Quest for TBP 7713

Friday the thirteenth.
Breakfast of French Toast, an egg, and bacon (and some of Tiff's sausage).
Small chill session back at Zen's place, then back on the bikes.
Same route as yesterday. To be perfectly honest, I was kinda hoping that we'd skip it today.
14.8 miles.
We took 10 minutes of the time and increased the average speed by 2mph.
AND I found a little air. Thank you FSM.
Whereas yesterday's ride was a bit discouraging, today's ride helped to balance that.

I am fairly certain that tomorrow is going to be horrendously painful. It's almost a given. There is nothing I can do about that. Not a damn thing. I realized this earlier in the week and have stopped freaking out that I'm not at the weight or training milestone that I wanted to be. Too late. I can either give up and decide not to do this ride, or utilize every fiber in my body/soul/mind and finish. It's nice to have nice clean black and white choices like that.

After the ride, we hit the store and then headed for the TBP 2007 Bikejoural Picnic.
I was able to meet some BikeJers that I'd talked with for a long time, and a few that I'd not met. Zin, Kin, SombraGato, Zcubed, Deadhead, Pathfinder, Lucine, Popeye, Timmy, Howard, HiGuy, SuperNana, BikePrincess, Bill, BowWow, Rob01, and many more.

Cycling truly brings out the best people. Amazing.

Post picnic, it was time to go home and pack the van. I'd promised Kev that we'd play NetHack, so that was a big priority. Tiff and Zen were such a flurry of activity that I started to get a little nervous. I gathered everything together, quite quickly, actually. Simple minds, I guess. After some issues getting the van packed just right, we were all set.

There's nothing left to do. ('cept sleep)

Tomorrow, I will do something that very few people I know think is even possible for them to accomplish. In fact, it wasn't that long ago that a ride like TBP was just one of those amazing things that nutter cyclists did.

TBP is the anvil upon which I will lay my soul. Each gobble of blessed HammerGel serves to heat my soul, each foot climbed and mile passed is the hammer blow reforging my soul to something stronger and sharper that it was before. Each gulp of water the quenching that fixes my soul in it's new form.

Today is the last day that I will be who I am. By this time tomorrow, I will be remade. Something different, stronger, sharper.


See you on the other side!


Maarburg
Meatspace coordinates:
Latitude: N 39.91
Longitude: W 105.09

Quest for TBP 7712

Today's ride was a real eye opener.
There is no fsking air in Colorado. I'm not sure where it went, or when it was taking, but it's gone.
I could not believe how quickly I was in oxygen debt. Sucking air like a fish out of water. We (Zen, Tiff, and I) rode the 14+ miles in about an hour.. and my lungs were burning for 55 of them.

Not encouraging.

TBP ain't about the climbs or the distance anymore. It's about the fsking air.
Or lack there of.

FSM help me.

Maarburg
Meatspace coordinates:
Latitude: N 39.91
Longitude: W 105.09

Quest for TBP 7711

The most dangerous people in the state....

Sorry Tiff's head got cut off.. Damn squirrels, just can't take photos..

Quest for TBP 7710

Kathleen and I are now safe in the land of Hypoxia.

Zen took me up the the "foothills" to get a little perspective for what I'll be in for in four days. This picture is from the top of the 'Flagstaff Climb'. That nice flat basin in the hazy distance.. . that's where we were a mere four miles previous.

Ouch.

I'm in for a boatload of a pain and suffering on the 14th.

Can't wait.

A nice little thunderstorm has set in. Zen seems so nonchalant, it's almost funny.
CO is interesting, like being on another planet.

Maarburg
Meatspace coordinates:
Latitude: N 39.91
Longitude: W 105.09

Quest for TBP 7707

Saturday:
Ankle Tendon seems to be doing much better after, yet, another night of RICE, and some serious babying. So much favoritism that my right calf is complaining a bit.
Lower GI issues are still present and I really have no clue what to try next.
Gorging/Fasting/Softner/Fiber/ungodly ammounts of fluids have all yeilded limited results.

Hmm.. 1/2 of SF Chocolate might due the trick... can I afford to be bed ridden?


Frustrated yet determined,
-Maarburg

Tour de France 2007 Picks

Andreas Kloeden
Alexandre Vinokourov
Alejandro Valverde
Carlos Sastre
Cadel Evans
Levi Leipheimer
Denis Menchov
Schleck
Contador
Christophe Moreau


-Maarburg

Quest for TBP 2007 (7706)

Friday:
Pain is slightly subsided. Of course, I'm terrified of making it worse and totally babying the ankle.
Contrary to my desire, but inline with logic, I went to the Doc.
Doc looked real worried. Didn't like that I had no 'trauma' to cause this. As the pain was very centralized and not at the location of most angle tendon damage (ATFL), her thoughts turned to worst case scenarios. BTW, her brother lives in CO and has done TPB.
A trip to Radiology negates all worst case scenarious. Most notably Novicular fracture or spur.

Diagnosis: Damaged/inflamed ligament.
Remedy: R.I.C.E. and this cool anti-inflametory/pain killer, No weight on the foot or ankle for 5 days and then only very light. Advised not to do TBP, but then she looked at me, shook her head and said... get lots of rest before hand.
She wrote me a double prescription for the cool meds.


Just goes to show you.. most people, when the look into the eye of Crazy, the know it.

-Maarburg

Quest for TBP 2007 (7705)

Thursday:
The pain grew, sharper and more expanded. Not Good.
Tried not to make a big deal about it. The negative ramifications of this being serious are too much to deal with.
By evening, I was unable to find a position in which the ankle didn't yell.
Large ammounts of Vitamin I and an ice pack under an ACE bandage while whatching whatever the hell is on TV at 3am seemed to do the trick. Fell asleep at 4:30a

-Maarburg

Quest for TBP 2007 (7704)

7704:
While relaxing and trying to recover from a mysterious stomach ailment....
I noticed a tightness in my left ankle.
As the day wore on, the tightness turned into one of those mystery pains. Those pains that apear from nowhere and disapear by morning.

This one didn't. Any lifting of the toes, droping of the toes or rolling of the ankle inward caused sharp pain.

-Maarburg