Prepping for Big Bear...

Hey folks.

 

The one race I wanted to do this year for sure was the 24 Hours of Big Bear that is coming up this weekend.  After taking 3 months off this winter and getting a somewhat slow start on the season, I wasn't sure what kind of shape I'd be in.  I think I'm doing okay with it though.  I'm not where I was last year as far as speed goes, but I'm doing very well with endurance.  I should have stuck with my earlier plans to hang with the fast guys at Wakefield on Tuesday and Thursday nights.  I'll try and do more of that this summer.  :D

 

Monday I had a scare.  I was riding with JoeP's wakefield ride which tends to be pretty fast.  I had fun with it and was doing pretty well, when I found that my back brake had gone amost completely soft.  I later found out that the pads were dead (in about 3 months of riding) and I should probably bleed the whole system.  The result of this technical problem on Monday was that I took two falls.  The first was a stupid tip over because I was following too close to Scott on a log hop.  That wasn't a big deal.  I got a little bruise on my left calf.  The second was a lot more painful.  I bruised the hell out of my right quad (the same thing I did last year right before SSWC05) and smacked my mellon. 

 

The helmet did its job on my noodle.  I had no problems with that, except I probably need to buy a new helmet.  My thigh wasn't so lucky.  I need to get a helmet for it. ;)  It hurt a ton and I could feel it tightening up as I finished out the ride.  I stretched it and massaged it to keep it loose and that helped.

 

One of my cycling magazines had a good article on how to deal with bruises.  I followed the instructions and they worked really well.   I started out icing the bruised area.  You need to ice it for 15 minutes, then leave the ice off for a while.  You want to limit the swelling, but not limit the circulation.  Icing too much ends up being counterproductive.  I also ate a few advil.  Before bed I stretched for a while.  Lets just say that hurt like hell.  It felt like someone was taking a heat gun to my leg.  I took it VERY easy, but slowly stretched the muscle till it loosened up. 

 

In the morning I got up and massaged my leg as much as I could with tiger balm.  That warmed it up and loosened it a bit.  I stretched again.  After a hot shower I put a tiger balm patch on it to keep it loose all day.  I took time to stretch during the day to keep it loose.  When I walked around, I tried to walk in a way that worked the muscles a little instead of walking to minimize the pain.  By the end of the day I was physically exhausted.  Laura and I had a nice birthday dinner out, and I was getting ready for bed rather early.  I took a hot shower and put on more tiger balm.  I stretched before bed.

 

Yesterday morning it was less stiff.  I did the tiger balm/massage/stretch routine and it felt a lot better.  I stretched 4 or 5 times during the day.  It felt much better and a little stronger too.

 

Last night I rode for 2:30 with my friend Mike.  I warmed up slowly and only bumped up the pace when my leg felt warm.  I rode almost 2 laps on the race course at a fast pace.  We slowed it down and did two laps through Accotink and my leg felt great.  I stopped to rest and stretch a few times.  The leg stiffened up pretty quickly after that.  It also warmed up quickly too. 

 

It looks like I've managed to dodge the bullet with this.  My leg feels good today.  I just feel a little pressure and pinching in the muscle.  There isn't much pain.   I don't have the power that I did before the crash, but I don't feel near as bad as I did for the SSWC05. 

 

Sorry for babbling on.  I just wanted to get some of this down. :D

 

Pete