DUDE....

An email I received this morning read:

Hey Chet

It's kind of weird looking at your knees when I go to your unutilized blog. Change it with a picture of a bunny rabbit or something.

Well, you don't have to tell me twice. As much as I am sure you all love seeing pictures of Busted Knee I think the time has come to move on.

So My knee injury persisted much longer then I had hopped and practically forced a 3 week rest period...Which turned out to be just what the Doctor ordered (literally).

I started training a week before the the Island View Classic, a great collegiate criterium that UCSB opens up to the a few USCF categories. I believe that Platinum had 16 or 17 riders in a field of 58 or so. Despite our numbers we only managed 3 in the top ten (2nd, 7th, 9th). Many would consider anything but a victory in a race in our own back yard with such a strong presence a defeat but as a team we could not have been happier. We had a great race and did well as a team. We were extremely active and were able to have at least two or three guys in every move and probably the most important result would be how much fun we all had. Most of us are guys with families and full time jobs, cycling is a hobby not a profession and I think as a team we have very good perspective. That being said I had a heck of a time. It was a very very hard race for me although also good to jump right back in there and get speed in the legs.

Racing is virtually impossible to simulate in training. We certainly try, but there is no way to build speed other than racing. The most difficult part was that my "breathing muscles" appeared to be spasming... It is a sensation that I would get sometimes after doing a really hard running race when I was not in shape. It literally feels like all the muscles surrounding the lungs don't want to expand to allow my lungs to expand. Again, a very odd sensation that I have only experienced a handful of times in my life. Don't really know what caused it... Any ideas?

This week was more of the same. I did the Tuesday lunch ride which hurt far more then it should have considering how I was mostly sucking wind. That ride is a doozie for sure... Wed I did Sea Ranch Road intervals in the morning and during the last set experienced the same breathing problem as during the race (although to a much lessor degree). I am not really concerned much as I haven't really noticed this when I have been in shape so it must be related to lack of fitness + hard exertion. Today I headed out and did one of the best times I have seen up OSM in quite awhile although compared to the times I was seeing last year it is still pretty sluggish.

In the mean time I have been sailing quite a bit and really starting to fall back in love with it. Growing up I was always around Sail Boats and my parents have almost always had a sailboat in their life. It is very humbling to be out on the sea (not that I have really been out on high seas by myself, but still). And it seems like there is rarely an expedition with out some kind of Adventure. I am thinking about maybe doing the Wednesday races if I can find a group of guys who would want to race with me consistently.

And last but not least I secured the Bosses permission to race the San Dimas Stage race so I prereg'd today. This is one of the big boy races in SoCal and attracts the big guns. The reason why it is such a big opportunity for me is because has a CAT 2 only field. As a Cat 2, up grade points can often be hard to come by because we usually have to race in the same race as the CAT 1's and Pro Teams and fields that contain riders such as Hilton Clark (Australian National Chamption) and such. Not that it is not possible, it is just very very difficult. I wish I could say I had better form going into this race, but I am where I am. My goal leading up to the race will be to put in big miles this weekend and then perhaps some intervals early next week in an attempt to try to force some form. My goal for the race will be the same as for most every other race: TOTAL AND COMPLETE DOMINATION! How will I see this goal realized? Pretty simply actually. All I need to do is ride faster then everyone else and cross the line first. Working with Astrophysicists often one sees certain principles and properties which suggest that how we understand the laws of physics in mostly correct. What that means basically is that in all actuality we know very little. All I am trying to say is that the laws of physics that constrain the mind of my competitors will not be the same that govern me. I will manipulate the Higs Field and dark matter to create a vacum in which the seemingly impossible will become possible. If I believe it to be real, then it is... or something like that right? Truth be told I am exited to be racing my first ever Cat 2 Stage race. There are a lot of points up for grab and a lot of experience to be had.

Word to the Mother Bird...