Two Wheel Blogs

Seemingly each year just when the intense mileage picks up, my lower back revolts like an insolent toddler in a candy store. I do core training, strength training, sleep on a tempurpedic bed, stretch, and generally take care of my aging body but in the end, the nagging pain wins out. My savior in all of this is my chiropractor. She'll put me on the table, make some adjustments, and within the course of the next two weeks I'll be right as rain for another year.

If this is the trade-off for getting older, I'll take it. All good pain and nothing the good doc can't fix. I wish overcoming pain while in the saddle were so easy. Maybe then I could cat-up, well maybe.

Home! I really need to be here right now.

I just got back from a little vacation from a place that feels like it was so far away. Birmingham, Alabama was a major change of pace. There was good and there was some bad...mostly good. When it comes to cycling, it was all pretty good.

Looking back on the trip, I think it was the things that were different that made the trip interesting, exciting, and fun.

Last weekend was phenomenal for me in terms of riding. The weather warmed up last Thursday and stayed nice through the weekend.

This is all well and good, but as they say, "every silver lining has a touch of gray". Apparently the nice weather brought with it some sort of growth that has resulted in me reacting with severe allergies. My head feels the size of my ego.

I was saying that I would not complain about the allergies that come with spring time, but that was only a day or two in. It seems nature decided to test me on that statement.

Oh well. Hopefully this will make me stronger somehow, and riding is simply better in the spring. I guess I will take the allergies and STFU!

Yesterday was the first day of strength training. The line-up didn't look too hard or leave me with the impression that I wouldn't be able to fully complete the workout. I did my warm-up, began my exercises, and started thinking "maybe I haven't lost that much fitness???" That is until the "lunges" surfaces two-thirds of the way through the exercises.

Well, I got a couple of days of riding in before I started feeling bad. Monday, I started feeling a cold coming on and by Tuesday mid-morning, I was clearly in it's throws. I left the office at 11:30am and headed for the comfort of my Dogfish hoodie and my sweatpants. I went downstairs to the comfort of my recliner and proceeded to sleep the better part of the day. During the night I battled some stomach cramps which I would normally associate with the flu, but I got a flu shot this year.

Now the challenge will be not having the head congestion work it's way into my chest where I'll be dealing with it for several weeks. Again, this is a good time of the year to be down, but I'm certainly more than ready to be back on the bike and putting in some miles.

It seems that the sudden upshot in training stress has taken its toll on me. Last weekend I capped several consecutive good trainer rides with two consecutive longish road rides (both with moderate to upper-moderate intensity).

Perhaps electing to ride this volume immediately following recovery from a head cold was a bad idea. I can not tell at this point if I am dog tired or relapsing into illness.

If I am getting sick, I guess it is a worthy sum to pay for the pleasure of riding outside as much as I was able.