Pain Management

It was much colder this morning and the steady northeast wind made my ride out to the lakefront feel long and slow. It seemed there was a big group today and a few of the guys were pushing the pace. After we turned onto Chef Highway a couple of riders rolled off the front as the rest of the group soft-pedaled. Soon, another rider went in pursuit, then another, then me. A few more bridged up to us as we started a smooth circular paceline into the wind. Tim, Realdo, Matt, and Eddie were keeping things going pretty fast, and when we hit the turnaround, Matt headed off alone to ride out to Fort Pike. I had to laugh when we slowed down at the turnaround and one of the guys was surprised to see that Courtney was still with us. Courtney could teach a course in Giro survival. She has perfected the art of not getting dropped, and in fact was in the rotation taking pulls for much of the ride, but she knows when to rest and when to close a gap and which wheel to not be on when the pace gets hot. Anyway, the pace didn't really slow down much after that and we ended up with what seemed to me like a pretty fast ride for a cold day in February. Right about the time I turned onto Canal Blvd. with Tim and Realdo to head home, the pain returned. I had taken a couple of Advil before the ride, not wanting to be under the influence of the codeine in the "tylenol #3" I had taken the night before to combat the escalating pain in my tooth. Naturally, I flatted half-way home. Anyway, I'm glad I got in a good training ride, despite the rather exquisitely painful ride home. I suppose I have a root canal waiting for me one day next week. Can't wait.

I wonder how the track meet went today in Baton Rouge. I had to drive up there after the Giro to visit The Wife's mother, so we stopped at the track around 2:00, but the skaters had already taken over the place and there wasn't a bike to be found. So I'm sitting here wondering if I should try and make the northshore ride tomorrow morning. It will be in the 30s at the start, and I will have to deal with this damned tooth pain again, but I really need to ride. Assuming I get some sleep tonight, I guess I'll just pack some Advil and hope for the best. The Tylenol with Codeine will have to wait until I'm finished driving, although I have been rather surprised that it hasn't made me feel particularly groggy thus far.

The Daughter's team had kind of a rough meet up in Alaska yesterday. Because of the different time zone, they were competing at what their brains though was around midnight. They had three falls on beam and one of the girls tore something in her arch during warmup and might be out for the season. The compete again tomorrow before returning to Iowa.