Beaten with a Stick

My legs were still sore Monday morning, and just in case that wasn't enough to keep me inside, the temperature was in the 30s, the wind was still strong, and the back of my neck was so sore that it hurt to turn my head. Basically, I felt like I'd been beaten with a stick from head to toe. A recovery day was clearly in order. I guess the neck and back soreness might have come from one of those (two) hard efforts I'd made on the velodrome, but I really don't know. Even today I feel like I pulled muscles, such as they are, all the way from the base of my skull to my lower back on one side.

This morning I was quite disappointed to find my legs still unrecovered and my neck and back somewhat worse. The temperature was somewhere in the 40s and the wind was still blowing. I really needed a break, but decided to go out for the long levee ride anyway. There was a good group up there when we started, but pretty soon the relentless crosswind, combined with some hard pulls by Rob (who was turning around early) and Woody, started cracking the paceline. It wasn't much longer before a small group split off the front. The whole time I was thinking, "I shouldn't be going this hard." Shortly before The Dip, I was dropping back after a pull and swung a little too far over while latching onto the last rider. I balanced on the edge of the asphalt for a moment and then bailed out onto the levee grass. Then I had to slow down in order to get back up onto the bike path, opening a huge gap. I made a big effort and finally closed the gap. I don't' think any of the other guys knew what had happened to me. After a couple of the guys in our group turned back at The Dip, the pace dropped down a notch and got smoother, so by the turnaround we weren't very far ahead of the second group.

The ride back was mostly right into a headwind. Man, I've had about enough of headwinds these last few days. By the time I got home I was feeling really tired.

Meanwhile, Matt C., who had crashed and broken his collarbone last weekend, emailed me after his appointment with the Tulane orthopedist who had handled Jenn's and my collarbones. Although the EJ Hospital orthopedist had just looked at the x-ray from the ER and sent him on his way, Dr. Savoie had some real x-rays done that revealed four breaks in the collarbone with one piece that was liable to float around almost anywhere, like maybe into a lung. So Matt's scheduled for surgery on Friday for some new Titanium hardware. On the upside, the screwed together collarbone will mean he might be able to do the upcoming Ironman New Orleans after all, although obviously not at his usual level of intensity.