Weekend of cross

Last weekend was a tough one to sitting on the couch injured. The 3 days of Jingle Cross was going on in Iowa City IA, a race I have not missed ever since I started racing cross. If there was ever a cross race where a party broke out, this would be it. I think it's got a little bit of a Tulsa Tough vibe going, especially on Friday night. As a racer the courses are different than anything else we race on all year. Tight turns, long straights, plenty of technical bits, and of course, the climb up Mt. Krumpet. I love the weekend but this year I was stuck at home trying to get updates via Twitter. I've definitely gotten spoiled watching euro cross races on the internet and the US races on Cycling Dirt!

We had Mark, Matt, Abby, and Issac racing for TREK CXC and they all had great rides during the weekend. Mark took the win in the 35+ race on Saturday while Matt got the 35+ win on Sunday. Issac and Abby both rode in the Elite races all weekend and pulled off a top 10 in one race and were top 20 in the rest.There were a few other Omaha-Lincoln-KC folks there who had great results as well. Tough seeing the all the media about the cross family being there and missing out.

Great seeing Matt win a big race with Jill and Ruby there. 

Mark got the win in the 35+ race on Saturday. He rode the Elite race the other days.

I just like this picture of Matt

Kenny took 2 wins in the 45+, good to see and it gives be a good idea of where I would of placed.

Mark on the slog up Mt. Krumpet. Yes, it really does start down by the barn at the bottom of the picture.

you don't see this very often in a cross race

The downhill has to be my favorite part of the courses, it really is as steep as it looks.

I also watched the Super Prestige Gavere race this weekend. I think the men's race has become more interesting this year as Sven Nys has taken a lot longer to get to the front group and then battle for the win. Kind of the same tactic that Jeremy Powers is using this year in his races. Both riders seem to get OK starts and just roll around in the top 15 for a few laps and eventually they get to the front of the race in the last 3 laps. Usually they win but once in a while they don't. I think it makes people think they should be more patient in races but I see a problem in that. Maybe it's just me but spotting the fastest guys in the field 30 seconds is usually a bad deal.  It may be easy to roll with the lead group but to make up the 30 seconds is incredibly  hard. It seems like Jeremy Powers was had this same plan on day 3 of Jingle Cross. The only problem is that Tim Johnson got a gap that Jeremy couldn't close. Tim wins with Jeremy 2nd. interesting to watch these races and see how each riders tactics work for them.

Not too much new to report on the injury, still no weight bearing for 3-4 weeks. I can take off the boot and work on range of motion exercises.  It's a good start on toad to recovery.

Photo credits: VELO, mrs mod, mrshigh5, anybody else I forgot.........

Just hanging out

How time flies when you are sitting on the couch. Or.....maybe just the opposite, I can't tell. It seems like forever ago that I had surgery but reality is, it's only been a little over 2 weeks. Overall the pain is decreasing as the days go by and I'm getting closer to actually sleeping through the night. One of the biggest challenges aside from being on crutches is getting cleaned up. It took awhile  but we figured out a way to get me in the shower without killing myself. I' m finally getting some flexibility out of my knee so I can see what's going on with my ankle. In all honesty I really didn't think this surgery was that big of a deal but it began to sink in once I was able to see that side of my ankle.

So at this point I'm couch surfing all day just waiting to go see the doctor on Friday afternoon. I'm more than a little curious as to what we do next. I know I have 6-8 weeks before I can put any weight on my leg so it's more a question of how and when do I start physical therapy.

I had no idea 

. 

Sand issues in Louisville

Mark at Nebraska State Championships

Katie in Louisville

Logan in St.Louis

Ben had a good race in St.Louis

That's all I've got at the moment, just have to see where we are after the doctors visit Friday.

Cross is over .......for me

I was watching the race today from Belgium and it was great! The course was so unique it was kind of a learning process for me. One of these days I'll get across the pond and do a few races and maybe Masters Worlds.

This was from the first race of the year, Hermann Cross, Won the 50+ both days

That was a pretty relaxed event and after hitting few of the bigger events The TREK CXC crew was on a roll. With our next big travel block looming Mark and I had figured out a schedule that would get all of the teams equipment from Omaha, to St.Louis, to Louisville, and back to Omaha in about 10 days.

It was all going according to plan until I crashed in a low speed corner at the Gateway Cup Cross race in St.Louis. I can't count how many times I've crashed harder, going way faster.But this time it was different, as soon as I hit the ground I knew I was hurt. From my knee to my toes it hurt and it hurt bad. As I was laying there I could see the odd angle that my ankle was sitting. Now I've broken a few bones in my life but I could tell this was different. Adding to an obvious ankle/Tibia issues there was the fact that my right knee is my bad knee. Good or bad, I'm not sure at this point but if it was my other knee I would be having a knee operation as well. Since everything got twisted my bad knee still moves, just a added a few different grinding noises.

Everybody wants to know, how did I manage to do this much damage in such a slow speed crash? Here's what I think happened. It was 2 laps to go in my race when I  rolled into section where there was a short, steep, downhill followed by a sharp 180 turn. I think that my front wheel started washing out and then caught, sending me highside over the bars. Then next thing I remember is lying on the bround in incredible pain, pain from my knee to my toes.

I won't go into the details of the ambulance ride or the 9 hrs I spent in the emergency room. i will say that the ER crew kept me pretty busy most of that time.

pins, plates, and screws

This sucked when they put it back into place, glad I was out

Post Opp pictures, plenty of new hardware

Bad part of crashing when you are out of town is finding a way home. Having surgery the next day helped move things along. We were very fortunate that Mark and I were only on the first leg of our trip. 3.5 hrs and Nancy could come and save me.

I really do need to say Thank You to so many people for their good wishes, and offers to help. It means so much to know there is community out there that is looking out for each other.