Today is the last day....

For being sick. I am tired of this feeling. So I'm not letting it happen anymore. I will be all better tomorrow. Will my knee be all better? I don't know. I rode for 45 minutes on the trainer yesterday and it felt fine. But thennnnnn I walked a little ways to Spanish class, walked some more home and what do ya get? More pain. It's slight but I set myself back. Maybe the diagram above will help. I think I have irritated my medial meniscus under the medial femoral condyle. Just irritated not torn. With my current mechanics and lifestyle I don't know how it will ever heal. I must be patient. That may be the key to recovery. I am obsessing over it like all injuries I've had. I wish I had an orthopedist on staff but I'm not that rich yet.

I had my 54th Spanish class yesterday. I am learning it slowly but the class has taken on a very lazy approach. They seem to laugh at everything now for no reason. I also feel like the teacher just wants to get through it. She doesn't care enough that we learn. I am just making the most of it now as it will benefit me in the future, or at least give me leverage. If the potential for lay offs come around; I can at least say: "Hey I've learned Spanish and it didn't cost the company a dime". Who knows if it's valuable but it's got to help.

I looked at my '08 training plan which started in late March. I plan to start '09 plan on Monday so early March is an improvement. Hopefully I will be in shape earlier than last year. I would call last year a success so why not follow the formula? I will post my daily log for the benefit of all three of my followers. I am gearing out the El Maricahi so use as a training machine early on. This should work well.

Pmac

This is for John...

I couldn't leave a comment on your blog for some reason. So I thought I'd post what I wrote here:

"First post = too long. Just kidding. I think these blogs are good. It'll be a way of staying in touch since we all aren't the most reachable by phone. I like the Taiwan moto idea. I know you like to beat yourself up in the quest for ultimate adventure. But, consider maybe one thing to become an expert at outside of your career. I have read and believe once you become an expert you always retain about 75% of your skill. For instance over a year's time (2006) I took thousands of jump shots focusing on release, form, & visualization. I didn't play bball for about 1.5 years until recently; once I got back on the court I was a little rusty but I still had a silky smooth jumper. That's mechanics and neural memory. I don't need to tell you your brain has more to do with your muscles than the muscles themselves. I mean I am all for trying new things but it's nice to know I am not on the periphery of potential."

pmac

Back to work

Today I came into work finally. A bit of a surreal experience. Not too much to do here but a lot on the horizon. I have make sure my hammerschmidt verbal judo is tuned for NHMBS. My road product knowledge is average but I feel like you can't tell a roadie about anything because they already know. They are parts loyalists and very skeptical. However, riders are loving RED and making the leap. I found my black polo shirt which is required attire for the show. I was afraid I lost it and would have to ask our marketing 'schwag manager' for another one. He likes me and the last think I would want is to disappoint him.

I am feeling a little better health wise but am still sick. Maybe a couple more days. My knee doesn't hurt but when I rode in I could tell it wanted to. It's a weird feeling. It must be weak or something. The worst part is that it's structural so doing what caused it may only make it worse so I have to slowly work my way up. Starting next week, I may just follow the base plan I use last year. It was effective. I think I am in a little bit better shape but why fix what isn't broke. I will post a funny pic of my brother dressed as an old man for Halloween.

pmac

Laying low

Well, the weekend was filled with meaningless tasks to make me meaningful money. I worked a CPS bball game for nike and delivered promotional items to a couple shoe stores. This took up both Saturday & Sunday. I was sick pretty much the whole time. I took today off from work to recover. Knee pain is 0 on a scale of 10. Things are looking up. I am going to do some light spinning today or tomorrow. This weekend I am off to the NHMBS. I will try to get pics and post.

Pmac

A visit from a Belgian

Chris Mckenney came down today to visit us from his new Euro home East of Amersfoort in the Netherlands. That's not Belgium you say? You are right. But I consider him Belgian because he has a Belgian racing license. You are from where you race is my semi-not very well thought out theory. The cycling culture over there sounded pretty interesting from his stories in the pits at pro cross races. It's a spectator sport even at the local level. The admission fees are higher than the race fees. Unless you have the talent and strength to hang with former or aspiring pros you are told you can't race. There is a lot of sand and drive trains don't last long. Much of the land was under the ocean not very long ago. So what's left? The bottom of the ocean of course.

I got in a great swim last night at Gill Park. 2250 yards in about 40 minutes. I felt great and did 4x500 repeats followed by some stroke work. I think all this rest for the knee has given me a lot of energy. There were fleeting moment of very mild pain while swimming but overall it's feeling better. I went out to LionHead pub on Lincoln last night to meet a riding buddy of mine for half price aps and beers. 3 beers, a plate of nachos, and some chicken tacos made me ready for bed. I rode in on the KM this morning. Some pain in the knee near the end of the ride, but not bad. I will try some easy spinning tonight on the trainer. I hope it feels better.

pmac

Putting the prove in improvement

Here are a few more pics of me racing, just for kicks. Mom, I still haven't seen the coffee.

Working the bball game was fine last night. The easiest $150 I've made in a while. Chicago High School hoops has got to be some of the best in the country. Enthusiatic fans and strong rivalries. Standing for a few hours and then loading up all our equipment did not cause much pain to the knee. A short ride home after did cause some. Not too bad though. I thinks it's getting better although I can't tell. That's where I decided to run a little test today. I didn't take any vitamin I this morning after riding into work - which caused some pain. Walking around at work I am not feeling much pain at all. A good sign especially since I am not masking it with a pain killer. I just hope this doesn't come back to haunt me every time I ride. The thought of a malfunctioning joint consumes me. I want to live and ride forever.

pmac

Frustration sets in

I don't think this knee thing is getting any better. I am combatting it in all the usual ways. Icing, resting (to an extent), and vitamin I. It feels about the same, maybe worse. I looked up some articles on it. It may be a torn maniscus. I am not sure. But coming up and going down to a squat when my feet are inward hurts the most. There is not grinding, popping, or catching all of which are typical of meniscus tears. But the pain location is a typical sign. I am going to wait it out a little longer. Something miraculous better happen before tonight. I have to work a CPS basketball game for Nike. My friend's company does promotions for them. I will be on my feet a lot and it won't be good for the knee. I guess I am surprised this hasn't happened before. When I injure something I realize how active my life is. I am always moving. I need my limbs.

Nothing new on the bike front. I am looking forward to putting some gears on the El Mar and hydro discs & a Cane Creek 100 headset on the KM. I need a new crank and front wheel for the Milk Money and that's done too.

Confused & focused

Today the knee is still bothering me. I am not sure what's going on but the walk to the chump mobile (bus) caused some pain. It's not getting worse but it's not getting better either. Vitamin I seems to take away some of the pain as well as not moving around too much. Thinking back riding 3.5 hours and then walking around and being on feet the rest of the day is probably a good way to overstrain your knee. Oh well, I have other things to focus on. Like shipping out all the stuff I recently unloaded on ebay. A used PS2 will fetch you about $55. Not bad since I never play it. I continue to look around my place to see if I have other things to get rid of. CASH IS KING.

pmac

Uh-Oh

I think I may have overused my underused and seasonally dormant knees. My right one has a pain on the medial side just under the patella. I am not sure if it's serious yet but I am icing today and taking some Vitamin I. I hope this works out. Speaking of working out I won't be doing one of those today. Gotta rest the limbs. I'll be taking the bus home like a chump.

Long Ride in the Suburban Tundra

Yesterday I went to a Valentine's meat party with Bret and Viv. I brought steak, tomatos, mushrooms, a mango, & beer. There was all sorts of artery cloggin, bacon wrapped concoctions. I ate some Swedish meat balls, tomatos, mushrooms, and the steak I brought. I also ate the mango. Why mango? It has enzymes that help break down beef protein and assist in digestion. Which made me feel pretty good until I took a shot of absinthe. It burned my throat, I was instadrunk and done after that. Perfect way to fuel up for a long ride the next day.

Joe and I took a long ride out to Evanston and back. Abotu 3.5 hours, maybe 40-50 miles round trip. My lungs were there and my HR stayed resonable but my legs just don't have it yet. They felt weak and heavy. I used a Trek X1 cross bike, with some SRAM prototype parts. Everything worked out great even through some snow and sticky mud. I have a feeling this is the first of many long cross rides in preparation for this season.

I re-did the Karate Monkey single speed mountain bike style. It's looking and feeling good. The bike has some tweaks in the fork. It has a G2 crown making for a 51mm offset. This quickens the handling on an otherwise boat like feel. I also filled the damper with Moto grade Silkolene 5wt oil. It is smooth. I can run it full lock with the floodgate half open and it still eats up small and big bumps while cutting out most pedal bob. I need a longer chain as this one is super tight and rough on back pedal. I like to keep the chainstays short on this horizontal drop bike. They are at 17" even when pushed all the way forward. Extremely short as 29ers go.

A lonely Friday

Ahhh, what to say about today. I went to the Bulls game from work last night with my gf Viv. Cab ther cab back = commuter bike not at home. So, I rode in on my El Mariachi set up for the trainer. It has only a front brake and a slick tire on an XT hub with loose bearings. Not to worry. It's only 2 miles to work. I am trying to decide wheather or not to keep or sell this bike. I think I need to make some tweaks to the handling (new bar) and add gears - currently set up SS.

What I mean by a lonely Friday is that I haven't felt very connected with people at work this week. Things are slow and I get bored and unmotivated and try to find the end the internet but just end up going through my favorites five times in a row. I must try to talk to people more today.

I am gonna put up some images of bikes I've had/have. I really have no record of any of them so this goes a long way for when my kids want to know how I got hardcore (they really won't be impressed). #1 - Riding the Karate Monkey (my current commuter) in the 2008 Palos Meltdown #2 - Riding the El Mariachi (SS race machine) at 2008 Chequamegon #3 - Raleigh XXIX (gone) #4 - Schwinn Homegrown (gone) Maybe I'll make a list. The progression of bikes here is chronological but not very logical. I think it's long:

1 - 1997 Giant Sedona

2 - 1996 Cannondale M800

3- 1997 Kona ? (easton al frame)

4 - 1998 Voodoo Bizango

5 - 1998 Dean Oscar (loved this one, never should have sold it)

6 - 1999 Azonic DS-1

7 - 1997 Salsa A La Carte

8 - 2001 Schwinn Homegrown

9 - 2005 Gary Fisher Ziggurat

10 - 1999 Schwinn Homegrown

11 - 2007 Raleigh XXIX 29er

12 - 2008 Surly 1x1

13 - 2008 Salsa El Mariachi 29er(current)

14 - 2008 Surly Karate Monkey 29er (current)

15 - 2008 Lenz Sport Milk Money 29er (current)

This season I am looking to get rid of the KM and add a 5" trail bike to the collection. Maybe a cyclocross bike too.

How does your list compare?

First Post

Blog #1. Is blog a verb or a noun? I chose this layout b/c the star in the upper left corner reminds me of the star located on the wing of U.S. fighter jets in all of our great and completely necessary wars. It's American, like myself. Next I will hit publish post.