Welcome to Just Go Harder

Team Geronimo

Check out Lake Eldora Racing Team fellow Alumni Michael and Brian Buell and all that they’re doing with downhill Mountain Biking.  They headline a professional Team called Team Geronimo.  They were recently in the news for introducing kids to cycling through the National Guard Youth Challenge Program.  Great to see more kids getting the opportunity to ride.

2010 Season Part 3

Raced the one day Trofeo Melinda in the mountainous region of Trentino Italy. The land of apples. If you were to crash off the course on any of the descents, you would land in an apple tree.
The race went ok, putting my teammate Tom Danielson in the top ten after a hard day of repeated climbs, fast decents, and hot temperatures. I felt pretty good for my first race back although I didnt finish, falling from the pace at the start of the last lap of the finish circuits. It was a good welcome back though and Ill defintely adapt and feel stronger when I take the line again next week.

Criterium de Quillan

My teammate Steve Cozza and I went over into France yesterday afternoon for a post-Tour criterium in the scenic little town of Quillan.  We raced for a couple hours on a tight and super bumpy circuit in front of a big drunk crowd there to see their cycling heros.  Down one narrow alley we raced thorough was a tunnel of people trying to hand up beers to the riders every lap.  Fortunately the circuit required enough concentration that nobody grabbed any beers…

We let the Frenchies have most of the fun in front of their home crowd and put on a good show for the fans, sort of like an exhibition game in baseball.  Even so, we go pretty fast and there was even a big crash!  It was the perfect race to come back too with my elbow injury as I could go through the motions but not take too many risks or anything.

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If you’re going through hell…keep going!

I love that line.  Makes sense right? After my third broken arm this season, this year has been particularly hellacious.  But now is NOT the time to stop, say “screw it” and give up and wait till next season.  I will not quit.  I even kissed the Girona lioness…this lion statue here in town that youre supposed to kiss for good luck.  Ive been here for years and never kissed it, so hopefully that was the root of the bad luck this season.  Although I cant do the Vuelta anymore, a national championship jersey and some great rides in the Canadian Pro Tour races and the Giro de Lombardia is my source of motivation at the moment.  I’ve taken up my place behind the scooter this week getting in some intense motorpacing, getting the race feel back in the legs.  It feels good to go 60 kph again for sure, even if its painful sometimes.  My elbow has really started to come around, finally cresting that post injury plateau where it just doesnt seem to improve for a long time.  But suddenly this week the range of motion and strength is really starting to improve again.  I can (sort of) sprint out the saddle and can grab a handful of brake and make evasive maneuvers.  Should be able to throw in a massive bunny hop by the end of the week in which case i should be ready to race!  Off to Italy next week to make my comeback at the Trofeo Melinda and the Giro del Veneto.

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Moving on from cycling

My journey in cycling began simply as fitness training for alpine ski racing.  Many forks-in-the-road later, I find myself at the end of my personal career.  While I may no longer be competing on the bike, cycling has helped shape who I am, and true to the mission of our foundation, I intend to continue to apply the dedication that cycling has taught me to my new direction in life.

The past year has been extremely difficult; I have been struggling with some sort of a leg problem that I now know was External & Common Iliac Endofibrosis. Despite having had teammates diagnosed with the same condition in years past, it was a difficult problem to pinpoint. The symptoms were often fuzzy, they would come and go, and sometimes they were covered up by other problems typical of professional cycling. As such, I raced all last season with what amounts to one and a half legs. Finally in December of 2009 I finally got to the root of the true problem. The next few months consisted of locating the source of my blood flow issues in my left leg.  Without knowing exactly where and to what extent there was damage, I couldn’t begin to explore the options for fixing it. Saving everyone from a two hundred page medical journal, the bottom line for me was that the chances of a successful surgery were about 50%-50% and the chances for instant major complications from surgery were in the 20% range. Additionally, and to me the most important factor, long-term complications remain unknown when a twenty-something year old has major vascular surgery.

After a bit of an inner journey, I made the decision that is right for me. Currently, I don’t really have a medical problem. I can exercise all I want, and I’ll be able to for the rest of my life, the only thing I really can’t do is ride a bike at a level that will pay the mortgage.  For my family and me, having the certainty that I’ll be healthy enough to play with my future kids is the absolute priority over taking a chance that could allow me to race for a few more years with the long term affects on my life remaining in question.

If you are looking for more details on the when and how, Brian Holcombe with Velonews, did a write up that will hopefully help anyone else out there that is dealing with an unknown leg problem.

It has taken a long time for me to traverse this final difficult road; I’m only now becoming comfortable with my decision. I’ll miss cycling everyday, but that would still happen were I to retire ten years from now. I will still ride my bike, and I’ll still watch bike races. I won’t be racing anymore but the sport will always be part of my life. Thanks to all my family and friends who are the reason I ever got anywhere with a bike!

Ian

Dont do this

Loren and our dog Karli departed for the USA a few days ago, leaving me here in Girona with a nearly healed elbow and no distractions for a few weeks of training before getting back into racing.  We drove to the airport to drop them off in the morning, Loren a bit nervous flying Karli in her crate down below with the luggage.  Traveling with just yourself and a carry on back can be nervewracking itself, but keeping track of the dog as she gets loaded and unloaded is a big chore.  We have the routine down pretty well now though so thats nice, and Karli the world traveler is a seasoned pro in the airplane and her crate, so nothing to worry about there.  After we checked them in, I went down into the cargo security area to put Karli and crate through security before loading on the plane.  The crate went through the scanner, Karli went through the arch way and into the crate.  As I put Karli into her crate I put her leash in as well.  The security guy noticing the bag on the end of the leash opened it up to find, like I told him, poop bags, and, to my surprise, a mace canister.  Loren carries it with her for night time dog walks and we forgot that it was in the bag.  So basically to the security guy I was attempting to sneak some mace into the create.  Oops, sorry forgot about that.  Well just throw it away and we’ll get on with getting the dog out the door, right? No. This was a big deal.  Why we couldnt throw it away and run it all through security again was beyond me.  45 minutes, 3 checks of my passport (and i wasnt even traveling) and arguments in Spanish with 3 different security people,  I was cleared of wrongdoing (barely and we got Karli out the door.  The best part is in the end, they gave me my can of mace back!! can you believe that?  I should have used the mace on that idiot.  Im super enraged at this point because its taken so long my wife had to leave to go through security as her plane was taking off in 15 minutes.  I sprinted out the door and through the airport just in time for a quick goodbye before I dont see her for 3 weeks.  Not the best way to do it but at least theres no time to get to emotional.  Luckily that was all the bad luck for the trip and they made it back to CO no problem.

Karlis ready to fly

Raisin Hope Foundation

After my traumatic brain injury in 2008, I have become involved with the Raisin Hope Foundation, started by my friend and former teammate Saul Raisin after his serious brain injury to raise awareness of the problem of traumatic brain injuries as well as financial support. Raisin Hope has expanded to Colorado and and the Criterium and Charity Ride on August 21 in Golden will benefit Craig Hospital in Denver, specialist in brain and spinal cord injuries. Craig is where I spent all my time for rehab from my injury and to whom i owe much of my recovery. My time at Craig was an eye opening experience. As i struggled with my injury I saw people there that were way worse off than I. I am EXTREMELY fortunate to have my life and career back to normal for the most part, but many people will struggle for years to regain a fraction of their previous normal lives.  Join us at the Just Go Harder Foundation in support of the Raisin Hope Colorado Event for a great day of riding and meeting some amazing people.

It was one of those days…

Some days you should just stay in bed. Unfortunately the initial bad omen rarely hits before you saddle up and head out the door. It was over a week ago now, but I had one of those rides. Woke up to a beautiful sunny day and the chance to go train with my friend Dom of the Cervelo team on one of my first few days back outside on the bike. A welcome change. It started when he got two flat tires within the first hour of training. After a while of riding through some intense heat, then a needlessly long line at the grocery store to buy some drinks, it started absolutely pouring rain. Torrential down pour. We rode over mountains as I gingerly descended the backsides. Made it through that unscathed, not taking any risks in the rain to avoid another crash. It dried up and we were 10 min from Girona after a 5 hour ride when it started sprinkling again. as we were in the middle of a roundabout we both slipped out and hit the deck. Luckily Dom was first so he padded my fall as I landed on top of him. I was in shock as I knew I had landed on my left side, again. But amazingly that 9 euro rollerblade elbow pad totally saved my ass. A little sore the next day but none worse for the wear. Unbelievable. I got home and got into bed and didnt leave till the next day. Im thinking about coming out with my own line of light weight, breathable protective padding for road cycling…any investors?

Elbow Hardware

Elbow hardware

Saw the doc today for a checkup and an Xray.  The fracture seems to be healing well and Im even gonna venture on the outside bike this afternoon.  Gonna go buy some rollerblade style elbow pads first though.  Really…

Big Day

To fool my body into thinking its doing 6 hour rides, Ive been hopping on the trainer in the morning, going for a big hike, and then back on the trainer right afterwards when i get home.  The legs wont know the difference of all that hiking in the middle if you sandwich it between to rides on the hometrainer right?

I dragged Loren and Karli up some steep hillsides to nearly 3000 meters today.  Its nice going places you cant reach on a road bike!  Karli gave me a little extra training chasing after her.  She found the same herd of chamois (Euro mtn goats) that we found earlier in the week and took off hearding them in a big group up and down the valley.  I scurried my way down the rocks to keep her in sight.  Finally the mountain goats were too much for her and she came back like always.  Maybe the 2000 vertical feet straight up we did after that will teach her not to do a big chase effort in the first hour of the hike!

Thanks to Loren again for putting up with my epic slogs staight up the steepest hills around.

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