Is it April yet?

Big Steve e-mailed me this weekend, and it looks like we will be graced with his presence in early April. The plan is to go race this ultra fun 13 mile singletrack loop. Unless you are a medical professional, or a Route 66 junkie, this race is the only reason Gallup, NM should be on your radar of places to visit.

Thinkin’ back today….About this time last year I was walking around with a little version of a broken wing. A head-first crash off of the Damifino trail in Sedona took me down pretty hard. I was lucky not to end up sliding down to the bottom of a 50+ foot ravine. As a result, I spent a lot of time on the road bike with a hand splint for the whole month of February while my mountain bike waited on the rack – clean, ready, and able, but going nowhere.

After a misdiagnosis from a local physician who recommended surgery to repair torn ligaments, I went for a second opinion. I pushed and squeezed into an appointment with the top dawg wrist surgeon in town. An MRI, a few external pushes and pulls…..and he smiled. I lit up like the 4th when he said – “You’ve got tendonitis”. He plunked a needle in my wrist, loaded me up with steroids, prescribed a bucket of 600mg ibuprofen tabs, and some PT and I was out the door. Within 48 hours, that steroid shot reduced the swelling in the tendon sheath and I was back in business. Unfortunately, it took me until early June to get back into racing shape.

I’ve had a good winter season of riding, and forcing myself to run on pavement gives me reason to believe that I truly do give a crap about my results at Dawn til’ Dusk and the Whiskey 50 in April. I’ve suffered hard at the Whiskey, going to that dark place that you go when all systems are shutting down. First, the adrenaline runs out, anger storms in, then sarcastic laughter takes over, followed by a ray of hope which is quashed by severe cramps. Depression, like a storm cloud, and then, maybe…..a slight lift or smile crossing the finish line. Nausea/Vomiting ensues as soon as the 30 seconds of euphoria wear off. Yuck. That’s the experience of an undertrained me pushing too hard, and I want to avoid that this year.

Thinkin’ about April….Big Steve will likely be here soon. Watch out Gallup, here we come.