37 days and counting

Well the countdown continues and the PT is still going on! The past week has been a really good week. There was a breakthrough in my PT after Monday and things are really starting to click. I was able to ride 3 times on the trainer last week and swim 2 times. My trainer rides were short and effortless because I don't feel ready to push it yet. The first one was a 20 min ride at only 100 watts. To understand how easy that is.. well my easiest ride when I'm barely putting any effort out would be an average of 145-150 watts. Its so different on a trainer because its constant pressure on your legs vs. on the road when you have hills and descents and never stay in one area of watts. You could easily hit a hill and be putting out 400-600 watts with no problem however you could descend down that same hill and put out only 80. That is the reason why I am holding off on being on the road until I really feel ready to. The two other times were 30 and 45 minutes in PT and I pushed it a little harder.. not much only doing about 125 watts for 10 to 15 minutes. I did feel some knee pain with it but not a lot. The real big thing was the recovery.. which is where I would always feel the most pain.. well all three times I never felt any. My plans as of today are to do the ride. I'm really starting to feel better with my riding and PT. I'm going to continue to do PT this week and get a massage next week. The massages and stretching have helped a lot with relaxing the muscles around my knee and giving it time to heal and recover. This Friday is when I will be making up my mind and sending the check in for the ride.. the point of no return. I really am looking forward to flying out there about 5 days before my ride and do some traveling and riding out there. I will probably do a post later this week to let you know about how my riding goes since I really will start to push it before I mail the check out!

45 days

So the SUBJECT says it all. 45 days till I'm suppose to fly out to California and start my journey to ride across America. There are questions that I've been asking myself for the past two weeks and honestly I don't know if I have answers for them yet. I'm just going to go with it and speak out loud for a few minutes here. Six months ago I saw a challenge to do this ride especially since my right knee had been injured and I was getting over that. Finally I was able to get on the bike in late November and start my training and soon after injured my left knee. I then took a couple weeks off the bike and continued my training in December and on through January. Well somehow when I thought things were going great and I was starting to feel physically fit my knee starts bothering me. I go 2 weeks of riding dealing with this pain.. this pain that I can pinpoint with a pen tip. I went to get an MRI to only have several opinions throw me around in different directions. I just want to know what it is.. why can I run.. why can I go up stairs and down stairs without pain.. why can I swim 5000 yards and not feel anything besides the fire in my muscles.. is it muscle imbalance?? or is it really my ACL? why can I ride a recumbent bike for 15 minutes and push 200 watts and not be in pain... Although when I get approval to go ride this weekend.. EASY I only last 15 minutes before I turn around because IM IN PAIN.. I didn't push over 150 watts at any given time in that 15 minutes. I cant tell you how frustrated I am.. at some point in time I need to make a choice.. I plan on calling the company that I'm doing the ride through tomorrow and get their opinion on what I should do. I have to pay for the trip ASAP and I was supposed to pay for it February 1st. I cant convince myself that I wont be able to do this trip. I have to much hope and I feel like I'm supposed to do it. To many people are behind me. It has been 5 weeks of not riding now.. I have said this before I'm not worried that I cant ride 115+++ miles a day.. I'm now worried that will my body be able to keep up. I mentally feel ready for it. JUST someone PLEASE give me a straight forward answer!

 

Now on another note I'm not the only one confused.. My PT Meghan doesn't know what to think either. I went and saw her today and we worked on different things for 2 hours and I didn't feel any pain.. but felt a little about an hour after. However my 2 hour massage helped it out! It was brought up that maybe I should see someone else and get another set of eyes but I really don't want to. I feel if I go to someone else I have to start all over and I cant afford that right now. I trust Meghan and her knowledge that she can help me and get me better. So here I am today on the treadmill running backwards and side stepping both ways when she sparks a question.. whats that green thing in the seat of your car? and this is my thought process.. huh.. how can she see in my car then I realized I was parked right below the window that she was looking at and answered back with that's my nalgene bottle. Little did I know there would be another question.. Whats that red and white thing in your seat? I sat there and thought again.. red and white thing noo... its black and white what the heck is she talking about and how can she see that far to be pointing out things in my seat!?!? Then she says.. are those incense.. I mean honestly who would carry incense in their car?!?! lol.. NO THEY ARENT! Well come to find out she was right and I was right it was my knee tape that was upside down and the tape is black and white but the paper is red and white..okay.. so you had to be there to laugh at it. However the paper reads several motivational things like this:

 

"its not whether you get knocked down; its whether you get up."

"The harder you work the harder it is to SURRENDER."

"Discipline is remembering what you want."

"winning by a half wheel is tactics, winning by a half lap is fitness."

"pain is nothing compared to what it feels like to quit."

"the most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire"

"COURAGE is going from failure to failure without losing ENTHUSIASM"

"You will be able to do the ride across America" ( okay okay I threw that one in there)

 

So at the end of this I still have that one question.. What do I do? I'm really hoping we can get this figured out and get me on a bike soon. Wednesday I will be bringing my bike to PT for show and tell.. I can only hope I will be able to last more then 15 minutes or we finally figure out whats wrong! Now I'm off to ice GOOD NIGHT!

PT.. PT.. and MORE PT!

So as I stated in the last post I was starting PT this past week. I'm working with a girl Meghan and funny story short I found out that she worked on my brother Eddie when he hurt his shoulder and we had a good time laughing about how he did it and how he is a big baby.. well thats what she said at least... She really feels that I should be on the bike by the end of this up coming week and I sure hope so. This week I went to PT on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and I also swam on Thursday and Saturday an hour each day. Needless to say come Saturday I was in some pain and wasn't really a happy camper because the pain just came right back. But I'm going to hold my head up high and keep on moving forward.. the good news is I enjoy swimming and it feels good to push myself and breath hard for once in the past 5 weeks. I have scheduled another 3 days of PT this week and also 3 days of swimming along with a massage today. I have been working pretty hard on stretching and rolling out my legs since that's what the professional PT of the year Meghan says is the issue. I do plan on getting a second opinion on my x-rays and on my MRI sometime this week I hope and just make sure everything really is secure and sound in my knee. Like I've said in the past post its fine while riding but the aftermath is horrible and my knee just gets inflamed. The way I am looking at it now is I am doing everything everyone has told me and I'm taking it easy, icing everyday, and doing the PT, so everything is bound to get better and I have to be getting better day by day! By the way.. I leave in 7 weeks.. just as a little side note!

So its been 2 weeks.. IM SORRY!

Its been two weeks since I've put a post on here... I haven't because well nothing has changed I'm not riding at all right now the knee is still injured blah blah blah.. However I am on the recovering part of my injury. MRI says a grade I tear of the ACL and PCL. I went to physical therapy today for the first time and my physical therapist Meghan thinks it has nothing to do with my ACL and PCL and she feels I will be on the bike in 2 weeks.. 2 MORE WEEKS! I can swim if I want to and in fact she is encouraging it. So I hope to get a month long membership at a gym somewhere that has a pool so I can get my lungs opened up a little bit. I'm really happy to hear the confidence in my PT and I am still hoping to get on the bike in just a few weeks. Being on the bike after next week which puts me at the end of February and beginning of March means I will have about 7 weeks to be read for the ride. I can do it! I have faith in myself and I know that I might be sore the first couple days but its not a race.. its a goal to complete this and I am going to complete it. I will do better once I am on a more positive side an I am riding with posting and keeping you up to date.

Fwd: Week 11 of Training

On Thursday I was able to get an appointment with the Pedal Right Fit Studio in Vickery Village. I got in with one of their top fitting specialist Eric and he spent about 3.5 hours with me changing my seat height, shorten my stem, moving my cleat, and videoing my pedal stroke until we got it to a area where we are happy with. Believe it or not on my new kestrel where I had the seat height was about 7 MM too low! that's 3 full CM. Now we have it all positioned that it matches my Fuji to the millimeter in all areas except we have my seat height about 3.5mm higher to get more leg extension. I've never been one to be picky with my bike; but with all of these measurement and the technology the Retul has with fitting I was really happy and impressed! If you haven't been fit yet I highly recommend it even if you are a CAT 5 racer or on the PRO level. A fitting like this and the service I got is well worth the money spent. I even have take home records of my fit so down the road when I purchase a new bike I'm able to compare and adjust as needed and Pedal Right has the records on file so I could just go there to get set up and have the same confidence knowing that I'm properly sized up on the new bike

So this week has been a tough week for me. I went and got an MRI done on Thursday to check out my knee since it has been bothering me a lot. The MRI results came and and apparently I somehow have torn the ACL and PCL in my left knee. The doctor said it could be from something as simple as running into a desk or hitting my knee on anything that caused it and its not from cycling. I look at it two ways... its stressing me out that  have to spend 2-4 weeks off the bike but on the other side I will be able to ride again and still do the ride. Its not "TENDINITIS" of some sort which tends to stay around longer but yes I will still have to baby the knee. I did a nice 60 mile ride on Monday and that's when I decided that I needed to get it check out. I'm hoping I can get back to riding on the 2 week side and not the 4 week. I may be out of shape going to this ride across America but I WILL complete it. I will be sure to keep everyone up to date with the issue. Well its back to the icing 3-4 times a day for the next couple weeks.. WISH ME LUCK!

Week 10 of Training

Another week in the books ladies and gentlemen. This week was great because it actually got above freezing and I was able to ride outside with only 2 layers on instead of 4. The only down side is more knee issues. I think from what I can remember is I smashed my knee on something and it feels like I have a bruise on the knee cap.. But when I don't ride a day it goes away and the next day I ride it slowly creeps back.. I'm HOPING its only a bruise and nothing more. Next week I am super excited because I'm going to get fit at Pedal Right in Vickery Village. After I get fit I will be able to start riding the Kestrel and putting the miles on that puppy and then my knee problems will go away.. right....

 

Monday- 1.5 hours on the rollers. 10 min at 150, 170, 190, 210, 190, 170, 150 then ILTS.

 

Tuesday- 1.5 hours on the rollers. pretty much the same thing as Monday

 

Wednesday- OFF

 

Thursday- 3 hours with Reality Bikes teammate Eric. We ended up riding out of the house and going up some new roads that we haven't been on yet and discovered that there is a lot of untouched areas that we hope to venture towards during our team training camp.

 

Friday- 1 hour on the Road. This is when the knee really started bothering me so I cut the ride short.

 

Saturday- OFF

 

Sunday- 1 Hour on the rollers at my parents house. Real easy keeping an eye on my knee making sure it isn't anything major.

 

Now is a time that I really cant risk doing any damage to my knee.. What ever injuries I do have I need to make sure they are gone and I'm good to go. I really cant afford to take a week or two weeks off in the next couple months of training. Its time I ramp my miles up since I'm able to ride outside and keep the intensity down. I do plan on racing the Greenville Classic which starts February 22nd and is 3 weekends after and hope to place well maybe win a race and Cat up to a 3 before I leave. I did get a Garmin and I will start uploading rides on here that I do throughout the week. Its crazy how much information that you get off of the cycling computer and I'm enjoying it so far!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for New Ride

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for New Ride

Week 9 of Training

(yes thats the snow and ice I was riding on)

Well another week down and another week closer to my ride. So on Sunday I was on the rollers just thinking to myself about my training and where I'm at with it. I was thinking that man my ride is in April and I've been riding 5 days a week now for 9 weeks this is going to be a long journey and April feels like forever away.... NOT.. when push comes to shove and you count the months you would think 4 months. January, February, March, then April.. right?!?! Well at least that's what I've been telling people.. But take this into consideration count the weeks... you should get 12 weeks plus a few days... 12 weeks!!!! I'm almost halfway through my training and haven't done a century ride yet.. Been fighting knee issues and of course cold and rainy weather. No time to panic though its not crunch time yet however next week I better get in a little more then just 1.5 hour roller rides I need to be riding outside 2 plus hours a day! Soon I will start 5 day straight training days with 1 day off a week. I'm going to have to get used to RIDING back to BACK days.

 

Monday- 1.5 hours on the rollers. 60 min at 165 watts. ILT's

 

Tuesday- OFF

 

Wednesday- 1.5 hours on the rollers. 60 min at 180 watts. ILT's

 

Thursday- 1.5 Hours on the rollers. 20 min 160, 20 min 180, 20 min 60, 10 min 200. ILTS

 

Friday- OFF ( SNOW DAY)

 

Saturday- 2.5 hours outside in the snow and ice. It ended up being a beautiful day out and really nice ride. The knee or should I say knee's held up really well. It was a lot of fun slippin and sliding on the ice. I couldn't get over how much was still on the ground and the salt trucks haven't made it to some of the back roads I was on.

 

Sunday- 1.5 hours on the rollers. 10 min at 150, 10 min at 170 X 3, then 5 min at 150, 5 min at 170 X 2.

 

Week 8 of Training

So things have been looking good for me with my training and being on the bike. I have yet to ride outside in weeks but you know what the weather has yet to be "nice." The way I've been looking at it is that I ride fine on the trainer and not so well on the road so I'll continue the trainer for a couple more weeks. This week being New Years I went up to Athens and hung out with the "Murray" clan and Stephen, Reggie, and Neely. We had a great time for New Years and for the WBL ride.. well you guessed it I didn't do it. For one I wasn't in the best shape to go out in the 40 degree weather and two.. my knee.... or at least that is my excuse and I'm sticking to it! So I ended up doing a training week of this:

 

Monday- 1.5 hours on the rollers. Steady pace between 150 and 200 watts.. for once no ILT's

 

Tuesday- 1 Hour on the rollers. Eddie came over and we did a easy ride. I kept it at 150 watts for 40 min then 10 min of ILT's.

 

Wednesday- OFF

 

Thursday- NEW YEARS EVE!! 1 Hour on the rollers. Again very easy and I got my new wireless power tap so it was interesting to see how it worked compared to the wired one... and Its pretty close to the same the only thing I see that is off is "virtual cadence" when I do ILT's it goes crazy!?!?!!

 

Friday- NEW YEARS DAY!!... AKA OFF DAY :)- Ed, Art, Reggie, Stephen, and Eric went out and did the WBL.. MAJOR PROPS TO THEM!

 

Saturday- 1 hour on the rollers. It took a while to get motivated today but after 30 min I started counting down till I was done.

 

Sunday- 1 Hour on the rollers. This was a great work out! I did 20 min on at 150 watts, 20 Min at 175 watts, and 10 min of ILT's.

 

So I really haven't been riding the new bike.. Actually I haven't ridden it since the first WBL ride. I'm going to stay off till I get fit and get all the correct measurements. I really cant risk any more injuries and what I'm doing now seems to be working. This week was a good week of riding and turned out to be a good rest week before I ramp it up next week... Next week is January so that means at least 1.5 hours on the rollers.... ohh boy only 4 months till I leave!

Week 7 of Training

So this week has been an interesting week on the bike. I've gone back to the old Fuji and haven't touched the new Kestrel. I'm going to wait to get properly fit on it and ensure that everything is perfect. I think that is the main issue with my injuries, jumping back and forth between two different bikes cant be good if I already have an issue. So last week I was able to put some hours in on the rollers however still cant ride the road... weird I know.. and yes I'm just dying to get out on the road even though it has been cold weather. Riding on the rollers is one thing but being on the road breathing in the fresh cold and being chased by dogs can be fun... instead I have to look over to smudge stretching out on the couch and curling up into a ball on her favorite blanket looking at me like I've lost my mind.. which I may have by that point.

 

Monday- OFF

 

Tuesday- 30 min on the rollers. First time Ive been on the bike in 8 days and the doctor told me I would be able to ride by now. I just took it easy and plan on it the rest of the week.

 

Wednesday- 30 Min on the rollers.

 

Thursday- Christmas ride to Aunt Shells and Uncle James.. or something like that.. being cautious I decided to ride on the rollers with my brother Eddie.. 1 Hour.

 

Friday- OFF

 

Saturday- 1 Hour. Did a few intervals, 20 min at 160 watts 10 min at 200 watts then some ILTs and then 20 min at 160 watts.

 

Sunday- 1 Hour. Pretty much did the same as Saturday the legs were starting to feel pretty tired since it was my first week back on the rollers.

 

So I had a great Christmas and no we didn't get to do the traditional Christmas ride however we did do a ride on the rollers so that still counts... Right? It feels so good to be back on the bike and I'm very thankful that I'm able to ride on the trainer. I'm a little nervous to venture out on the road since the knee doesn't feel all the way recovered yet. When I get to about min 45 on the bike and stand up there is a slight pain. The Murray brothers, Eric, and a couple teammates are supposed to be doing the WBL ride on new years day but I'm not sure I'm doing it. Since I'm able to ride now I'm going to try and keep it that way until I leave to California!

Week 6 of Training

So week 6 really wasn't too exciting for training... I've spent the last week doing nothing but trying to recover the knee and get back on the bike. Every single day I've been icing, stretching, and doing exercises. I went and saw the podiatrist on Friday and got some custom insoles made and he prescribed me a anti inflammatory called Ketoprofen. It has SO FAR done wonders for my knee and I'm planning on getting back on the bike come Tuesday next week. I'm hoping by the 1st I can go out and do the WBL ride again and start the long distance training.

Week 5 of Training

 

Monday- 1 Hour on the rollers. 10 min warm up. 20 minutes at 160 watts. 10 minutes of ILT's. 10 minutes at 160 watts, 5 min at 180 watts, 5 min at 200 watts.

 

Tuesday- OFF!

 

Wednesday- 3+ hours outside.. started out 62 degrees ended 50 degrees. Today was by far one of the hardest rides I have had. It was so windy outside and I was facing either a 25-35 mph headwind, tailwind, or cross winds. There were times where I was cranking my "granny gear" on the flats because the head wind was so strong! I was just laughing at myself because it was just ridiculous winds and to think I could be facing something like that on my coast to coast ride so I'm glad I went out and did it.

 

Thursday- 1.5 Hours out on the road with Reggie. It was one of those rides where we were like bring your rollers just in case because it was 42 degrees with 34 degree wind chill when we started. However I didn't bring them on purpose because I knew there hasn't been many sunny days. Did a couple "yellow sign sprints" and the new bike felt awesome and the 175 cranks made a huge difference

 

Friday- OFF!! However I did suit up for the Aspen newspaper article! More info later...

 

Saturday- First ever WBL ride with David and Art.. What a great ride it was. There were 150 plus people and Ive never been in a ride that organized with 20. We ended up riding 5 hours in the 32-26 degree weather and there was a little sleet towards the end of the ride. A couple pros were off the front powering the 150 man train keeping an average of 20mph and on the flats it felt as if we were going 30. There is one thing that didn't go well on the ride and that's my left knee.. no not my right anymore the right one is fine however my left knee isn't.. This whole fit thing on the bike is driving me crazy. I'm going to take Sunday and Monday off in hopes of being able to ride with the jittery joes team on Wednesday and Thursday.

 

Sunday- Off knee recovery!!!!

Week 4 of training

Monday- 1 hour on the rollers 

 

Tuesday- Off day

 

Wednesday- 1 Hour on the rollers at Ed's house. We had a "TEAM MURRAY" ride. It was myself, Ed, Art, and Derin :) we just did a simple 1 hour ride with a few intervals

 

Thursday- 1 Hour on the rollers. This was by far one of the best rides ive had on the rollers. I just felt really really good and did 5 min efforts at 180 then 200 then 220 then back down to 200 then 180. Just felt awesome!

 

Friday- Off Day

 

Saturday- 1 Hour on the rollers

Sunday- 3 Hours outside 41 degrees. I also took out the new bike for the first time! The kestrel is awesome and it took some getting used to but after a few tweaks I fit on it like I was part of the bike. Thank you Reality bikes and Kestrel for all your help and support!

This week was a good week of training. There was a couple of nights where I really had to just get on the bike to be motivated. Once I got on it then the hour went by quick. Pretty soon I will be doing 1.5 and 2 hour rides on the rollers. They say an hour on the rollers is equal to 1.5 hours outside because of continuous pedaling and no downhills to coast. Ed, Art, Derin, And I went out to 3-D on Saturday and cut down 3 Christmas trees, one for each of our houses. A picture will be posted soon! It was a lot of fun cutting down my own tree and it was nice to have Jordan give all of us a tour of the house after. Week 5 of training coming up and I'm really starting to feel good on the bike. Also Saturday I might be going to Athens for my first WBL ride which isn't an official WBL ride but its still a 80 mile ride.. 30 more then the 50 I did Sunday... and at an average of 20 mph not 17...

Week 3 of training

Last night I was thinking of different ways that I can keep everyone informed on my training and what kind of riding Ive been doing weekly. So starting last week I'm going to do a blog entry every Monday to reflect on the past week of riding, eating, racing, and charity stuff. Also I was thinking about what kind of food I can use as a comparison to how many calories I've burned. So Eric and I were talking maybe I should do like cereal because there would be so much that I could fill a car or a room in my house. If you have any ideas on what food I should do let me know!!! So my week in training:

 

Monday- 1 Hr on the rollers working on ILT's (individual leg training)

 

Tuesday- Rest day

 

Wednesday- 1 hr on the rollers. Warm up with ILT's then 30 min effort at 200 watts along with cool down and more ILT's

 

Thursday- 2 hrs outside with Eric easy pace kept a 17.5 mph average with a couple "yellow signs sprints" :) there really wasn't much effort in the sprints at all it was just for fun to see what it would feel like. Followed by a 1.5 hr night ride at Fort Yargo with Art. I only managed to crash ohhhhh.... 3 times its been a while since Ive done a good night ride like that and it was a nice pace good tempo.

 

Friday- 3.5 hrs on the mountain bike at Fort Yargo again. Did the first lap with Art and Ed then went on and did another with Ed. Great time my legs were really feeling good at this point in the week. No crashes for the first time!

 

Saturday- Rest day

 

Sunday- 1.5 hrs on the rollers. I worked on ILT's and did  3 sets of: 5 min at 180 watts, 5 min at 220 watts, 5 min at 180 watts. Really got the legs opened up and feeling good. Its the longest Ive spent on the rollers and did something different this time. I put the TV on mute and read close caption and had music playing in the background. I like that a lot more then just listening to the TV. Pretty soon I will be watching movies.

 

So the week was a great training week. I got in the most riding I have done since August and it felt good. My focus now is to be peaking in February and to treat April and May like my winter months since I will be doing long base miles. Then to follow it up July and August peak again. My main goal is to come out this season and win some races right off the bat so I can cat up to a 3 before my ride. I think if I stay focused on my short term goals I should be successful in doing so. I had such a great time spending thanksgiving with the family camping and just relaxing and riding. I'm looking forward to more weeks like this and also I'm looking forward to picking my bike up this week!

Just another day another dollar...or so...

Its now been week two of my training.. Things are actually going very well and the knee is doing awesome! Ive been riding on the rollers a lot and working on my pedal stroke and making sure I'm using my right leg the same as my left. For a while I started to realize when I was riding I would use my left leg more to compensate the pain in my right. Also last week on Saturday I was able to go out and do some mountain biking with RT, Eddie, Chris, and Stephen. It was a blast and come to find out big creek is a great trail. I haven't been there in YEEARRSSS and it was a lot better then I remembered from before. I got some awesome video footage and will post it soon!

 

And for the good news.. we had our 1st annual 3-dimensional life Golf Tournament finally on Tuesday. I want to go ahead and thank the sponsors that made it all possible and the guys that helped get pledges and raise........... $42,000 DOLLARS!!! Nope not a typo that is legit. Greg, myself and all the guys from 3-D are just blown away! It was a good hit and my team.. no need to brag Tim and Greg.. won the second round shooting a 59 in a scramble. Ohhhh yeah and that was just as a two-some. We are looking forward to setting it up for next year and raising even more money then that. We also got to meet a couple new guys that are in the program. The demand for a place like 3-D right now is HUGE. and the fact that the money is also going to a girls program is awesome. I'm looking forward to continue being a part o 3-D for a very long time.. They have taken a huge place in my heart and I love everyone that works there and the kids that ARE recovering.

 

THANK YOU:

 

Chick-fil-a.. (Steve Williams) for breakfast

RBM North ( Bill Favini) for the Hole-n-one Prizes

Phillips Arena ( Rachel Wannemacher) hawks, thrasher tickets

Echelon, Chestatee, and Alpharetta Atheltic Club for the rounds of golf

And again THANK YOU to all the sponsors and people that made it all possible and put their time and effort to making this tournament a success!

 

 

 

Savannah Bound and Tournament canceled

So this past weekend myself and 3 other teammates made our way down to Savannah. Now I planned on going down there because I haven't been and I figured it would be a great chance to see where my ride was ending. Well we had a blast down there and got to meet up with some old friends and hung out and watched Eric, Reggie, and David race.  On Saturday night Eric pulled a 3rd, and Reggie placed 2nd. On our way back to the venue on Sunday morning as we were pulling in I decided right then and there I was racing. I signed up and used Eric's kit, shoes, and bike.. ohh yeah and a water bottle and I used Davids helmet.. Now I have never ridden Eric's bike before nor did I pre ride the course. So we were off I was in the back of the pack until I decided this isn't where I want to be put me in front! So I pushed it through some straights and around some corners and made my way up to about 5th and right on Reggie's wheel. We made a right hand turn and about to go over some WHOOPS and bam a guy hits my from the right side. I swerved to the left hitting another guy and I got taken down. Well jumping back on the bike I noticed two things right off the bat.... handle bars were crooked and the right shifter was jammed. So needless to say I didn't finish the race and my first cross race I went down! Other then the bike be jacked up which we go back to working I was okay. My ribs hurt a little and my left shoulder and elbow hurt also. All and all I really enjoyed my time down in Savannah and wish I could have stayed one more day.

 

And as you heard the golf tournament that was supposed to be today was canceled due to the rain. We pushed it back to next Tuesday. I have been able to raise so far 2,520 dollars and looking forward to having this extra week and try to hit 3000. I couldn't believe what all I was able to get from talking to people and spreading the word about 3-D. I got rounds of golf to Echelon, Chestatee, and Alpharetta Athletic Club. I also got Chick-fil-a to donate breakfast, RBM North to donate a hole-n-one car along with 3 other hole-n-one prizes. The thrashers gave me 3 sets of two tickets to games and Hawks did the same along with signed basketball and signed puck. So all and all I really feel like I've done really well with the tournament and prizes for the first year. I'm already looking forward to next year and finding ways to improve it!

On Thursday Tim and I were able to set up a time for 3 of the guys to come out and do a practice caddie. Ricky was on Mark's bag, Matt was on Eric's bag and Andrew was on my bag.. of course the big winner! I really couldn't have played much better then the way I did. I just haven't been playing much at all and my focus has been on getting my knee better and riding. I shot a smooth 75 and really it felt like nothing and I could have gone lower. It was really awesome to have the chance to be one on one with the guys and to get them to walk with us 9 holes.. you really can learn about someone fast on the golf course. Andrew and the guys are really really great guys and have so much ahead of them since they are about to graduate the program. Andrew really didn't waste much time in opening up to me and telling me about his struggles and what he has done. For me to hear all of that and to see where he is at now is a complete 360! He is finishing up high school and hopefully going to college by the summer. Learning that he played soccer since he was able to walk and now he plays the guitar and from what I hear is an artist also. It was just an awesome day on the golf course! Its so hard to put into words what I felt and how much fun we had. It went from the 10th hole being quiet and trying to teach them how to caddie to the 18th hole with high fives, hand shakes, and hugs. Its pretty funny when I asked Andrew if he ever played golf and he said "yeah a little I've played at the Hampton and Country Land" which are literally 2 seconds away from my house... it just puts more into reality that these kids really do live here.. in Forsyth county...

$1,425 and counting

So it’s been a while since I’ve given you an update! This week has been awesome, I've been doing a lot of riding and actually feeling okay.. Monday I rode on the trainer for 45 min and did some ILTs. Wed about 10 of us went up to bull mountain to do a night ride, and yesterday I rode 1.5 hours on the road bike in the morning to follow it up with 1 hour on the mountain bike later. Just taking it easy and spinning or trying to. Wed night was very funny because we though we had "charged" lights to find out when it got dark and we were ready to turn them on... yes you got it they didn’t come on! Still had a great time though and it is different trying to ride in the dark not seeing what rocks, roots, logs are ahead of you until you hit them. I'm not going to lie I'm pretty dang sore after all that riding and it sure feels good. Now on to the good part....

so far in just two days I have been able to raise $1425 dollars for 3-D!!! I'm so happy to see everyone that is stepping forward and donating money. I've enjoyed every bit of talking to them and telling them the power of 3-D and what my goals are. I'm very confident that I will hit the 6,000 dollar mark and I'm going to try my hardest! This Saturday will be the big day when I will see a majority of the people and hopefully be able to hit the 2,000 dollar mark! I will be sure to keep you posted!

3-D

Today was a very very special day. Two nights ago I was having dinner with Eric and told him the idea to go out to the farm meet the kids and look at building some mountain bike trails. He was all about it and as excited as I was. We headed out this morning and met up with Tim who works at 3-D and he took us on a tour around their 4500 square foot house. They have utilized ever square foot of the house for the 10 kids now in the program. The guys were having hay day today since they didn’t have to go to class and we had the chance to just hang out and talk with them. We all sat around and they asked Eric and I questions about riding and what type of training there is to do this Ride Across America. So there are 10 kids the youngest is age 15 and the oldest is 18. A guy that is 3 days in the program and another that is going into his 8th month in the program. Everything is done to the T! They stick to a strict time schedule starting at 6:00am every day and going through 11:00pm.

 Every guy is so incredible in a way that they each have their own stories on what they have been through and each of them have some real talents. One guy Andrew, who has been in the program the longest, loves playing the guitar. I didn’t get the chance to listen in on it yet but from what the other guys say he is amazing. Some of them were BMX riders and skateboarders and some of them even shopped/ knew some of the employees at Reality Bikes. One played baseball and told us how much he misses it and how the drugs took over his life and that he is ready to get back out there on the field and play. Their addiction is one thing but when we were in that house it was different. I didn’t feel like these guys were addicts I just felt they were normal kids they just wanted to go out and run around and build stuff. Some of these kids have already faced charges, some have been to jail, and some have been kicked out of the parent’s house at the age of 16. These kids WANT to be in the program. They WANT to get better and to change and to be somebody one day. Today is a different day, today my attitude towards life has changed and I feel full of energy. The guys were very inviting and open. We were able to hear a testimony from Andrew that I heard the other night and a graduate of the program Chris came out to just share what changes he has faced at home with his family and the love he gets now and the way he looks at life and the challenges he faces.

Some of these guys struggle with failure. They struggle with the thought of not being able to finish something. That question came up to me and if I was scared to do this ride.... I laughed and said yeah I'm scared; I've never been away from home this long. I won’t meet anyone until I fly out there. What if I can’t ride one day what if I get injured? All those things go through my head but it’s not going to stop me from doing something I love. If I fail so be it.. I'll get right back up and try again. This is a journey that I want to take; this is a experience that I want to have. This ride will change me someway somehow. You can't hide from everything or run away from your fears.. You WILL fail time and time again.. You WILL get hurt.. You WILL hit rock bottom, but get right back up and keep going.
I'm so happy that I got to go out there and meet them and I'm glad Eric came with me. It feels good to be able to show people the reason why I'm doing this for the guys and not only the money I'm raising but the power of giving time and to just hang out with them. I'm looking forward to building the trails and showing the reason why i have this passion with riding. I'm looking forward to the bike shop Reality Bikes helping out and giving back. That’s what I've learned this is about, that’s what I remembered today, the reason for this all starting was for me to finally give back to the community.