Training Delay

I took last Friday, 4/4, off to go skiing with Megan. Even though she is cool with me snowboarding, I like to take out the skis every once in a while. I guess old habits die hard. Anyway, we were up at Waterville Valley enjoying a mellow day at the mountain. It was actually snowing up there as well. I saw a nice barrel hit in the distance, and my plan was to ollie up on to it, bonk it and jump off. All of a sudden, BAM... I lost a ski and somehow found myself on the ground, groaning holding my left side. At first I thought i had knocked the wind out of myself, but really it was just some pain on my left side. No biggie right? I've slammed hard a bunch of times. My pride was stinging but that was probably due to the skier that came up to me and said "are you ok?". I had to go to the ER after we drove home then was transferred to Brigham & Womens in Boston and admitted for the weekend. It turns out that I shattered my kidney, in addition to bruising my left lung. My exercise program is significantly restricted. I was told "You can ride your bike... just don't fall off. Or if you fall, fall to your right side." Right... that's easy enough. The full report can be read here.

My plan right now is to start slowly on the basement trainer and then in a few weeks get back on the bike. The tough part is yesterday was 65 degrees and sunny here. The sacrifices I make to be a jumping idiot monkey. I guess I can just be happy I'm not Jan Ulrich, Lance Armstrong's former archnemsis. Ulrich was just fined $1MM Euros (that's $1.6MM) in a doping fraud case. Megan on the other hand has been racking up the miles.

Today we took advantage of the "warm" weather and decided to go for a longer ride today. We had to dig out some cold weather layers and left the house in Norwell towards Scituate. We basically did a long loop around Scituate, making a pit stop and surf check (it was flat) along the way. The wind was pretty fierce in a few spots (my excuse for going slow) but it was a great way to spend Saturday. We rewarded ourselves at the end with some Finagle a Bagel sandwiches. Here are a few shots from the ride.

Winter Training

It's still pretty bitter cold in Southeastern Massachusetts but on this rare snowless day, we decided to wipe the dust of the bikes and go for a mini training spin. It had been months since either of us had been in the saddle (unless you count my spin classes at the gym or Frank's trainer workouts in the basement). We went out for a little over an hour through the pot-holed streets of Norwell and Hingham. Overall it was great to get out there; the sun shown on us for a good part of the ride. I sort of kicked Frank's ass on the hills and flats which felt pretty good. I learned that my spin classes are getting me into decent shape. Frank learned that he needs to stop drinking beers and watching surf videos during his "workouts". We're both getting excited for the onset of spring and to get our butts in better shape.