Cycling can be one of the most enjoyable sports, but it can also be one of the most frustrating sports. I was very careful in the late winter to take extra rest days to avoid digging any holes early in the season, but sometimes the cycling gods have something else planned for your season. I entered February exactly on target with some strong numbers, good weight, and very fresh. I felt great in my first race on Feb. 20th in Greenville with a stacked field from all over the Mid-Atlantic. I jumped in two separate breaks and still finished around 15th which wasn’t a great finish, but it was the highest placed Cat 2 in a list of Pro’s above in the placings. So, things were looking good. Unfortunately, things quickly unraveled in my next race. I went into a Dalton Circuit race way over confident and went with every early move. When you enter a race alone without teammates, you need to dial it back a bit. I did the opposite and knew that I had the form to stick a strong break. Unfortunately, there were about 8 strong attacks and counter attacks before the break stuck. I hit 1,100 – 1,200 watts 9 separate times in the first 15 minutes of that race. On one of the last moves, I pulled a chest muscle. I’m not sure how or why it happened, but I had not been doing my typical routine of push-ups / core work, so I’m sure there was a massive imbalance somewhere. I was so focused on “back strength” that all my work was on the lower back. I was doing twice a week back extensions, and I ignored the chest entirely. I’ve learned that I get injured whenever I work one set of muscles and ignore another. I’m better off not doing any stretching or strengthening than doing one isolated area to create an imbalance. I wasn’t too worried, I recovered within 10 days. Unfortunately, I had just taken a rest week prior to the injury, so it was a good 17 day rest week (s). CTL dropped far. Then, I got sick with a cold for 7 more days. Then, I raced Fouche Gap and struggled in a break for 70 miles. I was useless doing much more than sitting and casually rotating here and there to avoid getting kicked out of the break. My climb up Fouche Gap was 40 seconds slower than last year. That’s a lot slower… However, the next day I went for a ride and felt like my fitness was building up. I went out and had a great Tuesday Night Crit, but on Wednesday night of that week, I got bad food poisoning, salmonella, or stomach flu. The doctor didn’t know which one, but it lasted a week, so she prescribed the next big problem, Cipro, as the antiobiotic. I started taking Cipro the following Monday, and it killed off the stomach issue within 24 hours. However, it immediately gave me really bad muscle fatigue and very sore calf muscles. I couldn’t really ride while on Cipro, so I was off for a week and had to skip the state championship criterium races that next weekend. A week later, and my calves are still hurting.
On Saturday, I jumped in the Cat 2 Sunny King Crit hoping to build some leg speed. Based on the prior 5 weeks, it was clear that so many days off the bike and a ton of recovery rides on weekends when others were hammering in races had left me with terrible form. I’ve rebuilt some FTP, but I have not high end anaerobic strengths and no repeatability. Unfortunately, I gambled in the Cat 2 race and went with a mid-race move with Matt Brooks from Novo Nordisk which was doomed from the start. He attacked on the downhill when the pack was flying. I saw the move and another rider going with him, so I sprinted down the left side and bridged up to them. We got a small gap, but we were caught within a lap. It left me tired, sore, and uninterested in fighting to get back up front. I didn’t have good form, but I’m confident that I could have used that energy to launch myself with a lap to go to position upfront for a sprint. I will not try a break in a Cat 2 race again unless there are multiple teams blocking because the pace is just too fast for a break to stick.
The next day, I lined up with a mostly P/1 field and a few 2’s at the Foothills Road Race. Last year, I rode a long breakaway with Tony Scott in the Masters Field getting 2nd. This year, I was heavier, slower, and had much lower CTL. My goal was to finish the race and maybe hang around to go with a late move. Unfortunately, the repercussions of Cipro are still affecting me. The stuff can affect your calf muscles and achilles for up to 6 months with most people injuring themselves weeks and months after taking that poison. At only mile 18 of a 72 mile race, I could feel my left calf throbbing, pulsing, and tightening up. I literally started pedaling with my right leg from mile 18 to mile 65. For whatever reason, it stopped cramping up around mile 65. I know it wasn’t due to fatigue or electrolytes because I never cramp up at mile 18 of anything. I do have cramping problems due to the low number of races I do compared to the other racers. With so few race days in my legs, I sometimes cramp in hilly P/1/2 road races around miles 70 – 90, but mile 18, no way, that was due to Cipro. In any event, it caused me to allow late moves to go away. There was a split late in the race with about 15 miles to go, but I just didn’t trust my legs and decided to stay on the back of the group I was in. The only good news was that I was able to avoid the calf pain by staying seated on the climbs, so I was able to avoid getting dropped on the steep hills like a lot of the riders in the race. In the end, I finished 22 out of around 60 starters, maybe more. It was decent when you consider that I’m badly overweight for this time of year, I’ve missed more training days and racing days than any other year I’ve raced, and my CTL is extremely low. With the exception of smashing my toe chasing my son yesterday which likely is only a couple day setup, I’m confident that I can get back into shape in four weeks. I think I’ll be fine by the state RR in Rome come June.
During the Foothills Road Race, I was descending with Isaac Howe, Alexey Schmidt, and David Carpenter. We were flying down the hill when a dog ran out and t-boned him at around 40 mph. He was air lifted to the hospital, but he is going to be ok. He’s in our prayers. The Anniston Star took this picture of David a few minutes before the crash.
David Carpenter Article – Anniston Star Newspaper
Wow, this piece of writing is good, my younger sister is analyzing such things,
so I am going to inform her.