El Creako

I'm not shocked that I'm having a flare-up. I'm actually surprised that it didn't happen sooner after Cohutta. I'm bummed because I wanted get in some quality training rides before Mohican. It still could happen. However, I'm a little doubtful with how I felt as of Friday. I knew I was in for some fun when I had the night sweats and mouth sores and my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. I would go as far as saying I knew I was doomed when I was so weak I  had trouble holding the hair dryer to dry my hair before work. Of course, I still had a little hope after work and I tried to do a pre-race ride.  I knew the French Creek XC race wasn't happening. I was extremely tired and weak and everything hurt. Yet still I told myself maybe tomorrow. I know better. Tomorrow never happened and I ended up sleeping for 15 hours.

I have been stock piling the entire season of NCIS  (for times like these) and I started a little marathon and made the dent in the couch that much bigger over the weekend.  I managed to at least get outside on Sunday. After being tortured by Mike and company for a few hours, Jane called  me to come chill with her at the Wawayanda beach. I can honestly say that's the first time I've ever sat on or near the beach. The closest I came was practicing riding my cx bike over it and getting attacked by geese in the process. Some giggles and girl talk did make me feel a little better.


The other good thing that came out of the weekend is that I finally found the source of the dreaded creak that has been plaguing my rides. I've been referring to my bike as 'El Creako'.  I've gone as far as leaving the house on the bike and returning and grabbing another bike because I couldn't handle it. I localized it to the seat post and saddle region. Everything that could possibly be greased was and El Creako is now a thing of the past. It's pretty exciting stuff and you all should be really happy for me.

So now I wait, as usual, and not very patiently. Today I went to the doctor and he went over my blood work from a week ago and was shocked that I don't feel worse. I'm not sure how that's supposed to make me feel. Still no magic bullet or pill to take. Steroids can be a quick fix and they sometimes don't help, either. Plus, the side effects are not very pleasant. Time and rest  is the only thing that helps. I got the usual speech from him  that he sees people who have better blood work and less symptoms than I do who don't work and don't move. That doesn't make me feel better, either. I actually feel sorry for them because they're letting it win. But what do I know. I'm a person who is overly excited about the day (hopefully soon) that I can ride my non-creaking bike (Yay!) and inflict some good old fashioned self-induced pain. That makes me smile.