Mount Whitney Stage Race

I saw the saw bones today, had my knee x-rayed, and I'm good to go.  I'm still going to have a specialist look at it, but I've returned to full training and fitness is returning.  I rode Mount Potosi today and was just under two minutes slower than my best time over a nine mile climb, so I'm going to take that as a good sign.  The Mount Whitney Stage Race is one of the two most important races in my season (as I already sat out the third most important, the District Championships because of my knee issue), and even though I won't be 100% for it, I'll be fit to ride it.

You can see how much the post had slipped.  There are several ways to come up with the optimum seat post height, and that's beyond the scope of this blog, however, once you've found the optimum height, make it part of your weekly maintenance to check it!  I could have had permanent damage from pushing on through the pain.  Tendinitis leads to scarring of the tendons, damage to the cartilage, and other career ending problems.  It's hard enough being old without doing one's self damage that can be avoided!   So lesson learned.

May Re-Cap:

May was a bad month, overall here in Las Vegas.  Cooler than normal temperatures (I'm not complaining; it hasn't broken triple digits yet even though it's already mid-June) were offset by windier than normal conditions, even for here in the spring.  We had two to three wind advisories each week, which mean 20+ mph sustained winds and gusts to 40 or more.  Wind was a fact of life in May, and it was objectionable in every way.  I also was sick from allergies and suffered some knee pain which caused problems with both my racing and training schedule.  On the political front, the Nevada governor tried exceptionally hard to dismantle public education in Nevada, and nearly succeeded.  My job will still suffer to what is yet an unknown extent, so much of May was spent fighting the cuts, lobbying the state legislators, and worrying what was going to happen next.  Would I end up living in a trailer park and eating cat food, or would I eke out another year employed?

May mileage:  1230.3 miles
May races:
                Death Valley Road Stage Race:  Stage 1: 1st
                                                                  Stage 2: 2nd
                                                                  GC: 1st
Number of rattlesnakes on the road: 1 (pink, too, believe it or not)
Number of golf balls retrieved: 6
Number of sun bonnets out walking:  few and far between so far