross Nationals in Madison a few years ago, but it isn’t good.  I’ve felt the problem for a few months, but exacerbated it in Moab. Maybe that was a good thing, time will tell.  I wouldn’t have addressed it without making it worse.

I’m going to get a cortisone shot tomorrow and try to do some personal rehab.  Time will tell whether I get it professionally fixed, ie surgery, or just live with it.  The last time I can’t say I was all that happy with how it turned out.  Maybe it would be a good time to swing by Park City and visit Eric?

Eric Heiden leading me at the Coor’s Classic. Alexi is behind me.