Guess Who's Back...Back Again...Jamie's Back, Tell Your Friends

It has been so long since the last post that I was thinking about abandoning this blog for good, but something just keeps me coming back. Mainly for my friends and family that I do not get to see that often, but also as a reminder of what has been going on and an exercise in communication. So with that disclaimer officially noted, here we go. Not sure where to start exactly...How about with the fun stuff first. Since my last post, there have been several bike races and a sustained internal injury. At the second Snake Creek Gap TT in February, I wound up puking about 10 miles into the race and could not hold it back. So there I was on the side of the trail just going to town and yelling at my shoes. While I was putting in a solid effort, it was not enough to cause that level of sickness. So I bailed out at the half way point very disappointed and felt defeated and confused. In bike racing, we have all gone to the point that you thought you were going to be sick, but rarely does it actually happen. So after that weekend, I made a few calls to some local bike racers/doctors that I know and told them what was going on and if they knew someone who could check me out. Of course they did...so I went straight to the GI specialist and we came to the realization that I had herniated my stomach and also had an small ulcer. So the hernia was pushing into my liver and gall bladder, which caused the gall bladder to excrete too much acid and then the heavy physical stress of mountain bike racing all added up to some torn up insides. I had to make some serious changes to my diet, eliminating all the wonderfully bad foods like coffee, milk/dairy, red meat and spicy foods and take daily medication from now on. I just went in for my follow up appointment and I am feeling much better and everything looks good. So my efforts were not in vain, but my physical duress trigger will always be there.

I made a trip down to Athens Ga with Mike V for the first of the Dirty Spokes events at Heritage Park. This was the first time that I raced in Athens and at a Dirty Spokes event. This was the first in a 4 race series that started with a 6 hour race. It was rainy and a chilly 38 degrees when we rolled out and it never got much better. I cranked out 5 laps and came in 5th, which was not as well as I hoped. I ran into a bunch of people that I had not seen a while and even hung out with the Terrapin Brewing Team for some post race support. We loaded up the car and made the trip home just in time for dinner.

I spent the next few weeks hitting up our Tuesday night and Thursday night rides and added one long day each weekend just to keep it fresh. It has been great since Tuesday has become the game of finding the hardest road route possible and then racing each other up and down the mountain. Great fun but hard on the system. On Saturdays I have been riding to Raccoon Mountain from my house which is a decent 50 miles depending on which way you go over Lookout Mountain. Even then it has been hard to get the distance that I feel I need. So I made a decision to use the month of May as my trial by fire into better endurance shape for the rest of the season.

It started last weekend at the 2nd Dirty Spokes 12 hour event at Ft. Yargo SP in Winder, GA. I have never been here before either, but I heard that it was a fun, fast course. Once again, Mike V and I hit the road. Similar to our last trip to GA, the weather was terrible and it rained like crazy all the way down. We woke up to some decent sunshine, but that lasted long enough to start the race and get a few laps in. Then the sky opened up and it poured, big time. So for the next few laps it was a mess and only got worse. I hated to call it a day after the 7 hour mark, but I really felt like we were destroying the course and I was tired of being muddy. You could not wear glasses because they would fog up from the humidity, so you had to take your chances and try to limit the amount of fine sand that you got into your eyes. I am still digging out sand from my eyes days later. All in all it was a good time and it was too bad that the sun did not remain because the few early laps were awesome and fast, but that was very short lived. Once again, it was nice to see all the folks that showed up at the race. We packed up and hit the road.

This weekend is the Dirt, Sweat & Gears 12 hour event which I hope will have better trail conditions, but it is not looking good so far. I will have a full race report next week. Following the DSG will be the SSUSA event and then the 12 hours of Tsali on the 23rd. This is going to be the make it or break it month for me, so either I will get this 12 hour thing or I will keep trying until I do. I really like the format and have been enjoying the new trails, but it seems like the only way to "train" yourself for a 12 hour race is to just suit up and go around as many times as you possibly can. See you Fayetteville this weekend!