Of Baseball Bats and Bikes

At first glance those two articles of sporting life wouldn't appear to have much in common, but then the colorful Chris Horner steps up to the mic, "and the next morning I felt like I was beaten up by a baseball bat.” Referring to his crash in Mondays Paris Nice race. Gosh, wasn't just a few days ago I was scribbling a few thoughts about Horner and crashing? Hmmm?

And baseball bats - yes, I feel your pain, or did a couple weeks ago anyway. That's a perfect description for how my ribs and lung felt on the left side.

This morning was the follow up with the pulmonary specialist - and for the most part there are no baseball bats in my future (I hope). X-ray of the lungs was pretty clean except... don't you always hate that! "Yes, except what", I asked. Well there is this little 21mm blob that hasn't cleared quite yet, and "we just want to keep an eye on that and make certain it's nothing, like an infection or cancer." Oh, okay.

WHAT!?

Ya, why is it that when ever anyone mentions that word - cancer - like a 8.2 quake in Chile our personal planet shifts on its axis a wee bit? I guess that's a legit reaction. Especially when your brother just died of lung cancer and complications - although we live universally different lives - period. But, the doc just wants to know it's gone so I'll pedal my arse back in there in three more weeks for a bit more x-ray exposure and see if the little blob was a blip or something to deal with. His, the doc's, feeling - it's a blip and will be gone. And I firmly believe that - I'm not going anywhere folks.

In the meantime, I'm back to workout sessions and return to the bike - as much as the lungs can support. No racing quite yet - so missing the entire Banana series sadly. Next target Kings Valley Road Race on April 10th - a full month to get in enough shape to do a bit more research on the Laterne Rouge - hopefully, hang in the bunch for the 56 miles.

And Congrats Jens!
Speaking of crashes - our favorite oldster just took the yellow jersey this afternoon in the Paris Nice race. Stage 2 finished in a small break getting over the punchy 1km climb and there was our boy Jens Voigt - back from last years horrific crash (that was a hellava lot of baseball bats all at once!) in the Tour de France and looking as fit and exuberant and the best 38 year old ever to ride a bike (. Watching him (it's live via the net every morning via steephill tv) take the podium and smile as happy as a kid on his birthday with a new bike was awesome. He had this post-race quip: A happy Voigt pointed out after taking the yellow jersey from Lars Boom (Rabobank). “If there’s a white jersey for younger riders, I think there should be a jersey for riders over 35. Call it the maillot gris.” (from VeloNews)