Journal of professional cyclists Ian MacGregor and Timmy Duggan

Benefit from The Pros Closet

Timmy — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:47:21 +0000

Check out our new sponsor, The Pros Closet, for some Tour de France memorabilia and Slipstream cycling stuff, sales of which will benefit the Just Go Harder Foundation. Thank you!!!

Recovery and Return to Racing

Timmy — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:05:09 +0000

I met with my doctors at Craig Hospital last week to get another CAT scan and devise a time frame for my return to racing. We did a CAT scan instead of an MRI because my neurologist wanted to see if there was any new bleeding or anything that may have caused my massive week of fatigue and depression. Luckily there was nothing remarkable on the scan except that the scar has developed from the hematoma. This doesn’t really mean much other than it is just there and is a representation of the severity of the injury. Just as a scar from road rash or something doesn’t mean your elbow is more likely to burst at the seams, it just means that you got some road rash. That was encouraging and an indication that my healing has progressed but the things I’m still trying to correct will just take more time and rest. Consulting with my neurologists, my team doctor, my coach , and my family, I’ve decided to not participate in any further races for this season. I will, however, take the line at the US Professional National Championships in Greenville, SC in the individual time trial. Having nationals as a goal is a good way to keep me sane for now while I am training to return to competition. It will fit in well with what I have been capable of training at this point. Lately I have been able to do short hard rides, and long easy rides, but long AND hard rides are still a little much for me as it takes days to recover. However, that’s not a big deal with a 40 minute time trial. So this month I have been training for that. I’m hoping my legs can come around in the next couple weeks and I can put in a good ride, but if not that’s ok too, because really the biggest victory is just to be back to my team and competition. I’m really looking forward to pinning on a number again soon.

Thanks for checking in

Boulder Bike Park

Timmy — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:31:56 +0000

If you haven’t heard of it already, my hometown of Boulder, co is embarking on a really cool project, the valmont bike park. Soon it will hopefully be a playground for all types of cycling with mtb courses and cyclocross tracks. Check out the valmont bike park website and this news article to learn more.Thanks for checking in

Tour of Utah up next

Ian — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 16:14:08 +0000

The past few days have been nothing special. A couple easy rest days, and a couple big 5hr days in the mountains. I’ve just been trying to polish off the form before heading to Utah on Monday for the five day Tour of Utah. I’m really excited for this race; two big mountain days at high altitude, and hopefully my form is still there! For Team Type 1, the race should be perfect for our team full of strong climbers, we’ll try and get our hands on some of the $75,000 in prize money.

Best of luck to two of my teammates, Moises and Chaddy in Beijing, and also to former teammate Friedman!

Recovery Update

Timmy — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 01:49:44 +0000

The last couple weeks have been a bit of an experiment. I arrived in Colorado from Europe last month with a solid 2 1/2 weeks of EZ riding in Girona under my belt. With I little “base” I started to up the training intensity a notch or 2 for a good block. Initially things were good, I did moderately hard 5-10 minute intervals on my time trial bike and even went at maximum heart rate at a couple points to see how I would react. Even at above 190 I felt fine with no dizziness or anything like that. I did a few solid rides in the mountains with some shallow climbing. And this week I’m really paying for it all, unfortunately. I’m really just knocked flat all day. I just woke up from a 4 hour afternoon nap and I havent done anything all week except take a hunting certification class. (Im proud to announce I passed the test with a 100% and shot the elk target right through the heart on the first shot in the firing range. So this fall Ian will have another hunting partner.) I realize that my recovery is just not up to a normal level yet. Doing just a third of what I would normally do in training just wipes me out after a few days. I feel like my teammates who just finished the Tour. I basically took this whole week off to recover, either doing a short EZ ride or not at all. Fatigue can be a common side effect of traumatic brain injuries even months after the injury. I have to maybe give my injury a little more credit and seriousness. Although I handled training well initially, repeated efforts at a harder intensity render me unable to recover normally for now. With brain injury recovery, its one thing to have a normal every day life and have it not affect your work, sleep, social activities, etc. anymore. But in cycling I am working with the top few percent of my capacity. Although I may be fine in my every day life, that few percent I am still missing comes out in my recovery ability. But its all ok because now I know and I can back it off. I also realize that I have to be realistic with the rest of my season. I wanted to make a solid run at the National Time Trial Championship but it will be tough for me to be at a high level by then. I will at least race just to get the sensations back again! But for now I have to really take it day by day and focus on my recovery. I will spread out harder rides and take as long as I need to recover from them. It may not be as fast as I would like, but my recovery is happening and I have to take it slow. I am also continuing to work with a psychologist and even a hypnotist for some other lingering issues.In a few days I will be down at Craig Hospital for another MRI scan and doctor update, so ill let you all know what they say. Thanks for your support

Camping, guns, beer, oh and a bike race too!

Ian — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:42:50 +0000

This past weekend Timmy and I, along with Jason Donald, Mike Friedman, Blake Caldwell (all Garmin), and Mike Lange (Jelly Belly) headed up to Salida for an Omnium and the Colorado State road race. We had one heck of a fun time! It was great to just relax and have some fun during the middle of the long road season. The priorities for the three days included eating ‘friedmand foil food,’ shooting a lot of clay pigeons, and having a beer or two - ok maybe three! The best part was that we acutally all rode pretty well in the race, with Jason winning the crit and the omnium overall, Blake was third in the omnium, and I won the road race while finishing fifth in the omnium.

A few long training rides in the mountains await this week, hopefully it won’t be near as hot up high.

Mt Evans

Ian — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:58:19 +0000

I had the legs to win, but didn’t. Three days later and I’m still frustrated about the finish. I should be happy with 2nd, but I really don’t like to miss opportunities for race wins. Oh well, at least I felt good which is no small feat when racing at 14,000ft above sea level.

Took the past couple days pretty easy, trying to rest up and doing some gardening around the house. I’ll be doing the mid-week crit tonight in just a couple hours, then a long ride in the mtns. tomorrow. After that, Timmy and I’ll will be heading to Salida for a three day stage race. Timmy won’t be racing but instead will continue to put in some ’safe’ miles while continuing to get back to the bike. Maybe I can get him to make my bottles and pump up my tires!

If you’ve got a moment, check out my teammate Emile’s recent crash, just click the link then go to the ‘video’ button below the photo of the crash.

In B Town, Finally With A Bike

Timmy — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:57:28 +0000

Loren and I returned from Europe and are now back home in Boulder. Being in Europe this last month was a good experience for me. A big part of why I went was to test myself in new situations and new places, speaking French and Spanish, and see if any mental deficits came about, like finding the right word, not understanding spoken language or just feeling a little slow. Fortunately everything felt really normal. I even totally forgot while I was over there that it was almost expected I may run into troubles in that area. My doctor said that if there were any issues hidden they would surely show themselves being in new places with new people and speaking a 2nd or 3rd language, so it was very encouraging. Its good to see Karli, our dog, again. When we got back she was tired and muddy from spending the month with our parents playing with other dogs, hiking, or hanging out at the construction site. She welcomed us back so she could rest a little bit I think. I’m glad to be back in Boulder and now I will attempt to ease into some structured training and a regular routine. It was an adjustment for Karli too…the first day I rode from home and returned, she was barking at me as I walked into the door, unsure who this argyle-clad clown was clomping up the stairs with a bike. She hadn’t seen me with my cycling gear on since February and wasnt sure what to make of it! Anyways, hopefully Ill be walking in my door with my bike every day with a giant grin on my face because I’m so happy to be riding again! I did some testing intervals a couple days ago to see how I would react to higher power output and heart rate. At the end of the last interval I punched it for a couple minutes and got my heart rate to 190, feeling no ill effects, no dizziness, no headaches, nothing, so that was a little confidence booster for sure. I will continue to slowly push myself with caution to be ready for the National Championships Time Trial at the end of August in Greenville, SC. Thanks for checking in

Colorado High Mountains

Ian — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:20:09 +0000

It may be 90′ and hot ‘n sunny on the plains of Colorado, but all it takes is a few thousand more feet of elevation, a bit of rain and you’ll find yourself shivering like the middle of winter. Yesterday I was out doing a training ride in the mountains that turned into a bit of an adventure. In addition to the freezing 10,000feet rain, 20km of muddy dirt roads helped to completely ruin an entire team kit.

Tomorrow is the mt. Evans hillclimb. Nothing like a 25mile uphill race starting at 7,000 feet and finishing at a touch over 14,000 feet. It’s a race that I’ve never won and hopefully come tomorrow morning I’ll have the legs to change that.

Tough Girl Cycling

Ian — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:27:14 +0000

The Just Go Harder Foundation is a new supporter of the 2008 Colorado women’s mountain bike team, Tough Girl-Contessa. Tough Girl Cycling embodies the spirit of the Just Go Harder Foundation; providing new athletes with the chance to be in a positive environment while learning and growing under other more experienced athletes. Learn more about the Tough Girls at www.toughgirlcycling.com, and watch for them on the podium of mountain bike races all over Colorado this summer.