It really was a great day. I've had a really crappy time lately because of the knee problems and haven't been riding much, typically only 45-70 miles/day, with some days less or not at all. But today was the first day that I felt really great in a long time and...I rode the entire course for the day, I was the first to arrive at the trip's last state line, South Carolina, and even the first to arrive at the hotel tonight, even ahead of the fastpack peletón. It was like my legs belonged to someone else--I just couldn't seem to get them to go less than 20 mph. Obviously it helped that I took 4 Aleve tablets this morning (i.e., 880mg of naproxen sodium, an NSAID like aspirin or tylenol), only double the recommended maximum dosage and a lot of caffeine. But I also had a few helping hints on my knee problems: Berkas adjusted my right cleat and Tara suggested I ride with my knees more inward. If nothing else, these helped by stressing the knees slightly differently, but we'll see how I feel tomorrow. If I'm in intense pain, I'll get off the bike tomorrow and still should be ok for the final day the day after into Charleston.
The ride today was gorgeous, as well. We left Asheville (a great town, by the way), went along the Blue Ridge Parkway briefly, then along US 74 up to the Eastern Continental Divide at Hickory Nut Gap. Then it was down a screaming 10 mile descent, where I was forced to draft a line of cars because I couldn't pass them on the winding road, past Chimney Rock and along beautiful Lake Lure. We had lunch right before the SC border and then through rural rolling hills into Union.
Chris works with Lance Armstrong on LiveStrong. Through this connection he knows George Hincapie who happens to live in Spartanburg, SC, a half hour from where we are staying tonight, so a bunch of us are going to shuttle over there in the van to say hi after dinner. I don't really follow bike racing much, but this should be pretty cool.
Only two more biking days left!
glad to see you posting again! sorry bout the knees. I used to have constant knee pain, tried adjusting everything, bike fits, stretching exercises, dietary supplements, religious rites (ok I made that up), but just about everything. Then I learned about the gout, needle like crystals of uric acid with an affinity to joints in the extremeties -- got a allopurinol/colchecine scrip and miraculously knee pain went away mostly (hydration is a factor and increased dosages are necessary every once in a while). Jes sayin, hell to age.
ReplyDeletehey, now that you won South carolina, does that make it a blue state?
ReplyDelete