Riding again...

Well not like before. But I have taken a few short rides. According to my surgeon I should not be riding for at least another three weeks. And even then I think he will not allow me to ride. I don't blame him it is still very painful to use my right hand. When I ride I hold my left shoulder with my right hand (the busted one).

There is actually a lot of benefit to riding this way. Firstly, I am working on my riding skills. Secondly, I am able to focus on using my core to hold my body up and straight. I ride without a lot of pressure on my left hand. Thirdly, I focus on producing all power from good pedal mechanics. Pushing and pulling up on the pedals without the aide of my hands and arms pulling on the bars. Fourthly, I am doing my climbs seated and really working on my climbing technique. You know the old saying when given lemons make lemonade!!

Here's what I have done lately:

Saturday November 22-- 55 miles with 5000 feet of climbing (with a client)
Sunday November 23---60 miles with 2000 feet of climbing coastal ride
Thanksgiving Day..27---30 miles on my Fixed Gear 49 x 16 (81.5 GI) coastal with Brandy
Sunday ..November 30---30 miles on Fixed Gear 49 x 16 (El Chart below)



Where typically I would be doing 250-300 mile weeks this time of year I am barely getting 100 per week. My first event is the SAN DIEGO BREVET SERIES 200KM ON JANUARY 3, 2009.

Happy Thanksgiving to all

Just an old picture that my friend Don Parker had on his Facebook. It was taken a year ago, almost exactly, on November 18, 2007. I was commuting home from Encinitas to Huntington Beach. I ran into Don going in the opposite direction and paused for a picture.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving Day. I plan on riding but I just haven't decided where yet. Have fun eat lots and enjoy the people you spend your day with!!!

Furnace Creek 508 Slideshow up...

After many hours of work I have come up with an 8 minute slideshow. I am still working on the "Director's Cut" with videos, interviews and out-takes. You will find my 2008 Furnace Creek 508 slideshow here!

Trans Iowa race roster

The race roster is full for Trans Iowa. I made the list. Check out the race roster here.

Event website

Trans-Iowa for 2009

What's Trans-Iowa? Trans Iowa is 320 miles through dirt, gravel, mud, B roads, paved roads, country roads and who knows what else. I wish I knew the elevation gain but the race director doesn't have it...yet



From what I hear, and see from the finishing results, it's a really tough Ultra race held in Iowa. The finishing results show very small numbers. Years past they have had as many as 100 starters and less than 25 from what I can see. I have t o dig a little deeper into the results.

So how did I hear about this event? I work with Andy at Ben's Cycle out of Milwaukee. I bought my Fixed Gear from Andy and many other accessories and they have always treated me right. In my conversations with Andy he tells "Hey I know you like doing crazy hard stuff you oughta check out Trans Iowa." He knows that the Fixed Gear I bought from him was used in the Furnace Creek 508.

I asked him to tell me more. The more tall tales he told of the horrible conditions the more it interested me.

The registration process has begun. The race will take place May 2-3. The race director has specific guidelines spelled out on the event blog. There are only 75 spots available and past participants get first pick.


all for now
.

A little more surgery stuff...

I went in on Thursday Nov. 6th. They put a T-plate and four screws to secure the bone fragments to help them mend properly.

The good news is the hardware will lessen the time off the bike. The doc has tentively revised the time to only 6 weeks off the bike with one week down already.

The bad news is he likes to take plates out. That means that in 6 months to a year I will have to undergo another surgery to take it out and a little more down time. In true Brandy fashion, as he was telling us all of this, she blurts out "Can we wait until next October, after Furnace Creek 508?" That's my girl, always looking out for me. LOL.

Surgery went well...

Brandy here. Just wanted to let everyone know that George had surgery today and it went well. He has a nice plate and four screws. He's resting now, but I'm sure he'll be back to blogging tomorrow. :)