SICK

Its been a rough couple weeks. After the last good bit of training I found myself semi sick. Over the course of a week it just got worse and worse, and now I find myself with an ear and sinus infection. Im on the tail end of it now, but I really haven't ridden my bike in 2 weeks!

Its hard to deal with because its taking sooooooo long to go away. Im on antibiotics now, but it still seems to be lingering. On a good note, today was the first day that I woke up without having an ear ache, and being able to hear properly. So that's good at least!

Life goes on.

Its been awhile since an update, and few new things to report. Im slipping into my consistent life here in Penticton, which any athlete will tell you is the recipe for a sound mind and good training The weather has been unbelievable the past few days. We are going on a week of 25 degree temps, and I find myself barbecuing in shorts in March!

Training has been decent, but not unreal. Ive been following the plan of my new coach Keith Wilson pretty regularly doing about 17-22 hour weeks. I feel my training could be better(Ie doing more, more stretching, better recovery, better nutrition etc etc), but I think as an athlete you think that every year no matter how good your training is. Im still fighting off the cruise weight, but its slowly coming off. Id like to loose another 8 pounds or so before the real races hit. I think as I get older as a male Im going to put on muscle density weight naturally, simply by getting older, but its a hard concept to be comfortable with as a cyclist!

A couple of us raced one of the Spring Series in Vancouver a couple weeks ago. It was a quick trip as we were in and out doing 2 races. To be honest I got my ass handed to me. With 2 weeks of real training in my legs its not unexpected. On top of that Ive been having some fit issues with the new bike/shoes and rode my saddle a bit too high. With the first race pace of the year, I totally destroyed my back and pulled out both days as it was reallllllllly sore.

I have a fit session with Retul bike fit guru Jim at the shop later this week, so Im hoping I can get everything ironed out. Other than that its been ok.

Clayton and I did a pretty sweet 165km ride last Sunday to a mountain pass called Anarchist. As you can imagine its a pretty solid climb, being about 13ish km all the way up with a lot of switchbacks at a steady(and nice) 7ish % grade. Ive been feeling good on the climbs but have still been keeping my HR pretty low to build a good foundation this year. All the way back to Penticton we had a horrible 65km of headwind to fight. By the end of it I was definitely cooked. Luckily the weather was unreal and my tan lines got off too a great start!

Im pretty happy overall with my life. The lady is scheduled to come out the first week of May, and we have an unbelievable apartment lined up. It is my dream apartment to tell the truth. We can afford it, but it doesn't come with furniture, which was a bummer but expected. Ive been looking for furniture the past week or so and a few good friends are loaning/giving us most of the furniture we need, so Im super stoked about that. I love this town and everything about it.

                                                               (The new apartment!)

Penticton