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)

Horner around every corner

A week since seeing the pulmonary specialist - one more week off the bike to go - finally got a full nights sleep, in any position, without any pain last night. Progress. Baby steps. Staying motivated while your team and others around you fill up the podium and continue to ride into shape is as painful as the injury. I've been thinking a lot this past couple weeks about recovering - and going on.

Getting older = slower recover

Patience little donkey. While that's a fact, it's not an easy pill to swallow - in fact, most of the past week I have been choking down ibuprofen and pain killers with the same lack of zeal.

The Giro di Sardegna wrapped up last week and there he was, last year's Crashing Out poster boy - Chris Horner - finishing a tough second only 4 seconds back of Liquigas' Roman Kreuziger. Not bad at all. And not a scratch on him!

So, Horner (Chris, not Lena) has been sounding off in my head a lot this past week - especially every time I see an email from guys on the Echelon team, or read local race results, even hearing about the crashes and mishaps in the season's first Banana Belt race. So how did Horner (photo above by Graham Watson) do it? He broke several bones this past year. In fact, it got to be crazy stupid what this guy was going through. Clearly in some of the best form of his life - and a couple days older than teammate Lance Armstrong - he just couldn't stay on the road, at least upright, to show any of it. Yet, he did stay focused and positive (okay, there was that one negative stretch when he was left off the Tour selection... peloton politics). All right Ger, suck it up, this too shall pass.

Learning with each breath
Ya know, breathing is NOT over rated, in fact it's completely under-acknowledged as a ongoing activity of our bodies. This past couple weeks breathing has been a real issue - I think about it almost all the time, 5-7 out of the 20 odd times I inhale per minute. Fewer than 2-3 minutes breeze by without my struggling for a deep breath, inhaling and grabbing my ribs, or flirting with a cough or sneeze that sends me writhing in pain. Breathing. That simple. In the midst of a future race or training or climbing Logie Rd. I'll think, "wow, deep breath, wow!" and marvel at the simple act. I'm taping a reminder note to handlebars.

With doc approval I jumped (actually crawled up slowly) on the bike, locked on the trainer, for the first time since the visit to ER 10 days ago - a simple, very simple, half hour at 34x23 was sweat-breaking and was all my left lung wanted. I got off and wrote the note on the tape - it's going onto the bars now.

*****

BTW - Chris Horner will be serving as the official Pro Ambassador for:

ECHELON GRAN FONDO PORTLAND/COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE

Bend, OR resident, and Team RadioShack® Rider will return to his home state to promote and participate in the state’s inaugural Echelon event

Horner Shacking up with Amrstrong & Leipheimer

Local Bend pro cyclist Chris Horner has penned a contract with Team RadioShack for the next two seasons enabling him to continue riding with former Astana teammates Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer, according to The Oregonian article posted tonight on their website. The O - for which Horner reports regularly in a race diary and feature columns - reports that Horner, in one last show in his Astana colors, will line up for the start of the season's last great classic, the Giro di Lombardia, on October 17th.

Ten Reasons to watch the Vuelta

1. No LA
2. No mention of LA (so far)
3. No reference to how it was when Lance won this race (although he did finish 4th in 1998... see, he is not just a one-trick pony)
4. No commercials for Lance (although after September 1st Radioshack, I mean The Shack, I mean... well what ever they call themselves, may have bought commercial spots since they are UCI compliant and the secret is out of the bag, oh btw, did you hear Levi also signed with RS.)
5. You get to see Belgium in some other season but the cold and rain of the Spring Classics (it does look greener in the warm and rain of August)
6. No soap opera stars to distract from bike racing* - Conti, LA and Levi are all missing
7. Somebody will win a sprint besides Cavendish - even if they do ride for Columbia HTC
8. You get an Aussie commentator (who does know a fair thing or two about pro cycling) which enables you to learn colourful bits like:
   
   • "looking fairly handy"
   • "all gone pear-shaped"
   • "tell mum he buggered that one up"
     
9. We and the UCI finally get to see the "Teflon man", Alejandro Valverde, since they can't seem to stick him for any of the million and one doping connections they reportedly have tried to ban him for
10. And finally, we hope, we get to see American Chris Horner, in the best shape of his life, at least finish, if not contest, a Grand Tour without a ... Ah crap! NO! results just in from Stage 4... and... Horner is out, a crash! Dang it!

* sorry, Vino is back

Seriously, Universal Sports (the guys who gratefully brought us the Giro d'Italia at the last minute) just penned a four-year deal for the Vuelta as well as Milan San Remo, the Worlds, and a handful of races we would never otherwise get to see, so it's worth tuning in - online or on the old technology, television.