I am free! I am liberated!

[Veronica]

v-i would love to hear your farmer story..what's up with your knee again?

c

I did something to my knee on the Knoxville Double - Sept. 22. It doesn't really hurt, but when I pedal or walk around a lot, it feels like a ratchet. It's slowly getting better. So I am not riding very hard. Hills bother it much more than flats, and I'm talking any little hill.

But I know I need to start training. My goal ride is at the end of April. So Sunday, I headed out with the intent of doing about 35 miles, most of which are flat, about 1800 feet of climbing overall. There are, however, two pretty steep, short hills in the middle of the ride.

The first little hill, I realize my knee still isn't ready for the steep ones later on. So in my head I start reconfiguring my route.

We have a road that has been closed to all but local traffic. Since there is only one house on it and a lot of cows, it doesn't get much traffic. My plan is to do it as an out and back twice.

As I was nearing the end of that closed road, on a long, half mile + straightaway, there was a truck loaded with hay, coming at me. Even though the road is closed, I still ride in my lane. But this guy, he's in the middle of the road and he keeps moving ever closer to my side of the road. I'm wearing a bright orange jersey and a bright yellow vest. There is no way he could not have seen me. He's not driving very fast, so I have lots of time to watch him. Eventually, he's totally on my side of the road. About fifty feet from me, he moves back toward his side, but still in the middle.

All I can think is either he had target fixation or he was trying to scare me. I decided I would rather ride with more well behaved traffic, so at the end of the road instead of turning around as I had planned, I went back a different way.

Of course later on, I also had a woman parked on the side of the road decide to pull out right in front of me...just as I predicted she would. No, she did not use a signal light or look over her shoulder. People can be so lame.

V.

[crazycanuck]

hey v,

for a strong endurance rider like yourself , i understand the frustration. I can't remember if you do yoga or pilates but would either help your knee?

What distance is your goal ride? are you going to be eligible for the triple crown award again? that jersey was cool.

i will be over the moon when i eventually get back on my bike or swim. I will work towards doing a 200km ride next year...actually i want to do the 100km off road event in march first.

Did you shake your head at the farmer?? what a dolt!

c

[Veronica]

Stretching definitely seems to help. I did 27 really flat miles yesterday - 499 feet of elevation. It felt really good too. The knee is a little stiffer this morning.

The ride I've been wanting to do for years... Devil Mountain Double. It's only 206 miles , I've done 209. But 20,000 feet of climbing.

V.