Mike's Bike Blog

On Saturday I was expecting about 6 or 7 other riders to join in the WFRR to Burnet that was called on the Hammerhead bikes forum. I was surprised to see a head count of 16 riders push off from the Leander High School parking lot. The ride turned out to be agnostic as well, there were several shop owners and shop teams represented. Out on Round Mountain we were joined briefly by Southwest Cycle Sport as well. The first 30 miles we averaged 19.2 mph with some spirited sections hitting 24+ mph.

I was still recovering from my head cold and at times was a little snotty, which was making it a little difficult to breath, but manageable. All and all I was feeling good. Then we hit Oatmeal, TX. I'm not sure if Oatmeal is really a town, it does show up on google maps, but as far as I can tell there's nothing there besides a church and a cemetery. Oh yeah and a steep hill. Oatmeal is the place where I almost sagged out during the Armadillo Hill Country Classic with mechanical problems. This time out of the blue, I started to have knee problems. My left knee froze up on me and wouldn't straighten up. As it slowly came back I found myself completely dropped from the main group. Luckily, Sol and Scott from Austin Bikes slowed up and got me back to the group. Whenever there was a roller of any size I couldn't put out much power without my knee hurting. I was fine on the flats and downhill for the most part.

As we approached Burnet some in the group called for a pit stop, but being so close the group ruled we would roll on. There was some banter amongst the group that real races don't need to stop to pee. Next thing I know Sol is preparing to relieve himself. That was all the motivation I needed to kick it up a gear and not to be hanging off the back.

We stopped in Burnet and the Shell station on Hwy 29 to refill. After a short break we headed East on 29. This was the busiest section of the route but there is a big shoulder for the 4 miles of riding on 29. Just outside of Burnet there's a pretty substantial climb that averages 7.5% and maxes out at 9.1%, the group lost me again as I had no power to get up the hill. This time Cody from Hammerhead Bikes was waiting for me to make sure I made the turn onto CR 333 and to get me back to the group. I told him about my lame knee and that I could get back on my own, something I would regret later.

I yo-yo ed back and forth with the group, whenever I had to put out more than 120 watts my knee would hurt.  There was a direct correlation between the amount of watts produced to the amount of pain. I'd catch up to the group whenever someone had a flat and the group stopped for repairs. I would unclip from the pedal and do some one legged pedaling to give the knee a rest. Somewhere along CR 1174 I finally lost contact with the group for the last time.

As if knee pain wasn't enough on CR 284 I got a flat tire which I changed and got on my way. Then the final nail in the coffin of the ride happened, another flat. This was a big problem as I seemed to only have 1 CO2 cartridge. With no means to inflate the tire I had to call for the team car to come get me. This posed another problem, I knew I was about 8 miles away from my car, but I didn't really know how to tell Jennifer how to get me. I knew I was at the intersection of CR 282 and CR 281 but didn't know how to get there in relation to Baghdad road. This is the biggest drawback to the Garmin Forerunner 305, when in navigation mode no streets are viewable. The small black and white screen only shows the path to follow. This is a good excuse to ask Santa for a Garmin 705 with the maps add on. After some google map work and Jennifer following the route on roadbikerides.com she was able to ascertain where I was.

I walked the bike down 281 towards Baghdad Road, the knee felt better to walk than ride. It probably was a blessing in disguise as not to further damage my knee. A warm soul in a gold dualie pulled over and offered me a ride. I took him up on the offer to Baghdad road where Jennifer and the rest of the pit crew picked me up.

In the past when my knee has went lame like this I was not able to walk up the stairs without the sharp pain. This time my knee did no hurt walking up the stairs so that's a good sign. Nor did I have any pain at night like I've had in the past. I'll spin an easy gear for the next few days to see how the knee holds up and start back up with the weights. I was laxed with the leg extensions the past couple of months. The leg extensions don't really offer a lot when it comes to cycling but it does help round out the quads and is involved with keeping the kneecap aligned.

Next week there's talk of a Dripping Springs WFRR ride in case anybody is interested.