No Love for Cycling...
When I rolled across the line at 11:51pm on October 9th at the 24 Hours of Moab it would be the last time I touched a bike until November 30th. That's 52 days off the saddle, one of the longest stints in my modern cycling career. My cycling this season has been a train wreck. I started off the year with a solid base, but was plagued with stubborn patella tendinitis. I reached my peak fitness for the year just before I got a PRP injection in late April. The PRP injection required a few months of taking it easy. The result was doing San Juan Hut Trip, The Laramie Enduro, and the 24 Hours of Moab "off the couch". All things considered, I think I pulled off some amazing results, but none that were competitive.
Fast forward to October 10th and I needed a break. I would look at my bike and feel conflicting emotions from guilt that I should be out maintaining my fitness to disgust that I had let cycling define such a large part of my identity. I planned to fill my fall with hang gliding and a few other projects I'd been putting off. Ironically, El Nino ensured perfect riding weather this fall with mild temperatures and almost no wind, keeping me on the ground more often than not.
The Break-Away Cross
I started off the year with four bikes, one for every possible training scenario. This was 3 bikes more than I could afford so by October I was down to only one, the Superfly. Through all the bike shuffling I did manage to snag a Ritchie Break-Away Cross frame and patiently trolled Craig's List for killer deals here and there until I had horded enough parts to build it up. By the last week of November I couldn't take it anymore and set out to build up the new Break-Away.
This was my first build from scratch without any outside help. It took way longer than past builds, but I've never build a cross bike before. I got it all together by Thanksgiving Day, but it was too late to ride when I finished. Here's the finished build:
Steel Break-Away Cross Frame
Ritchie WCS Bits
Ultegra SL 10 Speed Components
Mavic Ksyrium Elite Wheels
Hutchinson Tubeless Bulldog Tires
Avid Shorty Cantilever Brakes
The Break-Away Cross will be the perfect all around bike. It's a steel frame that breaks in half so I can take it on the road. I can ride the tubeless knobby tires on dirt, snow, and mud. On December 1st I took it out on a 20 mile loop of road, bike path, dirt fire roads, snow, mud, and a piece of technical single track. I was super impressed with the bike. Having tubeless tires filled with Stans, I didn't have to worry about flats and could run a much lower pressure than normal tires. The bike did great on all but the technical single track, which took all the skill I could muster to negotiate. Cantilever brakes are horrible compared to road brakes, they do not scrub speed quickly and require some planning to stop completely. Over the bike was great and it finally felt good to get out for a ride.
Knee Surgery
After the ride my knee was killing me and I was reminded of why I hung up my helmet for almost 2 months. It didn't matter because I was headed to the hospital for knee surgery. The PRP Injection I got in April might have helped my patella tendinitis, but it was not a decisive fix. Faced with an expensive change in health insurance on January 1st I was forced to make a decision. I could get another PRP injection and hope for the best or clean it up the old fashion way with a scalpel. After much thought and consultation I choose the latter. Dr. Paul said he would "part my patella tendon like a violin bow" and clean out a ball of scar tissue underneath that extended under the tip of my knee cap. It was too deep to get to with body work or physical therapy.
The surgery was pretty straight forward, I was in and out in 4 hours. Now my job is to stay off my feet and let it heal properly. I have a propensity to develop scar tissue, so I'll have to take extra care to mobilize my patella tendon once I'm back on my feet. If it works I should be back on my bike by the spring and possibly racing again by summer, but I'm not going to rush things. If I never race again so be it, I just want to be able to ride my bike without being in pain.
When I rolled across the line at 11:51pm on October 9th at the 24 Hours of Moab it would be the last time I touched a bike until November 30th. That's 52 days off the saddle, one of the longest stints in my modern cycling career. My cycling this season has been a train wreck. I started off the year with a solid base, but was plagued with stubborn patella tendinitis. I reached my peak fitness for the year just before I got a PRP injection in late April. The PRP injection required a few months of taking it easy. The result was doing San Juan Hut Trip, The Laramie Enduro, and the 24 Hours of Moab "off the couch". All things considered, I think I pulled off some amazing results, but none that were competitive.
Fast forward to October 10th and I needed a break. I would look at my bike and feel conflicting emotions from guilt that I should be out maintaining my fitness to disgust that I had let cycling define such a large part of my identity. I planned to fill my fall with hang gliding and a few other projects I'd been putting off. Ironically, El Nino ensured perfect riding weather this fall with mild temperatures and almost no wind, keeping me on the ground more often than not.
The Break-Away Cross
I started off the year with four bikes, one for every possible training scenario. This was 3 bikes more than I could afford so by October I was down to only one, the Superfly. Through all the bike shuffling I did manage to snag a Ritchie Break-Away Cross frame and patiently trolled Craig's List for killer deals here and there until I had horded enough parts to build it up. By the last week of November I couldn't take it anymore and set out to build up the new Break-Away.
This was my first build from scratch without any outside help. It took way longer than past builds, but I've never build a cross bike before. I got it all together by Thanksgiving Day, but it was too late to ride when I finished. Here's the finished build:
Steel Break-Away Cross Frame
Ritchie WCS Bits
Ultegra SL 10 Speed Components
Mavic Ksyrium Elite Wheels
Hutchinson Tubeless Bulldog Tires
Avid Shorty Cantilever Brakes
The Break-Away Cross will be the perfect all around bike. It's a steel frame that breaks in half so I can take it on the road. I can ride the tubeless knobby tires on dirt, snow, and mud. On December 1st I took it out on a 20 mile loop of road, bike path, dirt fire roads, snow, mud, and a piece of technical single track. I was super impressed with the bike. Having tubeless tires filled with Stans, I didn't have to worry about flats and could run a much lower pressure than normal tires. The bike did great on all but the technical single track, which took all the skill I could muster to negotiate. Cantilever brakes are horrible compared to road brakes, they do not scrub speed quickly and require some planning to stop completely. Over the bike was great and it finally felt good to get out for a ride.
Knee Surgery
After the ride my knee was killing me and I was reminded of why I hung up my helmet for almost 2 months. It didn't matter because I was headed to the hospital for knee surgery. The PRP Injection I got in April might have helped my patella tendinitis, but it was not a decisive fix. Faced with an expensive change in health insurance on January 1st I was forced to make a decision. I could get another PRP injection and hope for the best or clean it up the old fashion way with a scalpel. After much thought and consultation I choose the latter. Dr. Paul said he would "part my patella tendon like a violin bow" and clean out a ball of scar tissue underneath that extended under the tip of my knee cap. It was too deep to get to with body work or physical therapy.
The surgery was pretty straight forward, I was in and out in 4 hours. Now my job is to stay off my feet and let it heal properly. I have a propensity to develop scar tissue, so I'll have to take extra care to mobilize my patella tendon once I'm back on my feet. If it works I should be back on my bike by the spring and possibly racing again by summer, but I'm not going to rush things. If I never race again so be it, I just want to be able to ride my bike without being in pain.
1 comment:
Looks great. Nice set up. can you tell which Tubeless kit did you use for converting the mavic into tubeless? thnx! Nathan
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