Gam Jams review: shoes

It's like the Wicked Witch of the East -- shoes pointing out from under the house. In this case, it was my shoes and socks under a blanket in the ER in Lincoln.

Those shoes are the Lance II model from Nike. They're the 2005 version, I believe. The Texas and World Champions stripes are on the Velcro tabs. I got them early in the 2007 season -- my first in cycling -- mostly because of the price. They were 90 bucks at the Trek Store ... where I now work. Here's what they looked like new.

The shoes got a bit banged up in the crash (and a couple others) but they're great shoes. They're pretty narrow and very form-fitting. I wore Nike running shoes before I started riding, so the fit works well for me. They're so form-fitting, in fact, that I can't wear super-thick socks with shoe covers in the winter -- all circulation is lost and my feet go numb.

That's really the only nitpick I have with them. They're light and comfortable, and I'm wondering what I'll end up with when they do finally expire. I'm midway through my third season on them. They can't last forever, can they?

Other things: Did the shop ride last night and managed around a 19 mph average, mostly by myself. I really can't stand up and sprint or climb with any sort of authority. My ribcage muscles just can't handle that right now. So, basically, I'm going to have to be a time trialist for the next few weeks. Oh, and the new helmet was pretty awesome. Great fit, definitely more ventilated than the old Atmos.

Making the leap

One leap has already been made -- to SRAM components, which I love -- but there's another leap undergoing testing today.

I'm off the painkillers. It's been almost 24 hours. I think I'm gonna be OK.

Most notably, my stomach doesn't hurt. It's been a little achy since the crash, most likely because of the massive amounts of ibuprofen and Aleve I've been sucking down.

But it's a little after 10, and I'm only a little bit sore. If not for the questionable weather -- it seems to be on the verge of raining -- I'd go for a quick little ride. As it is, I think I'll stick to staying inside and hoping the shop ride happens.

As long as there's no lightning, I'm gonna roll. I haven't been excited to ride in the rain for a long time. Or ever.

The road back

I've ridden twice since the crash. Once on Sunday for the Omaha Health Expo, which was part of the team's commitment to Alegent Health. That was 15 miles, slow and steady. The bumpy roads weren't bad, but they weren't good, either.

I rode the trainer yesterday, and that was 30 minutes of horrible. I planned on an hour originally, but cut it to 30 minutes when I ran short on time. It's for the best. It was pretty awful.

From the waist down, I'm fine. In fact, my legs feel outstanding. Mentally, I'm ready to go. But in between, I'm not quite ready. The yellowness is fading on my chest, and I woke up today feeling better than I had in a week. Mornings are generally brutal, but today was good.

No ride today -- no time -- but I'm riding again tomorrow. Wednesday night ride. Bike Masters. Yeah, I know. Too soon. I'm going to go ride my bike. And when (if?) I get spit out the back, I'll sit up and keep riding.

I have to.

Theories

With large, gaping expanses of time on my hands -- mostly when I zone out on painkillers -- I tend to think a lot. I think about all of the stuff that's happened since Feb. 7, 2009. Not a lot of it has been good, really. If you're a regular reader, you'll know most of it has just been flat-out bad. Really bad.

Here's a rundown, in list form:
1. Big mechanical on first fast group ride of season. I felt awesome before the derailleur hanger blew up.
2. Put the rear derailleur into my wheel the next day, after thinking the problem was solved.
3. About 45 minutes after No. 2, I crashed and broke a finger.
4. Got fired.
5. Found out I was getting completely screwed on severance pay (taxes) and vacation time (company policy).
6. Bit by bit, my bike started falling apart.
7. Chris' car wigged out. Easy fix, but not a cheap one.
8. Got snapped in the ass with a chain, which broke in the middle of a race.
9. Crashed the next day, giving me blog material for at least two weeks, maybe more. Downside, other than the pain, blew up a helmet and a wheel.

After getting an eyeful of that list, I see only one answer to all of this. It's not karma, mojo, bad luck or anything else cosmic. It's Kevin Limpach. He was involved with -- or in the direct vicinity of -- items 1-3, 6, 8 and 9.

Limpach! Of course!

No?

Oh ... OK. In that case, I have another theory. It's clothing-related. Two years ago, when I crashed at the state road race, I had purchased new gloves just a few days prior. This year, when I crashed in Lincoln, I had purchased gloves just a few days prior. I purchased no other gloves between those races. Hmmm.

Oh, wait! Here's another: the shorts I wore on Saturday when I got snapped in the ass had a chain mark on them. As in, you can see the links. (the same pattern was also on my skin, by the way.)

Anyway, I laundered that kit and tossed it into the bag earlier on Sunday. I had no intention of wearing that kit, though -- I just always bring two. But after inspecting the shorts that were cut off me after the crash (just the straps were cut, though) I realized that I wore the chain-whip shorts again! Fate was tempted! Fate punished me.

That, or it was Limpach.

Plans

Had everything gone according to plan, I'd be racing in Iowa City this weekend.

The Iowa City Road Race and Old Capitol Criterium were my first targets for the season. Those races were the ones I thought about at 4:30 in the morning, with the subzero wind whipping outside and old Tour videos playing on the TV in the basement.

I wasn't thinking about winning either of them, but I wanted to be in the mix. I wanted to be a part of the discussion. And after racing pretty well (at least I thought so) in Lincoln last week, I think I would have been right there in Iowa City.

Of course, not much has gone according to plan. For example, the right side of my chest is yellow with bruises. Hard to plan for that. Same with the job thing. But there's not much choice is there? You take what's been handed to you and deal with it.

So, in celebration of the original plan being finally, truly, screwed, here's the plan the rest of the way:

1. I'm going to ride this weekend, pending procurement of a replacement fork. And getting my old Atmos back from Sean's house.

2. I'm going to ride easy next week, just working out kinks.

3. I'm going to restart the training plan on May 4, aiming for the Omaha Cycling Weekend in July. That part was actually the original plan. But I'm going to sit down and write it out this weekend, probably.

4. I'm going to keep working at the Trek Store and writing on the side. It's probably more work than it's worth, considering the money, but I like it.

And that's it. No more crash pictures. But only because the last ones are pretty definitive.

Any more questions?

JFK had his Abraham Zapruder, Kramer and Newman had their second-spitter on the gravely road. I have Mike Dixon.

Any questions about how I landed where I did, or what I hit on the way have been answered by Mike and his Johnny-on-the-spot camera work. Many thanks, Mike.

Let's start with me in the middle of a fishtail, just behind Kevin Burke and Kevin Limpach, who opened up the sprint for sixth. (Mom, you should probably look away now.)










Well, that explains how the van ended up with a mark on the back corner. It was from me writhing around on the ground. And Joe, you weren't kidding about my bike being in the air.

Looks like I owe thanks to Ryan Legg, who appeared to abandon the finish in favor of checking on me. More accurately, I owe thanks to everybody on the scene. Even in my crash-addled mind, I noticed how quickly people were there beside me. Your calm demeanor probably saved me from really freaking out.

Not that I could have moved, anyway ...

Damage report: The Felt has returned from foster care. The front wheel has a pretty good-sized dent in it and may be toast. Both tires are shot. The front from the impact and the back from locking up the brakes. The left brake hood is pretty gouged up -- but replaceable -- and there are a few lighter scratches on the brake levers themselves. The steerer tube appears to be bent as well.

That's all understandable given the air time the Felt recorded (see frame No. 2). Recovery for the bike starts today. Recovery for me is well underway. See you on the road this weekend.

Surveying the scene

Surprisingly, there's not a lot of evidence from the crash -- photo evidence, at least. I mean, there are plenty of shots of the aftermath: scuffed shoes, skin and equipment. But of the crash itself? Details are thin.

Here's what I do have, though. It was snapped by either Brandon or Brandie Fenster, most likely from the hip when they heard the unmistakable sound of bike and bone on pavement.

Let's examine it, shall we?

Exhibit A -- That'd be me. The white triangle is the white part of my shorts. In this case, that's the inside of my left leg. My knee is to the right of the white part. My right leg is parallel with the ground, undergoing skin removal. The rest of me is behind that shiny white Bontrager Race X-Lite shoe in the foreground.

Exhibit B -- My bike. Note the distance between it and me. If not for the cone in the foreground, you'd be able to see the curb and island that I hit.

Exhibit C -- We came from that direction. Hard left at high speed.

Exhibit D -- The van some swear I hit. Also, the van some swear I couldn't have hit. I don't know, to be honest. If someone says they saw me bounce off, I probably did.

So here's what I think happened: When I hit the curb, I launched over the bars to the right, which explains my injuries. It's also consistent with the picture of me on my right side. I'm not sure if I hit the van before or after that, but I ended up on my left side.

Either way, it hurt.

Thanks: To everyone who called or emailed or sent a Facebook message or commented on my blog, thank you. To everyone who offered assistance of any kind, thank you. To those who stayed for hours with me in the ER, thank you. And to those who stopped in the next morning, thank you.

I'm overwhelmed by the support, and I'm doing my best to take advantage of those offers. Things are slow going right now. I get my bike back today, but riding it seems pretty far off right now. Doing much of anything seems pretty far off, really.

Slowly, though. Slowly.

Documentation

Depending upon the light, I don't look too bad. Of course, that also depends on looking at the left side of my face, with maybe only a little bit of the head-on shot. The profile view below adds a bit more detail. (The camera on Chris' MacBook -- and all Macs -- provides a mirror-image shot, rather than a traditional camera shot. Trust me, it's the right side that's all jacked up.)

You can see the stitches, the missing skin on the cheek and ear ... yeah. I'm going to have a beard for a while. It's not as bad as it looks, but it sure isn't good.

Here's the helmet. Folks, this is why you wear helmets. I know some people don't for personal reasons -- and that's perfectly fine -- but here's why I think you should. It doesn't make anything safer, per se, but helmets help quite a bit when you land on your dome. You can't see it on this picture, but the foam just below the Giro workmark logo is cracked. The foam under the scraped-up "G" logo is flat-out broken.

And there are a couple of rocks imbedded in the side of the helmet. Without the helmet, those would have been in my head. As it was, I had a bad headache for a day. And it's now gone (could be the drugs, though).

The pictures above are interesting enough -- at least I think so -- but the race weekend already had its share of interesting stuff. For example, what's missing from the picture below?

About 10 minutes into the Saturday race, I stomped on it coming out of turn four. I heard a grinding, then a ping, and then felt a sharp sting on my ass. What the hell? The guy behind me said "broken chain," and my teammate John said, "Sorry." And then sped off with the peloton.

The sting on my ass: the chain that snapped up and whipped me. There's a mark in the shape of chain links. Seriously. It hurt until about 6:30 on Sunday. Anyway ...

As I rolled into the wheel pit, I just asked, loudly "Anybody have a bike?" I didn't expect to hear any responses, and figured my day was done. Instead, I heard "What size?" Ummm ... 58? "Get out there!"

A guy named Zach from Kansas State ran onto the track with his Specialized Tarmac -- with Dura-Ace 7900 -- and told me to let it rip. I jumped back into the group on the next time around and went at it.

I took a prime on the borrowed Specialized and later worked with John to make sure Spence stayed off the front. With two laps left, I told John to get on my wheel so I could lead him out. Turns out we had two laps left twice, due to an earlier scoring error. As such, I blasted my sprint on what I thought was the finish. Actually, it was the leadup to the bell lap. Whoops. So I gasped for air as I finished the last half-mile and finished seventh. John was still third, though. Nice.

I picked up the Felt in the wheel pit and found the chain laying beside it. The Wipperman link is gone -- it was the one that failed. I went into the shop early Sunday before it opened and installed a new Ultegra chain. No Wipperman this time.

Oh -- the prime. Cookies, a gift certificate for Runza (which I gave to Zach), a water bottle and some coffee. The variety? See below (and click to zoom in, if you need to):

Nice.

The cherry on top

Since February 7, I've broken my finger, destroyed a rear derailleur, gotten fired, blown up various other bike parts and generally had a pretty crappy 2.5 months or so.

It's only appropriate that I capped it by hitting a curb at 30 mph, bouncing off a van and then skidding to a stop on pavement. (Or pavement first, then the van. I'm kind of fuzzy on that.)

Last turn of an hour-long crit on Sunday. Overcooked the turn, locked up the back wheel and fishtailed, and then ... then I remember trying to breathe, scream and writhe in pain all at once. I got none of that done.

So here's the deal, as of noon on Monday: I'm at Bryan LGH in Lincoln, where I stayed overnight. I'm bruised and scraped, but mostly OK. Stitches over my right eye. Helmet is trashed. I'm really sore. I couldn't move -- at all, really -- until about 2 this morning. 

But I'm OK. I'm going home in a little bit. And thanks for the well-wishes, the thoughts and notes. 

I'm going to get my face scrubbed now. Listen for the screaming.

Halfway done

Seventh in the Tractor Test Loop Criterium today. Busted my chain in the early laps and finished on a borrowed Specialized Tarmac ... that had DA 7900 and a Garmin 705 that had so many numbers I couldn't even comprehend it. I really just wanted to know how fast I was going.

Anyway, good race. There's so, so, so much more to the story. Trust me. It'll be good. With pictures.

Oh, and irony, too. Lots of irony.

It's sure to be entertaining

The forecast for Saturday says ... rain. Pretty much all day. The race schedule says ... 60-minute crit at 3:30. On a half-mile oval. With banked corners.

What could possibly go wrong?

Race checklist

The wheels are on and shifting is awesome.

Time to get the clothing together and organized.

Which food to take? Lots of GU, lots of energy.

It's a big list and it takes a while to put it all together, but I do love it so. Stuff like this gets you focused on GO.

Moving right along ...

With a full night of sleep behind me, I planned on getting Jack to daycare, doing some dinner prep for Chris and then getting a couple of hours on the bike.

Chris came back into the house a minute after saying good bye. The Alero was dead. If you've had an Alero -- or an GM car from around 2000 -- you know it's a fickle beast. And a crappy beast, really.

When the key was turned, it kind of ... ummm ... fluttered? And then the gauges jumped all over the place. And then the chime sounded. Sort of.

Nice.

Since I planned on riding to work anyway, it didn't mess me up too much. Chris was late for school because she had to drop off the Jacket. And by handing over a few hundred dollars, the Alero will come home tonight.

Damn. It lives.

Torpedoed by ambition

I haven't talked much about it, but in order to close that gigantic gap between what I used to make and what I currently make, I've been doing little freelance writing projects. And by little, I mean really little. Like, generic web content stuff that doesn't pay a lot, but doesn't take much time.

So yesterday, when I saw a project to create a list of 28 facts about the internet and internet security, I thought, "no problem. I'll knock that out in an hour. And I'll get paid 60 bucks to do it."

Nice gig for an hour. Except it took four hours. And then it jacked up my evening and a bit of the morning, too. Oh, and it was horrible every step of the way.

My hourlong spin, originally slated for 4:45, got moved to a 30-minute spin at 7:45. It worked out. I feel pretty good. The sprints yesterday went really well.

So it's Tuesday. I'm feeling fast again. A good bit of sleep tonight, followed by a couple of hours on the road in the morning, and it's on.

Race week

It's 41 degrees, drizzly, breezy. Classic mid-April weather in Omaha. That's pretty much my mood right now, too. And that's despite coffee, which was really tasty.

These next two weeks were my original objective for the spring. Iowa City (rr + awesome crit) is next weekend. I planned on being on top of my game for those races. That's why I got up in the dark and abused the trainer (Mike's trainer, actually) all winter.

But the race schedule has been gutted. In-state races only the rest of the way, unless something crazy (and by crazy I mean lucrative) happens. And I'm only doing the in-state races because they're free for me this year.

So it's a pair of crits in Lincoln this coming weekend and then a long, long break from racing,

Until early June. Great.

At some point this morning, I'm going to get on the bike to begin race-week preparations. Just a quick workout today -- warm up, a few sprints, cool down. Easy hour tomorrow, a few more sprinty things on Wednesday or Thursday and then it's time to race.

My body is ready, and so is my bike. My head ... I'll get back to you on that one.

Gone fishin'

Everywhere else is closed today so I am, too. I'm going for a ride later. See you on Monday.

Like the Fourth of July

Yikes.

When I rolled into the parking lot last night, I knew it was going to be a throwdown. Everybody was there. And everybody knew it was going to get ugly in a hurry. It did, of course.

And you'd think, knowing what I know about racing and staying in the right spot to avoid getting dropped, that I'd be able to handle something like that. Apparently I'm a bit rusty. When the road tilted up and Marco lit the fuse -- just as everybody knew he would -- I wasn't where I should have been.

Result? Gapped. And then chasing, hard. Still chasing, still chasing ... jesus, my heart is beating fast ... still chasing, closer, closer ... annnnnd BLAMMO!!!

I ended up in high-speed pursuit with Mike, and we were so very close to bridging. But so close doesn't tuck you back into the pack. With one more guy, we would have made it. But I was blowing up and Mike was, too. Damn.

So we kept it high and cranked it higher when others joined us. In terms of a workout, I still did what I needed to do: 90 minutes of pretty heavy stuff. But in terms of riding where I should have been, it fell short.

Afterward, one of my teammates let me know where I should be -- always -- and that I shouldn't let it happen again. It wasn't mean or anything like that, but rather a firm pep talk. As in, "you're fast enough. Get up there."

Noted.

Rumble in the jungle

Tonight's ride at Bike Masters is shaping up to be 90 minutes of horribleness. Kaos will be in full force, since Marco Vasquez -- the guy who told me to start racing to begin with -- is back for a visit. That also means the hammers who have been semi-dormant will be in attendance.

And it looks like Kevin is coming, which never turns out well for anybody. And it's supposed to be nice by 6 p.m. (60 degrees, wind around 10 mph), so that will probably bring more guys out.

Geez.

I still have a little bit of a rumble in my chest. I feel perfectly fine otherwise, just a little scratchy. I have no idea how that will turn out, but I'm excited to get out and ride.

If it's not one thing ...

OK, so the bike is fixed and humming.

The violent throwing up phase is long past.

And now, it's time to ride ... er, time to have a sore throat. Ugh. Chris has had various plagues for the last month or so and Jack is walking disease box, so it's surprising I don't get sick more than I do. But yeah, it's there. Tickly throat, slight cough. Sweet.

I'm hoping it's the kind that shows up for a day or two and then says, "nah, nevermind."

Right. We'll see how that turns out.

One less thing to whine about

Though I did pretty much blast my 11-23 cassette, many of the problems with the Felt were due to a delay in annual maintenance. As in, "why change the cables right now when my SRAM stuff is coming? I'd just have to change it all again."

That plan was fine at the outset, but not when the stuff showed up a month later than it was supposed to. But now that it's installed, the timeframe is no longer important -- I'm just happy it's here.

Oh, and it's awesome. For the record, here's how my bike stacks up now: SRAM Force shifters/derailleurs, SRM crank, Ultegra SL brakes, Dura-Ace pedals.

There's the new view from the cockpit. Pretty clean look, and it's noticeably lighter. Even on Thursday night, when I took my 105 shifters off, I noticed how heavy they were. That was confirmed when I took the Force shifters out of their box on Friday. Not even close.

As for performance, the DoubleTap system is pretty easy to get. Upshifts are just like Shimano, but with a firmer click. Downshifts have the same motion as Shimano, but it takes a little more effort to move the lever. It's just as quick, though. Even on climby parts on Saturday, I had no problems.

The front derailleur is pretty slick, too. The SRM crank is a little finicky, so I'm sure the shifting right now isn't as solid as it would be on my Ultegra crank. But it's still pretty good.

And thanks to Mr. Miles, I have some new brakes on there, too -- Ultegra SL. Having never had Shimano brakes before (I had Tektro brakes that were so generic, they didn't even say Tektro on them), the difference is huge. The action feels light, but steady.

So that's that. The only thing I have to complain about now is legs -- but they feel great right now. Gonna be a good week.

Is today leap day?

Though it runs contrary to the luck I've had in the last month, there's quite likely a small parcel with my name on it en route to Bike Masters today. Tucked inside are four tiny bits of salvation: my SRAM Force shifters and derailleurs.

Shifting woes because of worn-out cables and cassettes? Gone. Slightly inadequate braking? Gone (with an assist from Mr. Miles). So what's left?

Riding like a bat out of hell, that's what's left.

And if that stuff doesn't come today? Well, it won't change much. The Felt was pretty much unrideable to begin with, but when I was working on it at work yesterday (there's a bike shop bonus), the rear shift cable snapped. Probably for the best.

So last night I tore the bike apart. The only things currently attached are the crank, saddle, fork and bars. It's cleaned and ready to go.

Come on, UPS guy! Or FedEx guy!

Floodgates

It's been a month since I was fired.

After feeling sorry for myself for most of the rest of that day, I got down to business. Employment needed to be secured, pronto. House, car, utilites, food, daycare ... they didn't get summarily dismissed when I did.

Through it all -- the search, the bills, etc. -- I've done my best to be the face of optimism. It's gonna work out. It has to work out. Right?

Right?

But as little things go wrong (the severance pay thing, the car that needs work, things around the house that need to be addressed), it's gotten harder and harder.

And last night, as my bike was missing shifts -- and eventually throwing the chain -- it all hit me. I was riding well enough, but working twice as hard because of the bike. The final indignity? A bottle cage broke in half.

Jesus, what next?

Like my bike, it seems like everything is held together with a band-aid and some bubblegum. Just enough to work ... for now. It'll be fixed with the SRAM stuff gets here (allegedly tomorrow -- it's been shipped from QBP), and that will help.

Well, that will help for the bike. For everything else ... pass the bubblegum.

When in doubt ... build a bike

Hey, I might have whined about this lately (once or twice, maybe) -- money is tight at our house. I have stuff that needs to be done to the Felt to have it truly, totally race-ready, and those things are going to have to wait. There's just no extra money hanging around to make it happen. Right now, I'll call it good enough and make do.

But in the meantime, I'm building another bike. And I need your help, Algomaha readership. I know some of you are parts hoarders (ahem ... Munson, Miles ...), and I know some of you have the handful of parts needed to turn the beauty below into a completely ridiculous, completely inappropriate single-speed.

It's a 2007 Trek 5000. Full carbon frame, ready to ride. Well, ready to ride gently, that is. Because there's a hole in the seat tube. It's been languishing for a few years in "back of the shop hell."

Is it safe for a full 10-speed build, which would then turn it into a defacto training bike? No, probably not. But if there's no front derailleur there, and if it's just going to be ridden on short trips ... it must be built.

So here's what I'm looking for: Everything but a front wheel and brake calipers. Just dig through your parts bin and see if there's anything hanging around that could stand to be used. And, obviously, I have no money to offer in return. If it's a particularly generous donation, I'll come mow your lawn. I'm totally not joking.

Let me know what's up. And if you want to ride it when it's done, be my guest (you'll have to sign a waiver, though. It's your problem if that hole decides to expand mid-ride). Because think about it -- carbon single-speed?

Yes.