Guess I Shouldn't Have Been Riding...

I guess I should not have been riding last week. I ended up feeling terrible by Thursday night / Friday morning. I spent most of the weekend lying on the couch. Not a fun time, but I'm feeling a little better again today.


I guess the plan will be to wait until all my symptoms are gone before I get back to riding. I suppose, fitness-wise, the damage is already done...

Still Recovering and 2Bliss

I'm still trying to recover from this stupid infection. I went to a specialist on Wednesday and he told me not to ride at all, and that it may take another 2-3 weeks. I'd been riding a little bit again this week, and it actually seemed to help me feel better... until yesterday. I felt terrible last night and so I didn't ride. This thing really sucks...

Like I mentioned before, all this time not riding has meant that I've been able to get my bikes ready for this season. Earlier this week, I pulled the tubes out of the tires on my Epic and set them up tubeless. The wheels and tires use the Specialized 2Bliss system. I was curious to see how this compared to my old bike, which used regular tires with Stan's rims. Basically, it wasn't too different, except that the beads definitely sealed up better. At least with new Kenda tires, I always struggled a little to get the beads to seal the first time. With the Specialized stuff, that wasn't a problem. There were still several pinholes in the tire that needed to be sealed with the sealant, but that didn't take too long. I still haven't ridden them, but the tires have held air for several days now, so I think they should be good to go.

My only beef is with the valve that came with my wheels; it doesn't have a removable core, so the only way to add sealant is to dismount the tire. My Stan's wheels had a removable valve core, so it was pretty painless to add sealant.

Back to Riding?

So, it looks like my infection is mostly cleared up now. I rode on the trainer for a little while last night just to test things out. It was mostly OK, but I think that I won't do Barry-Roubaix this weekend. 2+ hours over bumpy roads is probably not what I need right now.

I'm still hopeful to do the first Rhino Spring Training race next weekend. I doubt that I will be riding well by then, but I should be able to sit in and get a little intensity.

The only good thing that's come out of my down time is that I've basically got my bikes all ready to go for the season (new cables, chains, etc). I'm really itching to take my Epic back out on the trails!

Waste of Time

Being sick is such a waste of time. Fighting off this infection has been slow going. I think the antibiotics are upsetting my stomach a little, which isn't so fun. I also picked up a cold earlier this week to add to things. I guess it's just the human condition...

I haven't been riding, which is really bugging me, especially since the weather is so nice. But, it's only March, and there are plenty of good riding days ahead. Hopefully I'll get feeling better in a couple more days.

I've been reading Moneyball for the past few days. I'm not a huge baseball fan, although I do follow the Tigers, but I've really enjoyed the book.

Rough Couple of Weeks

So, it's been a rough couple of weeks. The muscle I pulled in my chest is feeling better now, and I did get some decent riding in last week. At some point though, I picked up some kind of infection that has prevented me from riding. I've been on antibiotics for a few days, which seems to be helping, but I'm definitely not back to normal yet. I just need to remind myself that it's only March and there's a lot of riding ahead of me...

Not Keeping Up!

Man, I've not been keeping up with my blogging!

February was really pretty decent. I got outside to ride several times; I also ended up riding quite a bit on my trainer. So, that's all been pretty good.

I played hockey a week ago Sunday night. It was pretty fun, but I somehow pulled a muscle in my chest. It's getting better, but it's limited what I can do for strength training.

Racing season is approaching. Less than a month to Barry-Roubaix and Iceman registration tomorrow!

Slipping

So, this winter, I ended up rebuilding my old Bianchi (steel) road bike. It seemed like a lot of things were broken, or weren't working well, so I ended up converting it to a singlespeed. I was mostly able to use old parts that I had laying around, which means the bike has a strange mix of components.

I rode it briefly a couple weeks ago, but my position was really screwed up so it was uncomfortable to ride for very long. The gearing was also a touch too hard. I went back and checked my position more carefully and took it out again on Sunday. I also swapped in a cog with one extra tooth.

It turned out that the new gearing was just about perfect, at least for February riding. On a slight downhill, I was spinning quickly, but nothing too crazy, and the uphills weren't overly tough. Although, by the end of the ride, I was really feeling the climbs. On a singlespeed, there is nowhere to hide!

The only problem was that my seatpost was slipping. I don't know if it was a thermal expansion problem (steel frame / aluminum seatpost), or that I just didn't tighten it enough, too much grease, or what. It took me awhile to notice, but I eventually did, after it had slipped a lot. After I reset and retightened it, I didn't notice any more slippage.

Anyway, it turned out to be a pretty fun bike to ride. I kind of thought it would bother me to only have one gear on the road, but it really didn't turn out to be a big deal. Like I said before, the only problem was that, after 2+ hours of riding, I was wishing for an easier gear on the hills. Still, it wasn't too bad.