My Bad Day

The crash happened so fast that my first sensation was hitting the ground. I will never forget the instantaneous thought, Wow. I just hit the road really effing hard.

It was loud and violent. At the same instant I felt my head hit the ground, I also had the thought, Damn, these helmets actually work!

In this pic, you can see the left rear of the helmet crushed in. If you could see inside, the material is fractured and broken all the way to the front.

I have road rash, bruises and a snapped collarbone. Surgery is next week on 9/18, the day I was planning on driving up to register for the race. In the olden days (when we were kids) these were left to heal as-is, and it ended up a nasty mess. Plates and screws are an option, but leave a different kind of mess -- a big zipper scar and plates+screws visible through the skin.

I am fortunate to have an ortho surgeon in my town that does a newer procedure where a flexible rod is run down inside the two pieces (well, three in my case) of bone, then locked into a stiff state. Couple small incisions and quicker recovery. This will cost me a bit more out of pocket -- I have a high deductible health plan. But I'm an active guy and I want to be 100% when this is over.

Besides, I didn't repair the ACL in my right knee when it blew out, so I'll spend that money now.

This mishap occurred as I was coming down Pinehurst Road on the backside of the Oakland Hills. On a gentle downgrade, I was in my biggest gear. After slowing a bit around a sweeping curve, I stood up to regain speed. As soon as I stomped down, the chain came off the big ring. It's like walking down stairs carrying a heavy weight and then suddenly one step is missing.

My body weight slammed down onto the bars; I started to lose control; hit the brakes to slow down and found myself hitting the ground. Don't know if I went down on my own, or ... did I get hit?

Unfortunately, a guy had come up to draft off me a moment earlier. He went right over top of me, and I understand that he has an AC separation. Every cyclist knows the risk of drafting at high speed. Well...should know the risk. This guy seems to think I should be responsible for his medical costs. Not in a million years.

So, my season and quest is over. But, if you've read much of this blog, you know how much I got out of it. My health, my confidence, my entire well-being. This is just the start of the rest of my life, and I will carry on.

I'm Done

Details to come, but I did this last night on my bike. Surgery today or tomorrow.

Race Bike Testing

I've been riding my road bike -- a classic geometry steel Holland frame that I had made in 1990. It's just so nice to ride that I didn't want to switch over to the race bike till I had to. Well, I have to.

Took the TT bike out last night for a shakedown ride after completing the build. I have the 11sp Shimano drivetrain with bar-end shifters. Chainrings are 50/34 compact-style, with the big ring being one of those oval-ish Q-Rings. I like the Q-Rings since the crank speeds up very slightly coming over the top. When riding in a tuck, it makes the pedal circle feel smoother to me. I don't believe that the ring does anything for my power output, but I like the feel of it. The inner ring is a stock round 34. Largest rear cog is 32. That will allow me to stay in a nice cadence rhythm on the climbs, while keeping power down in the <180w range where I need it to be.

The biggest adaptation moving over to the race bike is the low front end. I ride the road bike with the bars about an inch below the saddle. On the race bike, the bars are a good 9 inches down. The armpads on the bar extensions are 7.5 inches down. In addition, the saddle moves from 8cm behind the bottom bracket on the road bike to 5cm in front on the race bike.

Initially, it feels horrible. Like I'm falling on my face over the front wheel. My head is in front of the steering tube; I have to look backwards and down to see my bike computer. But, once I got into a little rhythm, I remembered why I like this setup so much.

It's FAST. It's both aerodynamically fast, and it's power-output fast. I have to consciously back off to keep from riding too hard. The forward tucked position just invites aggressive riding. Cruising along at my goal 155w power level feels like hardly pedaling -- just keep the foot circles going and let the legs fall down. Of course, it does take effort and fatigue will build the same as riding the road bike. But, it takes no mental focus to keep the pedals going. Very easy to ride like this.

The downside to the setup is that I can't see up the road very far. It's unnerving and not entirely safe. My neck started getting sore after an hour, and my deltoid muscles hurt a bit from having my weight on my elbows, with the elbows close together. The safety problem is why I don't ride like this all the time. In races, the roads are closed, it's not pack riding, and it's not an issue. But in real life, I limit riding like this to the final few weeks before an event.

I'll get in 4-5 rides the next two weeks and will have adapted my neck and shoulder muscles just fine. I'm excited to be back on this bike. Saturday's ride in the wind up at Tahoe would have been a lot easier on this bike than on the road bike with the more upright position.

Weekend in Tahoe

I went up to Tahoe for a couple of days to do some swimming, riding and running. Mainly to do a shakeout of gear and to get a feel for effort levels at altitude.

I've been insisting on the forums that the altitude is a non-issue if you're pacing properly. IOW -- you don't "feel" the altitude. You're not out of breath or light headed or any of that...provided that you pace properly. That means to go roughly 5% slower than at sea level. The 5% figure is what the NCAA uses to adjust qualifying times for events at altitude. They didn't just make that number up -- it was derived based on actual athlete performances. USA swimming adjusts swim times by about 3%.

And that's about exactly what I found. I swam, I rode and I ran. In all three disciplines, I just went a little slower/easier than at sea level and felt no effect of altitude. For swim, I kept turnover slightly slower than in the pool. Just a split-second extra glide each half stroke and I could just cruise. On the bike, I sat on my goal power (155w on flats; 175w uphill; 140w downhill up to 30mph). Never felt pressured or out of breath. I didn't clock my run splits, but went on feel and felt smooth and comfortable. Based on past experience, I was probably running 20-30 sec/mile slower than down here.

The other goal was a gear shakeout. I rented a wetsuit from Sports Basement, and it fit and performed as expected. I have the right size and it does what it is supposed to do.

I didn't get my race bike built up in time to take with me, but I altered the road bike to mimic the race bike body position, just slightly more upright. That all worked out great except for the saddle. I had an Adamo TT race saddle lying around so I put it on the bike. The Tower of London guards couldn't have come up with a more tortuous saddle. That thing is going in the trash and I'm putting my old trusty Specialized 2001-era saddle back on the bike.

The good news is that I felt smooth and comfortable riding in the aero bars for a couple hours, something I've not done in several years. I have two weeks of riding the race bike before the event, and I'll be adapted just fine.

All in all, things are on track. My fitness remains woefully meager. After riding the bike course, I've reassessed my estimated split. I'm now thinking more like 3:20 or so. It's an awful lot of climbing and I am a relatively weak climber (low power/weight ratio).

Swim easy, ride easy and don't walk on the run leg. That's my race plan and I think I can do it. Best guess right now is...

Swim 35-40
Bike 3:15-3:25
Run 2:06-2:15

Total: 6:15-6:30

That should be roughly in the middle of the 60-70 guys in my age group (50-54).