“Needleless” back treatment…

I found a Doc to treat me yesterday evening. They gave me hundreds of little injections in my back. About an injection for every square cm of my back... the whole back, and even my neck got loads of injections… I handled it quite well considering I’m scared of needles (no wonder I suck at cycling)… after that they put my through a bunch of adjustments and I felt a bit better. I couldn’t get to sleep last night, and this morning my back was really stiff and after the treatment. So I’m not racing today of course. I’m sitting around trying not to move my back too much.

I’m also a bit sick. I seemed to get a bit sick just before come back home from the Bikestyle trip. That’s what happens when you share a bus with loads of people, move hotel every day etc etc. My lungs are full of phlegm and it feels remarkably like the thing I had about 3 weeks ago after that MTB race. Maybe if I could get some consistent training through the winter months, I could stay healthy during the season.. or maybe I just have a weak body.. I don’t know.

I’m going to go for an easy 1 hour spin and see how I feel… come home, enjoy a meal out on the balcony, and go out for another ride in the afternoon if I don’t feel too bad.Shit I hate this... I hate feeling like this.

good, or no good... ??

2 days in the Pyrenees was really good. However… although fun it wasn’t all great. The 1st day I got the there I went out on the MTB and got lost on the Aspin mountain.. then got caught in some rain as I had ridden down into the neighboring valley. I felt really shit on the bike, but I figured that was just due to the past 2 weeks of long rides. So on the second day I got up early, had breakfast and headed out on the road bike to do both sides of the Aspin followed by the Tourmalet. It was incredibly hot… I did both sides of the Aspin and started the Toumalet but soon realized it wasn’t a good idea. I was feeling really rough. It’s my back once again. The pain even on the bike was excruciating and it was a hindrance to my breathing. Once I got back to the tent, I realized just in how much pain I was. I had assumed it was the mountain hurting me. Unable to move, I lay down for most of the day with my lungs constantly wheezing with asthma. I didn’t sleep last night either.. not only was the breathing just too hard to sleep, but massive mountain thunder storms came down and flooded the tent… oh well. This morning I got up and packed everything up wet into the car. I’ll hang it out to dry over the next couple days. My first priority is finding a doctor to sort my back out. I was planning on racing the MTB tomorrow, but that looks very unlikely, unless I can find some that can treat me this afternoon… Ugh… such is life with my fucked up back… it’s been years, but I’m really starting to realize that I need to be careful.. if I can’t get some serious treatment I’m going to be bedridden in the next few years. Someone has already said I have the back of a 70 year old… Ugh

And he’s off again. Pyrenees training camp.

Right, it’s nice weather out there, so I’m taking my MTB and road bike with the power-tap and I’m going to spend a few days camping at the foot of the Aspin and the Tourmalet. I’ll probably do 2 rides a day, 1 MTB and 1 road.
When I was in that area about a week ago I told myself I really had to go back with the tent and the MTB, hang out, relax and ride some mean trails. So here I go… so long suckers………

Back in the game mate...

Well here we go… I’m back. I got back in yesterday afternoon, I flew from Paris to Toulouse, got home and went for a ride with Stephane. We did a nice little 2+ hour ride. I’m really really tired from all the riding we did with Bikestyletours.com. It was a great trip with some really cool people. I met lots of new people and have found out a lot more about Aussies. They are a great nation of people, nothing phases them, they don’t care, they roll with the punches, suck it up and laugh at everything. We had some great townsign sprints, great rides in the mountains and sadly, even a couple of crashes.

I’ve ridden 20 hours a week for the past two weeks. Lots of the rides were slow, but with the mountains they were still quite hard. I put in a LOT of hours in the saddle that’s for sure. Some of the rides were fast, with lots of accelerations etc. Some of the guys on the trips were ex-racers, some were current racers, and so there was a group that was really tearing it up on the incredibly hot roads of France.

I have just spent 3 days up north finishing in Paris (and many days in the mountains before that) where it was raining. So today was a bit of a shock to me when I awoke to some really REALLY hot weather. I did a recovery ride today, but it was so hot that even when there was a breeze, it was like air coming out of an oven… just bloody hot.

I’m going to try an MTB race this weekend I think, then some road next weekend… we’ll see what kind of shape I’m in. I’ve got a good base now, but I’m sure I need intervals etc.

Right.. “off to bed hey, get an early night hey mate” as Pat Jonkers would say..