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Bursting with pride

Ok, two posts on the same night...don't worry it won't happen again.

As I said in my last post I've been racing going on eight years now. What I didn't say is that I'm about as competitive as they come. Growing up I had the privledge of playing baseball, basketball, football, track and anything else that required beating someone at something. Then I went to college and played basketball, and then shortly after that semi-pro football for three years until I blew out my knee so bad that I couldn't run anymore. Luckily my youngest brother was involved in cycling at that point and said "if you want to run, here ride this". And...here we are.

Ok, story line two. In 1999 our first son was born, I couldn't have been prouder. I thought OK, here we go a boy!! Well, it became quickly apparent that this kid was not exactly what I had in mind. He was smart (we're talking incredibly smart, which we can all agree didn't come from me) and very musically talented (which I think did come from me, but tends to skip generations or something I guess) but, he was most certainly NOT competitive. He completely gets his lack of competitiveness from his mother, this I'm certain of. Now, don't get me wrong, I love him more than I can say and am proud of everything that he does...but it's just different from what I had in mind, or rather different from me.

Ok, where is this going you're asking. Well, I've been pushing Clayton to get out on his bike more lately, bought him a great second hand road bike from a teammate, set some goals, anything I can think of to get him motivated in bettering himself physically. Hoping that he would at some point actually get the "bug" and want to compete. He has raced a couple of mountain bike races but never very hard, more just to please me I think. Then, last Tuesday and our local club crit he raced, and believe it or not he enjoyed it. Karen and I set an average that we wanted him to hit for the time and if he got it then he got ice cream (no, I'm not above bribery). Then I told him he should enter the junior 12-13 race his weekend...and he shrugged his shoulders and "sure".

Fast forward to last night. Karen and I went to register him and noticed that he was the only Junior to register. Crap, that meant 20 minutes on the course all by himself...I didn't think that would go over very well. So, I went and asked very nicely if Cole Skiba and Buddy Houts (Junior teammates) would be so kind as to at least warm up on the course at the same time as Clayton's race so he'd have someone else on the course with him. Cole and Buddy went above and beyond.

At the line this morning the two guys had worked out a stragey and talked two other Juniors to "race" with them making a five man field. The race started and off they went, I had no idea but the guys had worked it all out. Cole got in front and pulled Clayton the whole race, showing him how to take corners, draft and generally race a crit. And he did so in the nicest and best way possible. Then Buddy, who I can only assume was living up to his end of the bargain "blocked" the other Juniors to give Clayton and Cole plenty of room yet keeping them in sight. Then with 3 laps to go the other three moved up and as the come for the bell lap pushed the pace making Clayton struggle to hold Cole's wheel. As they came up the final stretch Clayton was pedaling for all he was worth, I've never seen the kid put forth the effort that he did in that final stretch...he clearly had that "itch" to beat someone. And he was doing it!!

Now, I know that those Juniors could have lapped him so many times that we couldn't have kept track. And they wouldn't have had to have ridden it at all. But for them to do what they did, for a kid that I can guarantee will never forget it, and for a Dad that couldn't be prouder at that moment...is beyond words. To those four guys that rode, Cole Skiba, Buddy Houts, Patrick Summerall and another Junior that I didn't know...thank you. You have no idea.

Thank You

Wow, looking back it's been over a year since I had anything worth while to say. Honestly this may still not be worth while but I'm going to say it anyway.

Believe it or not I'm starting my 8th season of racing bikes. In that time I've learned lots about the sport and even more about myself. But there is one thing that sticks out in my head more than anything else...people.

I am a firm believe that the people that race bicycles and their families are some of the nicest, most helpful people you will find. And, not to gloat but our team/club has the cream of the crop. We are coming off of a two day weekend set of races for I'm pretty sure the sixth time. I'll be honest the first few were a stretch and had a huge learning curve, but with the help of the team and their families we were able to pull it off and the racers seemed to really like it. The last few years, my counterpart will most certainly agree think, have gotten much easier. Well, this year both Jon and I have been really busy with life, work and general "things" to put much time in it. We were amazed this weekend that everything just "flowed" volunteers showed up and did what they always do, brought what they always bring and it was beautiful. We once again received so many appreciative comments that they are too many to mention. I just hope that these riders and their families said the same thing to the volunteers that were the ones that actually made this whole thing happen.

And again, to any of our club members, race members or any of their families....THANK YOU!!! I can't stress enough how important each and everyone of you are to our organization...and me as a person.

Clayton

Brag alert: My oldest son, Clayton is an extremely gifted reader. Not only does he LOVE to read (above most if not all other things) but when he reads out loud his true colors shine. When he reads he doesn't just read the words but the emotion and the voices of the characters come to life, you do realize that each character in a book has a different voice based on that characters background right?. Tonight he was reading a book to his brothers before bed, between each of the characters voices and the trouble that each was getting into he had his brothers almost rolling out of their beds. He is truly a blessing.

Wonderful ride...and a lesson

I know I haven't blogged in a while, honestly I don't have much time and even if I did I doubt many people would want to hear what I have to say. Nothing's really changed with this post but I thought maybe I'd put something out there anyway.

Went for an absolutely beautiful ride this afternoon. Cool, 22 at ride time with about a 7-10mph wind but just had to get some time outside. This morning when it looked like the weather would shape up I sent a message to @duane_b and conned him into coming along. We left my place around 1:30 or so and headed out on gravel with the mountain bikes. The earlier frost had put an amazing covering on the trees that made everything look like it was fresh and cold...really quite cool. Due to my exuberance and Duane's lack of recent riding we headed back at about the 1:30 mark to drop him off. Then I headed out for a little more.

Now for some pics...









See, pretty cool stuff. Now, if you've made it this far you probably are wondering about the "lesson".

Let's start with a little background and theory first. In case you don't know I was diagnosed as a Type 2 Diabetic in October of 2008. Now, I have it pretty good...no, really good. I'm not on insulin, I can eat most anything I want as long as I watch the frequency and the portions of it and with those things alone I can keep pretty well in check. That is until I start to exercise, I won't lie I've had some learning curves on keeping my BS (Blood Sugar) in check while riding, especially long distances. Your body metabolizes food and more importantly sugars differently when you're exercising, and then differently again when you're racing than when you're sitting around. So basically I need to know how to eat both on and off the bike as well as high intensity workouts or races. During the course of the last year I got it figured out. There were rare occassions that I had problems but for the most part I nailed it. It did take time to figure it out but I got it down to what to eat when.

Lately I haven't been riding as much as what I should be...and it's cold. I had read that the cold affects your metabolism differently than it does when it's warm out, basically because your body burns more fat to keep you warm. This time last year I was still experimenting with what foods and when during a ride and I was keeping a VERY close eye on my BS by testing frequently. Once I got things figured out and could almost nail my number by guessing I cut way back on testing. Anyway, because I was still figuring things out last year when it was cold out I never really knew what the cold was affecting and what the normal course of trial and error was affecting.

So, back to the lesson. When we rode back to the house and dropped off Duane I was down about a half a bottle of Cytomax (highly recommended for cyclists, I use it because I know how much to take during a ride to keep my BS where I want it) I had another bottle and the half that I'd started along with 3 Granola bars with Protein (protein is good for those who are wondering). The last swig I took from my bottle I noticed that it was getting a little "slushy" but it wasn't bad. I threw my spare bottle on my back instead of the cages hoping that it would keep it from freezing. Then I headed back out.

My first mistake was that after 1:30 on the bike I should have been down a solid bottle plus a little but since it's cold out you forget to drink but I really didn't think much of it. Thirty minutes or so later I went to get a drink and the bottle was frozen solid, as in couldn't even get the cap open...not good, I guess it got colder. No problem I have a spare bottle on my back. Pulled it out and it was seriously slushy itself. No biggie I've still got 2 bars and I 'm not going to be out that long. So I kept going...and going...and going. My second mistake was that I kinda hit one of those "zones" that you do sometimes. About 45 minutes later I realize that my climbing isn't where it should be and the legs are getting fatigued. About that time I realize that my other bottle is frozen solid too...not good, that's my fast sugar. I pop my last 2 bars hoping to get something out of them and headed back quick. Well, being on gravel, and we'll say a fair ways from home I started zig-zagging back. Unfortunately I was on a rode that every single east/west road was minimum maintenaince. I LOVE minimum maintenaince roads, but these hadn't been cleared...actually they didn't even have tracks through them. So I turned down a few that looked good only to be confronted a quarter mile later with drifts to my chest. After having to turn around 3 times I finally made it to an actual paved road and high tailed it back.

It was just before I hit the pavement that I realized things just weren't right. It started out with tingling fingers and toes, thinking it was the cold I kept going. Then slowly I started to realize that things were blurry, then they went really blurry. I've been low before so I knew the starting signs but I ignored them and put a little more in the legs. About 7 miles from home I'd finally had it...called the wife and just tried to stay upright. By the time she got to me I was in bad shape, the shakes, blurred vision, slurred speech...the works. After getting home and getting some much needed food in the system I felt better. All of my testers were in the car and too cold to work. But as I type this almost 3 hours later, after food and then supper, I still only test at 76. Normal range is supposed to be 90-100. I know I've never been that bad off before and I wish I could have seen my number I if I had to guess I was under 60.

So, going forward here is the deal. First of all I need to figure out some way to keep water bottles from freezing. Temp wise I was fine (Embroication is amazing by the way, thanks Vaughn), legs were good everything right in line other than the BS. Secondly I need to carry another method of quick sugar into the system. If any of my "loyal" okay bored readers out there know what I should do please let me know.

Well, that's it. That's my saga I guess. Not nearly as bad as those TeamType1 guys have it that's for sure. But I do believe that there are plenty of Type 2 people out there that have to have the same issue.

Thanks for listening to the ramblings.

Surgery II

The second surgery went pretty well. Doctor said that he was really glad that they decided to go back in. I guess that there was a lot of blood in there that would have increased recovery time quite a bit. They also inserted a drain tube to help any additional swelling or bleeding escape. After coming out of surgery I immediately felt better, no pressure was wonderful. However, because of the drain tube it meant at least another 24 hours in the hospital.

Fast forward 24 hours...feeling much better, pain is low, annoyance is high what else can you say. After being up and around on it a few times and no additional swelling or drainage it was decided that they would take out the tube and send me home. Note to self: when the nurse comes in to do something and doesn't tell you what they are going to do...watch out! I knew they were going to take the drain tube out, but they didn't tell me that there was about 10 inches of tube wound around through the joint...let's just say it wasn't a lot of fun to have pulled out, and it was better for everyone that I didn't know what to expect.

So, I'm home now. Straight leg brace for a week just because of the 3 inch incision on the inside and 2 inch incision on the outside of the knee. I'm feeling pretty good, not too painful or swollen right now. If I can just bide my time until next Thursday to get my stitches out I think recovery should be down hill. I really think I should loosen up fairly fast and by next week the pain and swelling should be really low. At least that's my own little world.

Surgery

Please note. Picture not for the faint of heart.

The original plan was to go in and take out a piece of what they thought was bone about the size of my thumb nail and then go fishing for a piece that I thought was floating around at the base of my knee cap. Also, there has been a large "flap" of something above the knee along the outside that had been annoying me for some time so I told him to check that out as well while he was there.

Doctor Walsh had anticipated making an incision for the piece on the knee cap but otherwise it was to be a scope.

Well, as you know I never go quietly.

The end result:
Karen said that when he came out to talk to her he mentioned that he had gone to put the scope in at the bottom of the knee and "hit something" so he went ahead and made an incision about 2 inches long on the medial side of the knee. After making the incision he found a piece of bone barely attached to the medial and lower portion of the knee cap. It was about 3 inches long and 1/4 wide with a few stubs sticking out along the way. After taking that out he also took off some calicified bone on the medial side of the joint as well, had he not he thought that I would still have tendons rubbing where they shouldn't.

He also looked for the floating piece but thinks that sensation was being caused by the piece that was still attached to the cap. He wasn't able to find any floaters.

Then, since I already had an incision he went ahead and looked at the flap on the quad itself. He made another incision above the knee and found that it was a wad of sutures and scar tissue from the quad repair that was done about 6 years ago now. He cut it out.

As if all of that wasn't enough, I had just changed clothes and was eating, getting ready to go and all of a sudden I had the same sensation I did when I tore my quad...LOTS of internal pressure and pain. After consulting the doctor it was decided to keep me overnight to make sure that the bleeding stopped, if it didn't they would go back in and put in a drain. They ended up taking me upstairs right away and giving me a shot of morphine laced with something really good.

This morning I woke up feeling pretty good. Then they got me up to walk and I immediately filled with blood and pain took over again. As I finish this up I am sitting in pre-op waiting for a drain plug to be put in, since they are putting me completely out again I get to count this as 9 surgeries on this knee. As always, fun stuff.

Well, its taken me all morning to write this. Time to go take a drug induced nap again.

Note: the attached picture was taken at dressing changing time this morning. I'll post the surgery pictures once I have them.

I don't have a solution, but I do admire the problem.
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