A year ago today

This time last year I was contemplating racing Apple Pie/Cherry Pie. I did neither. I had already been doing physical therapy for my left shoulder and was already cleared to race again but I discovered that I had lost a fair amount of confidence and was very tentative especially when riding with people around me. I decided to keep healing, keep putting on the miles and wait until the Land Park/Bariani weekend for my first post crash races.

I had also committed to riding Paris-Brest-Paris. It is only ridden every 4 years and 2007 was a PBP year. I needed to complete 4 qualifying rides within time limits; A 200k, 300k, 400k and a 600k brevet, each ridden as a single stage. I had tentatively planned to race hard early season then shift to endurance riding for the PBP. The crash threw a huge wrench into those plans so for a while I was doing both -- racing and PBP training.

A week before the 200k brevet I crashed again on a solo training ride. I was riding downhill into an intersection, the light turned green so I went to turn right and WHAM! I leaned into the turn but the bike went the other way and it slid down to the middle of the intersection. It was weird because I was very cognizant and clearly saw everything happening as if in slow motion. I immediately thought -- "Man! I forgot how to ride!"

It turned out my front tire flatted just before I turned at the light. There were some blackberry bushes sticking out on the road just before the light and I punctured on the thorns. Fortunately. I was OK, nothing hurt except for some stinging on my left hip. My heavy winter bib knickers were intact, it was just minor road rash. No blood, no broken skin anywhere on me. My gloves protected my hands very well but the gloves were pretty torn up. I fixed the flat then I got back on route. I was basically doing the 200k brevet from Winters, Vacaville via Cantelow/Pleasants Valley, to Wooden Valley over Mt George and back. I made it all the way to Napa came back up over Mt George and decided to call Lauren for a ride back. I kept riding until she came up on Hwy 121. It had started to rain and did not want to take any chances. I was also very stressed about the possibility of getting another front flat going into a turn.

That incident rattled me but it also gave me confidence that I can get back up and get back on. The following week I completed the first of four PBP qualifiers. The week after that I rode Land Park Crit and did two Bariani Road Race categories. I did these races more as training rides I was not there to contest them but merely to ride it out and get used to riding tight again. I went on to do a few more races: Brisbane, Wente, Madera and Mt Hamilton. I cut out of racing completely after Mt Hamilton and focused on riding long. I eventually qualified for and successfully completed PBP (another story).


Today, Saturday, is another beautiful day; Sunday looks about the same. Apple Pie is gone but tomorrow I will ride Cherry Pie.

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Forecast: More rain, more wind.

Another blown weather forecast today. I skipped the Early Bird Road Race last Saturday because the forecast didn't look good; it called for rain and high winds. It turned out to be a decent day with little wind and no rain. Oh well, there will be more races. Likewise I skipped Paskenta this morning because of the forecast. Of course that decision pretty much guaranteed decent weather for that event. Yup, it's been sunny and dry all day.

Good thing I decided to head out for a quick spin this morning. It turned into a 3 hour ride. I saw several salamander road kills along the way and when I came up to this little critter I pedaled past to let "nature" take its course. I wondered if it would make it across. Road kills seem pretty unnatural though. I turned around after that thought, took a few pictures with my phone camera and gently picked the little guy or girl up and set it down across the road towards Putah Creek.








Two other solo riders came up while I was taking pictures at the top Cardiac, Greg Anderson (DBC) and Manuel Borges (Precision). Manuel turned around to head back to Vacaville and Greg was on his way over Mt George. I rode with Greg until Moscovite corner where I turned off to go up Steele Canyon.