Rule #32 "enjoy the little things"

    Happy new year everyone! It has been a long time since updating my blog. Looking back a lot has changed since my last entry on July 2nd. I have had some ups and downs while trying to get back into a rhythm of training again. I found myself always wanting to be further ahead in both recovery and training... Might be the reason I have been drawn towards athletics for most of my life. I can recall still being in the neck brace trying to force myself to do workouts on the trainer after doctors said it was ok. Thinking back man that probably wasn't one of the smartest ideas I have had.

     I struggled to just focus on small achievable goals. Initially I was very frustrated since I could not ride for more than 15 minutes on the rollers without the pain being to much. I kept thinking I needed to be out doing 3-4 hour rides but in reality I had to focus more on just getting the range of motion and strength back before riding. For me a big victory was being able to touch my chin to my chest something I did every day before my accident. This took a lot of time and I was excited like a little kid when telling Danika (my physiotherapist) that I finally was able to do it. I have always taken for granted being healthy. Being injured I wanted nothing more than to just go back to "normal", especially as the weeks turned into months of being unable to do anything and still having pain. Any amount of money or personal belongings I could have traded for health I would have done in a second.

     At first I was terrified of descending. I can recall the first time riding down from my house to Lafarge. Normally I would be messing around doing up  a jacket, drinking water, you name it; instead I was fixated on my garmin and how fast I was going. My addiction to stupid comedy movies makes me think of Will Ferrel in Talladega nights driving around the race track getting passed by the others while going maybe 30 miles an hour. Gives a good mental image of how slow I would have been going on my bike. It took a long time to feel comfortable descending and at times I still get uncomfortable. I was very lucky to have friends to help me through both on and off the bike. Greg invited me out mountain biking every weekend which helped a lot. Laughing and joking while getting my xc bike sideways helped me have fun but still work hard. First time not dragging brakes like crazy doing 35kph on my road bike was coming down Cypress in July or August maybe. I tried to act like the crash hadn't changed my ability to descend but to be honest I was sweating bullets trying to follow Jasmin.

     Most would say I was pretty skinny before being 6"2 and weighing 165 most days. For the last few months I have been hovering around 156lbs. I knew my power would go down with all the time off and loss of muscle. My first "test" I was able to put down 300 watts for 20 minutes; a far cry from what I have done previously but it was all I could do. That was a while ago now so hopefully I will see improvements as the season goes. I have signed on to race again with Russ hays for the 2014 season and hopefully I can surpass the form I have had in previous seasons. Right now I will be racing locally for at least the early part of the season and trying to succeed at that level before I start thinking about traveling.

I am going to quote another comedy here but it does have some truth and say
Rule #32- Enjoy the little things

I have been able to do 1 autox event since my crash and it was great to be behind the wheel again.
Also here is a teaser photo of what is to come for the old 240, my goal is to finish painting and mounting everything by my birthday in March

Thanks for reading,
Mike

Montage summer

     This edition is a pretty short update on what I have been up to. Over the last few weeks I have completed my first 3 week block of training and my first "rest" week since starting training again. It feels great to be back into a regular routine. Each week my comfort level has increase and my fitness feels like it is improving. I still get nervous while descending which never used to be an issue. Hopefully that feeling goes away with time. Lately I have been really stoked on climbs, riding with Greg trying to smash new climbs has made the experience much more enjoyable. It is also one of the few places I can go 100% without worrying about crashing, could it happen yes but it is much less likely.

Last week was my off week so I tried to get done all the car stuff I could. I finished Sanding the faces of my wheels which was a big job to get all the old paint off. After that I got them painted up and started the LONG process of putting loctite on the bolts and getting all the bolts back into the wheels. This is a job I don't want to even consider in the near future. 40 bolts per wheel X4 wheels makes for some very repetitive work.

I had a bit of an accident while riding some of the Lost lake trails up in whistler. I was feeling off for the first part of the ride just not taking the right lines and not being super comfortable. It was a dumb fall that could have been avoided, I pulled out of a line to late and ended up getting sliced open by my chain ring. We found our way to the hospital and they fixed me up but I decided to pull the pin on riding for the rest of the day. After that we decide to hit up Rainbow Lake for most of the afternoon before heading back to van. Besides the visit to the hospital it was a pretty chill day

As always thanks for reading,

Mike

Over the moon!

Hey all,

     I just finished up my 2nd week of getting back into a regular routine of training. This weekend included my first group ride with the Local ride crew, and an epic mountain bike adventure with Greg. I can tell my fitness is far from what it used to be but at this point that doesn't matter I am just pumped to be back at it. Over the last week I finally started driving again which has made life a lot easier, plus it is a hobby (obsession some would say) of mine. I am still working on the gym/physio side of things but all the weights I am safely allowed to lift are increasing so I feel I am on track and making improvements.

I finally got my new seat installed. The quality of this seat is much better than my previous one. It is very stiff and the shoulder bolsters fit me much better my previous seat.

Here is a shot from todays ride up on eagle (Greg all stoked before we drop in) 

 Part way down Triple T

My favorite part of the ride today was the descent after triple t into white pine its not technical but I had very little grip so I slid down pretty much everything. It was fun to just be in the moment and ride like I am used to. Next up is more riding and refinishing my Impuls so I can finally get my car sitting the way I want!

Thanks for reading,

Mike

Down but never out

Hey all,

     I am please to announce I am back riding. This update is a combo of what I have been able to do lately and is a little different from my usual cycling content. Over the last 5 weeks my range of motion and strength has been improving consistently thanks to physiotherapy. I know I will still have to take a lot more time to get stronger before I get back into the groove of racing but being back riding is incredible. I gotta give a big thank you to Danika of Golden Ears Physiotherapy for all her help in getting me back on a bike. I cannot say enough good things about Golden Ears Physiotherapy and anyone who is looking for a good physio should check them out.

As for non cycling content I have been able to complete some of the work I wanted to get done on my car thanks to Trevor and Jesse(mostly this guy, I am pretty sure no work would have gotten done without ya buddy). I stripped apart my coil overs and replaced the boots, cleaned, and anti-seized them. Next up was my cooling panel which didn't go on as planned and I have wasted hours trying to make it work. Most recently I have been working on getting my seating position as low as possible; lots of s14 drivers have problems with headroom especially taller drivers over 6 foot. I will have more car updates coming up soon as I try to finish it and get back on the road. My goal is to get it done by the time Jesse comes back from Europe fingers crossed I don't have to many hiccups which are often associated with modifying cars.

I have been able to ride my xc bike a bunch over the last few weeks I snapped this after climbing saddle ridge by Buntzen Lake (iphone photography isn't my strong suit if you have noticed already)

Here is one of my early gym sessions while completing physio

I finally got my cooling panel for my s14 but it didn't fit at all so Jesse busted out the dremel and after 8 hours of cutting and dremeling we got it close to fitting. I still have to make more adjustments to get my hood to close not super stoked on that.

Last weekend I went to Victoria to help out the team with feeds and whatever else they needed. It was super fun to see everyone again (team mates and friends alike) 

I did some modifications to my seat rails to gain more helmet clearance before this I had 3cm from the top of my head to the roof on the lowest setting on my Nagisa super low rails!!! Now I easily have enough for a helmet, tall people problems eh

The photo of me doesn't look like my seat is all that low but for reference this is my mom sitting in my car after I got the seat sitting the way I wanted it (she is 5"5)

Today I went out for my first endurance ride with Evan after an afternoon physio session. I cannot begin to describe how good it felt to be drafting and joking around on a bike again (Thanks Evan!)

As always thanks for reading,

Mike

Rehab

Hey Everyone,

It has been a long time since I posted. I really didn't have anything exciting to post up....

I am going to write about my experiences since the accident. I was in my neck brace for 5 weeks straight no breaks for showers, sleeping, anything! Yes the collar was looking pretty nasty by the time I got into VGH. Those weeks of waiting feeling lost in the medical system scared me the most as I sat waiting and waiting. Those who have talked to me know the headaches I went through just to see a doctor.

The last 3 weeks since being told I was able to gradually take the collar off have been up and down. My first day I could take my collar off I took it off for 15 minutes maybe before it hurt to much. Each day I worked to take it off longer and longer until at this point I can now go all day without to much pain. After being immobilized for all those weeks my muscles in my neck and back had experienced a lot of atrophy making me to weak to hold up my head. Shortly after the doc at VGH spinal said I would be fine I tried riding my bike on the trainer and remember thinking I needed to go back to vgh my back hurt so much. I stopped riding the trainer or doing much at that point it was to painful. After a few days off again Brian got me back trying to train. It was hard to take a step back and look at what I COULD do not what I thought I SHOULD do but this made all the difference. I am not kidding when I say I rode for 15 minutes some days and would lay on the couch in agony for a couple hours after.

At that point I was back riding which was great but I couldn't really challenge myself that much without my back giving me a lot of grief. Talking to Emile he said going for walks was what helped him last season when he broke both his arms and collarbone. I tried it and man did that make a difference, I experienced less pain and was able to challenge myself more.

The last 10 days I have seen a huge improvements since being able to alternate hikes and riding the trainer and rollers. Yesterday I finally rode a bike outside! I took my mountain bike for a ride on a paved path for an hour, the upright position of the bike made it much easier to ride than my road bike.

Looking back on the last 7 months I have learn't a lot from my first crash in October, the Concussion in December to this. Everyone says I have the worst luck which could be true but I try to look at it as I have pretty good luck. Things could have been so much worse and I am super lucky I can still walk and will be able to return to normal life over the next few months.

As always I have to thank everyone who has supported me, I am worried I have left some one out the last few months are a bit of a blur. Not because of hitting my head or anything like that just all the events seem to clump together.
Shout outs!  
-My folks for dealing with me and taking me to all my appointments over the last 2 months
-My brother for driving me to work, support, etc
-Boris for all his support all while working more than anyone I have ever known
-Meghan Grant for all your advice (I probably asked a ton of really dumb questions)
-Jesse McD for keeping me stoked
-My Coach Brian Walton
-Aidan Caves
-My team mates who by the way have been killing it on the bike all season!
-Barry and the local ride crew (Julian, Rich, Mel, Meghan(listed above), Reddys (listed below) Mags, pretty much everyone thanks for the support)
-Bill of Golden Ears Physiotherapy
-The Mulder Family + Eddie ( hilarious snap chats made many of my days)
-Gord and the Reddy Bros
-All my UBCSCC buddies
-Everyone on Escape Velocity
-All the dEVo riders (Brendan, Tess, T-pain)
-Jeff Ain
 The list could go on forever these are the people that stand out in my mind right now

Please check out our team page(link below) and like on Facebook, follow on twitter for updates hopefully I will get to represent the team this summer once I am recovered fully and fit! My new Tarmac will hopefully do most of the work for me its unbelievable how light this thing is!

                                          http://www.russhaysracing.com/

Also if you haven't had a chance check out www.velofix.ca give them a look. Boris has brought my previous bikes back from the dead many times. Awesome mechanic and a great guy!



Thanks for reading,
Mike

Breakin Necks and wrecks

     Ok so during the final week in Ventura things really started to go well. My heart rate was getting lower and the body started to feel better as each day went on. On March 12th I beat my previous record up wheelers canyon by over 1 minute, stoked when on the way home I had a brutal crash. I went over a guard rail smashed my head on a post breaking the spinus process on my c7 vertebrae before getting caught up in a barbed wire fence. I knew something was wrong immediately because of how hard it was to breath.

      Initially the doctors looked at my x rays and said I was fine, I was so relieved to leave the hospital and go home. I had a shower and skyped my folks when Jeff's phone rang. It was the doctor he said I needed to go back. This was the scariest car ride of my life thinking if I turned my head I could cause irreversible damage. Jeff and I spent 5+ hours in the ER, I was braced up and put into a CT scanner as and we awaited the ER doctors prognosis. When we got home I couldn't sleep I don't know if it was the stress of being in the hospital all day the new neck brace I was sporting or just the unknown of what was to come.

     I got up the next morning opened my computer to email and facebook people back home but the screen just went black. I thought to myself "Oh it must have turned off" so I tried turning it back on......nothing. Perfect timing. I now had 4 days to kill before my flight home. I wrestled with the idea of flying home early but because the ER doc said not much could be done and the fracture was stable I decided to stay. Its been exactly 14 days since the accident and I am improving, and still waiting to see a specialist back home in Vancouver. I am super lucky I can still walk or to be alive for that matter. A huge shout out to Jeff Ain for helping me through this, carrying my stuff in the airport and spending hours and hours with me at the hospital. Don't know how I would have made it home without ya buddy!

     Once returning home I helped out with Cycling BC's spring break camp, it was great to see all the juniors and dEVo kids again. I could only help at the track sessions because I cannot ride but it was nice to get out of the house. I am hoping all goes well with my recovery and hopefully I can get this brace off in the next 4 weeks. Less would be awesome but at this point I really just want to get back to 100%. Hopefully I have something to write about in the coming weeks.

As always I gotta thank everyone for all their support it means a lot.

cheers,
Mike

Ventura 1.5

We are 11 days into our camp here in Ventura and time is flying by.

The riding is incredible tons of climbs, awesome twisty descents and generally excellent weather. Of all the places I have been for training this is the most well rounded for weather, and riding terrain. We haven't really had a chance to go to the beach, although Aidan and I did find a good mexican place during our easy spin of the beach.

The first couple days shocked my system hard, lying in a dark room or on the couch for 2 months really didn't help. As the days have gone on I have been able to get my heart rate up high without symptoms, I am very happy about this and can now just focus on riding. Its difficult to second guess how hard to go, or will this effort put me back. The scene where Michael Clark Duncan in Green Mile pleads to Tom Hanks not to be put back in the dark sums up what I was thinking about being back in my room for any more time. We also discovered we have a cat in the house, not so much we as Aidan did when he got up one morning. The tiger in the bathroom scene from the Hangover mimics his reaction while being sleepy in the morning. This is the clip I am talking about here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqxJ-MvrDRg

At the end of the first week the team headed to Goleta for the Island View Classic Criterium. We decided it was best for me to sit this one out with the risk of hitting my head again being the biggest reason. I shot some video and watched the race unfold, the whole time wishing I could have been out racing. The others rode really well crushing the race by taking 7 of 9 primes, Adam De Vos soloed for the win and Aidan finished 4th.

( Here is Adam Soloing in for the win)

This week we have logged more miles, and took a trip to the LA velodrome. I have always wanted to ride LA and finally got my chance. Walking into the facility is crazy when comparing it to any other tracks I have been to; the layout, tons of seating, weights on either end and fully netted volleyball area in the center. Its well organized minus having bathrooms upstairs from the rider area. We rented some of their bikes, non of us knew we would be riding the track so we didn't bring our bikes. Their entire fleet is made up of Felt tk2s, a solid bike for sure. The track itself is super smooth and very tall compared to my home track of Burnaby. We did a usual warm up then a points race drill after that I jumped in on the workout that was going on already and finished with some flying 1.5k efforts.

I couldn't think of a better way to get back into shape for racing than this, thank you to all the sponsors, Jeff Ain, Richard Wooles, and Cycling BC.

Thanks,

Mike