15 August 2007

There Is No Strike Three...

Couple updates about cycling.

1. Last Monday night I had a dizzy spell on the bike during a group ride. Here's the journal entry:

Rode w/Tom, Joe and Roger for about five miles then flatted (rear). Found that my rim tape was messed up. Couldn't fix it there, so I just put a new tube in and hoped for the best. Was rolling along nicely solo for a bit and then got dizzy at the golf course. Everything just got real fuzzy for a few minutes. Consciously steered the bike to the right, not intending to go off the shoulder, but ended up off-road in the grass. Slid to a stop, dizzy the whole while. Weird. Never fell or anything, but very strange. Collected myself and thought it best to call Karen for a SAG (discretion being the better part of valor and all that). Sitting here an hour or so later and I still don't feel quite right. Off for a nice cool shower.


Have gotten a couple nice (but short) rides in the last few days, and everything (my head in particular) seems to be fine.

2. About a month ago I had trouble with rear wheel flats on the LeMond. During a Dixboro ride I flatted again, but this time noticed that my rim was cracked in a couple places. Took the wheel to Dan at D&D and he sent it to Trek (the actual maker of the bike). The good news is that they are replacing the wheel! The only bummer has been doing without the LeMond for a month (although I've put the Maruishi through its paces lately and it's a great bike!). Yesterday I finally asked Dan if there was anything we could do to get the LeMond running. He graciously got me a loaner wheel. Today was my first ride back on the Tourmalet. Felt great. They called me tonight to tell me my replacement wheel is in. Things are looking up. Sort of (keep reading).

3. Late last year I set my sites on two "event" rides for 2007 - DALMAC and CFC. I've been piling up the miles and the climbing all season in preparation for these two events. About a month ago I had to cancel my participation in DALMAC (long story, but painfully necessary). Strike ONE. I was pretty bummed about having to cancel, but CFC was my real goal anyway. Today I got an e-mail which notified me that CFC was canceled for this year. Strike TWO.

That pretty much sums it up.
Out.
J

1 comment:

Howard said...

In reverse order:

3) Bummer! Now you'll have to come out to Colorado to road-test those steely quads on some real climbs.

2) I keep hearing stories like this and wonder how local bike shops manage to stay in business, so many of them are so nice and generous!

1) While not a stroke, it could have been stroke-ish in the sense that a small but occasionally used part of your brain was temporarily starved for oxygen and nutrients. I would advise you take a single aspirin ASAP should this happen again. It couldn't hurt, but it could help a lot if I'm right. As a matter of fact, half an aspirin a day is highly recommended to middle-aged dudes if there's any family history of stroke.

--
Dr. Howard, who only plays a doctor on the internets