I just wanted to give a big thanks to all the Ciclistas for the last year of riding with the club! A year ago my fitness was so poor that I did not ride in the Escalante Days race because I knew my time would be so slow on my geared bike in the sport class. This year I rode the Expert race on a single speed and feel I owe most of my improvement in the last year to riding with the club! When I joined the club at the end of last July, I suffered to finish the three hour rides we went on but by sticking with it and lots of encouragement from everyone I slowly improved my fitness so I could hang in. I owe everyone in the club a big thanks and especially Lance for helping me with my cadence, nutrition and some hill specific training we did this Spring to improve my weak climbing ability. The new enthusiasm for riding I got from riding with the club allowed me to ride my first twelve hour race this Spring and buy a single speed and ride it like I never would of thought possible before this year. I wish other people in the community would realize the benefits of riding with the experienced riders there are in the club as they could improve as much as I have just by being around you guys. Well the race itself did not go as I would of liked, as the rain the night before made the trail just slick enough in a few spots that I went down on a corner when I was out of the saddle and pedaling hard and my front tire broke loose and threw me down in some brush. When I got up, I knew I was bleeding pretty good from the side of my head and it felt like I pulled a groin muscle, but it was a race so you keep going. I gave what I had left and finished and then went straight to my truck to check my head and seen I had a good size flap of my ear hanging down. I headed to the ER where they cleaned me up and glued my ear back together. On Monday, I went and had my leg checked out as it hurt all day Sunday, and they told me I had a pulled hip flexor muscle so they taped up my leg and sent me on my way. If you ride long enough and hard enough, everyone goes down sometime, but mine always seems to happen when I don't want it to. Well, there is always next year! Well this story kind of dragged out longer than I thought it would, but I will see you guys on Sunday for the group ride and I am looking forward to another year of improving our fitness and riding skills!
Thanks Boys!
Steve
