good news. . . bad news

I hope this ticket theme does not continue on my blog…After my last post about my traffic ticket collection I thought I would be done with that chapter. This week I was in LA for a lunch meeting at Houston’s and running late because I was stuck in traffic. LA go figure…


My buddy ordered me the salmon and I spent the next 30 minutes driving around looking for parking. Now I was really late! Apparently they had a mid-week farmers market and all the parking lots were full. I ended up finding a meter spot and because I was already so late I just took my chances my not filling it up because I didn’t have any quarters. Brave with my recent luck huh! Well, I got out of lunch about 1.5hours later to get to my truck with no ticket! Sweet! I was parked at the end of the street where the market started and a cop car was blocking traffic so maybe the ticket meter person didn’t drive that far up? I was so stoked I pulled out to beat traffic on the way home and pulled right into a Mercedes in front of me. Yikes! The cop who was parked blocking the market asked me for my driver’s license and reg before I even put it in park.


Unfortunately, that was not the bad part of that day. I ended up getting food poisoning from that salmon that I had and spent the night on the bathroom floor throwing up out of both ends. While I thought that I would be good to go after getting it all out of my system it has been five days and six pounds now that I have lost with my stomach just wrecked! I really did NOT want to loose 6lbs and I have been feeling pretty weak. It made me feel better about sitting out the Vision Quest race last weekend and with the training load I have been keeping I would probably benefit from the additional rest anyways. However, I was still questioning going forward with racing Oceanside this weekend.

sickboy on the trainer

Yesterday was the first day I made it without having any stomach issues and I got my appetite back. Stoked! I have still been able to knock out a few smaller workouts on the trainer (with the bathroom close!) and today it felt like it was all coming together. I felt good enough to nail my last swim/bike/run workout this morning with my bike in race mode setup. I was going to tweet a pic my bike this morning...I was really stoked on my ghetto black spray paint bike with race wheels..maybe even a little prideful.

the dream machine (where i do most of my daydreaming)

Monique and I got in a great swim with Nova this morning and it was wetsuit Wednesday. . . a perfect workout! All I was thinking about is how lucky I am to have great friends. I got a wetsuit yesterday from my friend Trevor that I got to use this morning and for the race this weekend. I got that disc rear wheel from my buddy Sean. I got a front 404 from my friend Keevin. Monique and I got a place to stay Friday night with James and Beth before the race. I even had Ryan offering to bring me over some ice-cream when I was sick. Now that is a good friend! I had the inspiration and encouragement from all my friends as I hit the road for a spin after our swim and that was all I needed. Last spin to test out the wheels and body. With the swim, bike and inspiration in check I was ready to go! My mind was set on racing this weekend.

JUST as I was thinking about that I caught my front wheel between a crack in the road. I know…I know. I have been down this road so many times and I seriously cannot even explain how simple it was but I did it. I caught my front wheel and before I knew it I was sideways sliding into the middle lane. Thank God there were no cars around because I stopped between the while lines in a daze. Did this really just happen? It could have been much worse

boom boom

crack kills

I basically slid to where I took this picture only into the middle lane. From my SRM it looks like I was going mid-20's but I was not hammering....Good or bad it just happened. The crack between the white line is what caught my front tire. I’m so lame!

only a scratch

hipper post-shower

My right side took the blunt of the crash and my hip and elbow got the bump and slide. This is my first crash on the road and quite different from crashing in the dirt. Good thing I was wearing gloves. Don’t worry dudes…The wheels and bike are OK!

I’m not set on racing this weekend or drilling myself silly. Emotion would have me go far in either direction... I realize that it is sometimes a fine line between passion and addiction but I also realize that IT just happens. Good or bad is how you take it in most cases. Sometimes that IT is a good thing…sometimes IT is a bad thing. Who are we to know when we cannot see the end yet. Not resorting to feelings and relying on what I know is best.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” Jeremiah 29:11

Really, does anything else really matter? I will do what I can do and if I am up to race this weekend then I will give it everything I have on that day. If not I will be stoked to go watch my friends race and enjoy another sunny SoCal day.

My hip is a bit sore but that didn’t stop me from getting in a few laps around the track after my ride. With my swim/bike/run workout done I am heading into my scheduled massage today. Perfect ending to a solid day and all before lunch(and I can eat lunch without it blasting out my backside too)! Bagging all of this before work mid-week gives me nothing to complain about! I am truly blessed and grateful. Now, ALL my perspectives are in order and I learned something again from training. Training can teach you or build character for all areas outside training. That is what I love about it. Training is for racing just like this life is for the next. As they say in the hood…Its all good!