Basso Said Admits Role in Doping Scandal

Why is it that all crooks, when they get caught, claim they want to crusade against other crooks committing the same crime they did.  Basso is on the same level as a street gang banger that finally gets caught and then claims he wants to help "kids" stay out of gangs.  In some instances these jail house conversions may be genuine but the vast majority of the time they are conversions of convenience; appeasing prosecutors, judges and in this case fans and sponsors who have paid him millions. 

On a sad note it is getting harder and harder for me to stay committed that Lance Armstrong was the only clean guy out there.  It's my understanding that Lance Armstrong has urine samples dating back years.  I think it is time for the guy at the top to stand up and prove himself.  He owes it to millions who have bought into his story.

'Basso said, 'The moment has come for me to assume my responsibilities. I only hope that I will be understood,'' Martelli said, adding the rider would 'plan his future around the fight against doping.'

Source: Basso Said Admits Role in Doping Scandal

Technorati tags: Ivan Basso

Training Setback

I don't know what is up the last several days but I can't ride my bike more than 25 minutes without getting excruciating pain in my left ankle, knee and hip.  I end up having to "limp" home either getting off the bike every few minutes or if I can coast I can unclip my left foot and let my left leg hang.

This is not good as I was hoping to increase my training days by 1 each week and start increasing my time on the bike to.  I'm set up for a bike fit a week from this Saturday.  We'll see if that helps but if it was something in the fit of the bike I don't think it would come on so suddenly.

Tour de France director Prudhomme praises Discovery team for suspending Basso

There must be some standardization in how the rules of cycling are applied to each team when it comes to doping.  Teams like Discovery that have the will to be ethical should be applauded.  But I wonder if other teams don't take similar stands will the ethical ones simply be drummed out of the sport because they can't compete?

Link to Tour de France director Prudhomme praises Discovery team for suspending Basso - Cycling - Yahoo! Sports

No Fear! (of getting lost)

Yesterday I rode with a friend.  It was my first ride that I was not alone on in a long time.  I know that Awesome Chick was a bit relieved.  She asked John to take me along the same route that ended with me in ' the hood' a few days ago.  I think AC may be a bit nervous about me riding around there.  I wonder why?

Anyway we couldn't identify the specific place that I made the wrong turn at but we found some candidates.  The problem is I could only remember a few snapshots of the previous ride.  I can only remember a few snapshots of the right with John.  We plan on training together at least 1 day each weekend.  That will be nice.  I spend so much time alone I really get excited about seeing family and friends. 

Never follow strangers!

My preparation for my ride is going average at best I have to say.  I was supposed to start riding 5 days per week this week but I had to hold it at 4.  My legs have felt like lead!  I did have a good ride today though.  I also learned something.  Never follow a rider you don't know; expecting them to get you where you want to go.

I got a bit disoriented on today's ride so I started to follow a rider who seemed to be going in the direction I wanted to.  When this happens, and it happens often, the rule is that I'm supposed to call my wife.  The problem with me and rules though is remembering them.  Well I lost my guide and I ended up in the projects', the hood, the barrio around downtown Denver!

As I rode through a group of 6 very large African American men (did I say VERY LARGE!) standing in the middle of the street, wearing blue 'doo rags' I realized that I didn't really blend in.  Nobody else was riding a fancy, red Spanish racing bike, wearing a  Helmet, gloves and goofy, skin tight, Lycra shorts.  Let's please try to forget the image of the milk white legs sticking out of them.  (A little honesty here is in order; even on Lance Armstrong cycling shorts look GOOFY!  The more high tech they are the goofier they look.)

My wife, who is full blooded Mexican, lived part of her childhood in that neighborhood.  Her Dad lived in that neighborhood.  My older sister lived there for several years with her children.  My Dad was brought up not in that neighborhood but just blocks to the north.  Sometimes I have gone there with my wife and her family or my family.  But only StrokeBoy would end up there alone, on a bike, wearing those damn skin tight Lycra cycling shorts and not having a clue how he got there or how to get home.  Thank the Good Lord my shorts are black and not some silly color like pink that you see in the Tour De France.  The only way I could have made this worse is if I had done it in the middle of the night.  Stay tuned because I very quickly unlearn the lessons I learn.

Anyway it all ended fine because I ended up home and I'm writing this.  The part that amuses me is that I almost never remember how I get home, I just end up here.  I'm sure my wife Awesome Chick is just thrilled about that.  I remember a few details of my ride, like today's visit the turf of the Crips, but very little else.  Geese if a cop had seen me I would have probably been arrested for simply being clueless and out of my mind.  No doubt I would have been guilty on all counts and sentenced to life I'm sure.

Fox Hollow Hill Goes Down!

Yesterday I made it up a hill; I call it The Fox Hollow Hill. Let me explain. The last time I made it up that hill was roughly 19 months ago. It is a long steep hill and it comes at the mid-point in my ride so I was not real fresh. Nineteen months ago I spun up that hill with a cadence of 75 and in a mid-range gear! Yesterday I made it up in the tiniest gear my drive train has to offer with a cadence of roughly 30 rpm. (That can be decoded using the StrokeBoy Super Secret Decoder Ring as… WAY below 30)

The Fox Hollow Hill is important because a couple weeks after riding up that hill 19 months ago an artery in my neck broke and sent clots to just about every part of my brain, including the largest clot in my brain stem. Praise God that he guided those clots as He did and that He held me close as they went about doing their damage.

I started training again prior to September of 2006. I started out 10 minutes per day, three days per week on a stationary bike. That was almost TOO MUCH! I have tried The Fox Hollow Hill three previous times; only to be forced to turn back; once I think before the grade even started to increase. Is that possible?!

I'm not talking about victory over illness; I'm still StrokeBoy and will be for the rest of my life. I’m not talking about a great training goal attained.

I was riding at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. At the top of the hill I could see almost forever to the North, East and South. To the West were green, purple and brown snow capped mountains. The air was crisp at about 50 degrees but the sun was so warm I had to remove my wind shell. I just sat there experiencing the view, the temperature, the silence and feeling of being King of the Hill. As I peacefully sat there a coyote walked within 20 feet of me. He let me know I was more the Court Jester and he was the King of Fox Hollow Hill.

I love riding. Riding my bike takes me back to the time when things were different, simpler; not better mind you. The pain and monotony of training are only so I can capture moments like today. There was nothing heroic or strong in the moment; quite the opposite in fact. As reality set in and I contemplated the journey of me and my family this past nineteen months a lump formed in my throat and I couldn’t hold back the tears. More than anything my wife, son, daughter, all my family and friends gave me that moment. No, no feeling of victory, just profound thanks.

Lord grant peace and healing of all those touched by the shootings in Vermont.

Why I Ride

For me riding isn't about the pain like it is for a lot of cycling fanatics.  Sure I feel it and it is a part of my riding.  If at the end of a ride I have not felt at least some pain I feel like I should have ridden farther or harder.  But I also feel it is a great accomplishment if I can finish a long ride at a good pace and a few minutes later I feel like I could do it all over again.  To me that is a thrill.

Riding for me has also become about freedom, victory and recapturing the former me while building up the new me.  

Most importantly by riding and doing certain things I am beating to death that bastard stroke that 1 year, 5 months and 17 nights ago came like a low life 'thief in the night'.  Little did the thief know that by calling on me, it had 'bought the whole can of whoop-ass', not just a free sample for the taking.  It was not just taking me on; it had encountered an army of dedicated and fiercely loyal family, friends and medical professionals.

I can beat the crap out of the thief by doing things I did before it slithered into my life; before so much was stolen, for no reason at all.  I whip the thief by simply doing things as well as I can and not worrying about how I used to do them.

Riding is about freedom for several reasons.  One of those reasons is that I will probably never drive again.  I hope I will but some things are just as they are.  People whose mental processing is as slow as mine, have lost half their vision and whose brain has shifted the midline of the real world by many degrees, usually don't get licensed to drive a 2000 pound hunk of steel through neighborhood streets.   I have to rely on family and friends to get me around.  Someday when I want to do something simple like go to the grocery store I will simply get on my bike and go.  That day is actually pretty close; one more stake in the heart of that thief.

The Thief took so much of my memory that I don't even recognize my own neighborhood and house.  I have lived in my neighborhood for 46 years and I have gotten lost walking around in my home.  Thank God after a time I recognized my beautiful, wonderful wife and the rest of my family and friends; POW another stake driven into the heart of the thief.

My wife helps me 'memorize' bike routes by riding them over and over and drilling landmarks into my memory.  When I’m able to ride a memorized route alone, that is a victory over the thief.  When I was able to follow a list of directions and put a computer on my bike, even though it took me several hours and a couple of re-starts; that was a victory over the thief.  When I exercise and eat right so that chances of more strokes or heart decease are minimized that is a victory over the thief.  When my loved ones and friends spend less time worrying about my health and well being and living their lives to the fullest that is a victory over the thief. POW, POW, POW and POW four more stakes and more to come.

Cycling encourages me and helps me do all those things.  It is to the point where cycling affects everything from my diet and sleep to the cognitive therapy my therapists give me.  Cycling affects what I can go do and when I can go do it.  I have woven cycling into almost every aspect of my recovery and my life.

So now everyone has a bit of an idea of why I ride. 

P.S. Don’t worry if you see a red flare off in the distance. It just means that StrokeBoy took a wrong turn and is temporarily lost. Awesome Chick will release the bloodhounds and I’ll be found in no time.

 

Technorati tags: Stroke Recovery, National Stroke Association

Intermediate Goals

I'm beginning to seriously think of intermediate goals that I would like to meet on the way to my July 7-8 MS-150 attempt.

I first started on an indoor trainer 15 minutes per day, three days per week. When I started with CTS roughly 10 weeks ago I started training 4 days per week. I had to do all my rides on the indoor trainer as I wasn't conditioned enough to ride on the road. Then I began to ride the first "portion" of my rides outside and finished them up inside on the trainer. I gradually increased the amount of time outside and decreased the amount of time inside. My very first goal became to be able to ride outside 4 full workouts in one week.

This week I achieved that goal, or at least I expect to. It is only Thursday and I have 3 days left to get my 4th ride of the week in. So with that in mind I've come up with the following intermediate goals.

W/E Apr 1	4 rides 4.5 hours	Achieved
W/E Apr 8	4 rides, 4.5 hours	Stay here while I get used to new bike and gearing, I went from a triple to double chain ring.
W/E Apr 15	5 rides, 5 hours
W/E Apr 22	6 rides 5.5 hours
W/E Apr 29	6 rides 6 hours

This leaves me with the entire months of May and June to increase the number of hours that I ride each week using a 6 ride per week plan. As I've noted before, my goal is to be fit enough to finish the ride and enjoy the entire thing. I have more lofty goals in mind after this one.

Feeling good today

I feel pretty good today considering I had a hard ride yesterday. The adrenaline of being on a new bike I think caused me to push myself a bit hard. I rode all the way to Golf Course Hill at Fox Hollow Golf Course. I actually couldn't make it up the hill, I only got half way up. The reason is conditioning and the Opal only has two chain rings. Welcome to the big legues!

I was also a bit sore today, in a good way. I can tell my body isn't used to the new geometry of the Opal. I also heeded the WRC persons advice and concentrated on keeping my shoulders down, back flat, bend at the hips and elbows bent.

By the way, this is a picture of my new ride.

Unbeliculously Great Maiden Voyage

This post actually begins last Friday morning or maybe even Thursday. You see all day Thursday I was PMS'ing, Pre-Migraine Syndrome. My strokes were kind enough to leave me with frequent migraines but I know when they are coming on because ahead of the big ones I have what they call non-specific seizures and sometimes I even see little Oompa Loompas. When the Oompa Loompas come to visit I know it's time to hunker down because most of the time a real head banger, brain searing migraine is about to come on. This time though Mr and Mrs Loompa were wrong. So, I woke up Friday morning to find I was feeling pretty good and my wife, Awesome Chick, who from now on will be known as THE Awesome Chick had stayed home from work. I thought it was because she was concerned about me. That was until she practically bulldozed me into getting showered and out the door. You see she knows the problems I've been having with my 10 year old bike that doesn't fit and I can't get replacement parts for.

She took the day off to take me around town looking at and test riding bikes I had been reading about and looking at in bike shops and generally drooling over for the past three years. What I didn't know is that she had received a nice bonus at work and she intended to use it to get her StrokeBoy a new ride!

The sales lady at the bike shop we ended up at was great. We had a fun time and laughed a lot because I could only go up and down the sidewalk in front of the store on my test rides or I'd get lost. On top of that my short term memory is so bad I couldn't remember one test ride from another. I can recreate a lot of things like this because I'm constantly writing in a journal and I have a small digital voice recorder I dictate my day into. So we worked out a system of the sales lady taking notes of exactly what I said when I got of the bike, I would use my recorder and Awesome Chick would take digital pictures of me riding for me to look at and jog my brain into remembering what the ride was like. Well anyway Friday extended into Saturday and Sunday but when it was all said and done I had my new ride. Awesome Chick got me an Orbea Opal, full Dura Ace, Mavic Ksyrium wheel set and new shoes.

Today was the Maiden Voyage. I feel like I went from driving a VW Bug to a Lambragini. I'm used to a triple so the double chain ring showed me I have some work to do on my strength. But hey I have a lot of time. Now maybe I'll be able to keep up with Awesome Chick when we ride. She got her bike a couple years ago.

Stroke Boy

P.S. Unbeliculous is a word my wife and I made up. We were always saying things like "that's unbelievable" or "that's ridiculous" so we combined the two. Unbeliculously Great translates to "unbelievably, ridiculously great".

MS 150

I took the step today. I actually registered for the MS 150. There's no turning back now. My best friend took me golfing. He is going to ride it with me. What a guy. He is teaching me to golf and he said he would train with me; no matter the length or speed.

Technorati tags: MS 150

Needed Rest Day

Today is a day off from my cycling training. It is much needed. On one hand it is kind of a bummer that after only two days with one hour rides each day I need a day off. But a few weeks ago I was in much worse shape after only riding one day for a lot less time. I had to juggle my schedule so I didn't have two days in a row of training. I'd call that progress.

Feeling Freedom

Today I think was the third time that I rode my bike outside. First I have to say that the Power Starts prescribed in my workout are much harder on the road than on a trainer; as everything else is. But today after I think five weeks of finally being able to get a fairly regular training schedule I felt that high that I get when my heart, lungs and legs are all working perfectly and I'm just cruising along in the zone. I had this feeling that I'm on the verge of becoming free, that my bike is my ticket to freedom.

Really when you think about it I can take my bike 75% of the places I need to go 75% of the time or more here in Denver.

I'm ready to

fly!

Technorati tags: Stroke Recovery, Cycling

Cycling Again!

I've been working out on the bike again. FINALLY!! It's been about a month now. I started on the wind trainer, only three days per week, about a half an hour each time. I'm up to four days per week and I even have riden outside a couple times this week.

I signed up with Train Right. It is Chris Charmichael's system. I'm on the cheapest program but right now it has been a great help. It's great to know that I have a good program created for me and to get on the forums and actually communicate with fellow athletes. Did I call myself a athlete. Hmmm maybe the old self esteem is coming back a bit.