The nice thing about the big American stage races is that the teams bring their doctors with them. While the doctors are kept busy with their respective teams, if you time your question when they have a moment, they’ll give you some sound, free medical advice. By the time the Tour of Missouri was in it’s fifth day, my back was hurting and I needed some medical advice! As I stood around the Garmin team bus waiting for interviews, Allen Lim, who until just recently was working with Garmin, was getting bottles and ice vests ready for the time trial. I have known Allen for awhile so I told him about my lower back pain. He reached into his bag of tricks, pulled out the Trigger Point massage ball and forcefully rolled it around in the area of my pain. I tried to relax into the massage as Lim pushed and rolled the palm sized ball deeper into my back muscle. The muscle relaxed and it actually felt better! However that was just temporary relief and the pain returned as I continued to travel, schlep through airports and sit at a desk.

Fast forward several months and the pain was getting worse. It radiated down my leg like a live electrical charge. Walking was painful and standing excruciating. Being on the bike was pain free, however I couldn’t be on the bike my whole life. I needed relief and was seriously considering taking whatever time I needed off the bike to fix this nagging back problem. I remembered that Allen had used the Trigger Point massage ball on my back in Missouri so I ordered the Starter Kit. I have been using the massage ball and the supplied Footballer for over a month with great results! Not only has it been helping with my back, but I’ve been using it for post-ride massage as well. After the Winter League Ride, an almost four hour ride, I use the massage ball on my lower back and roll the Footballer along my calves for muscle relief. Next I’m going to order the Quadballer.  I should have just gone for the Total Body Package in my first order.  Additionally I have been going to an acupuncturist, which is something I never thought I would do. My new riding partner is a chiropractor who has offered free adjustments, which I am going to take him up on. I feel like there is light at the end of the pain tunnel. While I do believe that all these treatments have been a factor in my on-going recovery, I know I need to be constantly aware of how I am treating my back. As I write this, I am sitting upright at my desk with the Trigger Point massage ball pushed into my lower back, working the muscle. I will continue to stretch and have placed two Specialized Varus wedges into my left shoe to give me a three millimeter lift as I feel the leg is over extended. Here’s hoping for a pain free 2010!

Riding stage 6 of the ToC in the rain and freezing my ass off

Since my move to Greenville, South Carolina I have been enjoying the nice weather that the Greenville PR spin machine had been promising me. However that all changed today. And although the sun was out, the temperature dipped into the low 50′s. I rode over to the Hincapie HQ to do my usual ride with the guys and felt the cold icy grip of winter. I was critically under-dressed for the conditions. I can no longer deny it: I am now living in the South and need to dress seasonally. My SoCal brain is trying to wrap it’s head around this concept of rain, falling leaves and the possibility of snow. Long finger gloves, a thick winter riding coat and booties will now have to become part of my cycling wardrobe. And looking at weather.com we might actually have some kind of snow this Thursday. When I saw this report I almost curled into a fetal position as I am completely and utterly unable to deal with the cold. I would think with my Irish background I would be able to handle the cold, however I can’t. Well I gotta adjust because starting this Saturday is the Upstate Winter League. In order to make a good impression on the Greenville cycling community I need to man up, dress warmly and be prepared to ride.

WTF! Almost to Baldy Village and there’s another car over the side.

Going across the plateau to Baldy we came across these dumb asses who crashed their cars.

I’m out training on Mom Day with decline editor Mark Jordan for top secret training up Glendora Mtn. Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there.

Lotts shaking his money maker to Britney Spears. Words of wisdom from Lotts, “I’m here to kick ass and chew gum and I’m all outta gum!”

CBR dominates the local scene.

Cruz enjoys beating the crap out of me on the bike

When I returned from the Tour de Georgia I discovered that I was invited to participate in this year’s Etape du Tour. This is a mass start ride that covers stage 10 of this year’sTour de France. That means 165k which “scales the famed Tourmalet and finishes atop Hautacam. The L’Étape is a no-nonsense ride/race with no rider/sag provided. So arrive in shape and be prepared for a challenge.” So I immediately do what any Type A, Obsessive/Compulsive, insecure person would due after not training for two weeks: I immediately started to train. I subscribe to the Floyd Landis philosophy of training: there is no such thing as over training, just being under prepared. I got off the plane late Tuesday night and was booked to see my pilates trainer the next morning at 8:15AM. She is a no nonsense instructor and dropped the hammer on me. After that I dragged myself home I made two phone calls: one to another Type A, Obsessive/Compulsive rider/friend and the other to Tony Cruz. I figured one of these guys would call me back.

Looking "pro" in our new team kit

Cruz responded first and told me he was riding up the bike path to Whittier (about 25 miles away) and then do several intervals up Turnbull Canyon. I told him I’d ride up to Whittier and then turn back, missing the fun of hill repeats. I may be crazy, but I’m not stupid. I latched onto the back of Cruz’s wheel most of the way up and did one hill effort before turning tail and returning home, sore as a dog. The real kicker of the day was the fact that the Garmin Edge 305 unit I’ve been using finally died. It didn’t run out of power, it just stopped working. Not being able to record every nuance of my ride was like having a splinter that I couldn’t get out. It just annoyed me. Now the Garmin is a $400 paper weight on my desk. The next day I was at the ROAD office and I planned with Tim (editor and art director deluxe) to ride up The Old Road, a six mile climb that runs along the 5 freeway up the Grapevine. I pounded up the climb at my AT. Today my legs are worthless as our dollar is overseas, so I cruised down PCH at a steady tempo just to stretch them out. And any time I’m not training I wearing my 2XU compression tights trying to recover. My training isn’t over yet. Tomorrow I’m riding the FoodPark ride , then driving down to San Diego to race the Barrio Logan crit. Sunday I’m riding to the CBR crit and doing as many races as I can and then ride home. Next week is production week at ROAD so my training will go down the crapper and I’ll have the time to recover. Yep, I’m a man with a plan.

I’m flying the flag for Surf City Cyclery this year (no I didn’t turn pro). We just finished the Cat 3 race and now we’re unwinding with a cool Chimay Belgium Ale in honor of Flanders.