Tomorrow will be 6 weeks from the time of the shattered heelbone incident. Since it is feeling good enough to start thinking about weight bearing, I headed off to the doc for an x-ray to make sure all was well. Since I'm in StG now, this was a new (to me) doc - the one that put Lynda back together after her clavicle demolition. He was funny - wanted to talk about cycling, not my stinkin' foot. Can't blame him. "So how well does Lynda do in these long events? There's nobody around here that can stay with her." "Oh, she's one of the best in the world. We'll find out in a couple of weeks"
When he learned of my calcaneus fracture and looked at the original cat scan he started telling me how healing this thing could be a 2 year proposition. Why do these guys always have to sound so pessimistic? Jeez.
Then he looked at the x-rays, looked at my range of motion, and changed his tune dramatically. Everything is where it belongs, tight, and on the fast track. He said I'm half way there, 6 more weeks and he figures I'll be back to 100%.
Now it's time to let some cat's outta the bag.
The 24 hours of Moab is ON. Competition is gonna be fierce this year and I plan to be in the mix of it. It is the focus of my training right now, what ignites my fire. The competitive streak that seemed to falter in the spring has come back ten-fold. I may not be able to walk, but that hasn't slowed training. It's nuthin' a little tape and coffee can't take care of. This might sound odd to you hammerheads out there, but even at high power levels pedal forces are much less than bodyweight. I'm in the middle of a big ol' VO2 block right now, and doing it under 3k' where there are lots of Os is making quite the difference. Lots of perks here in StG so far.
To get it done (Moab, that is) I've got a new stable of bikes cooking up. As I've gone to the hospital and a long recovery twice now from the Yeti, it has lost favor. It'll be a backup bike at Moab. The other two bikes I'm really excited about. One is a Leviathon, the other is an innovative custom bike built by Brendan of SirenCycles. Between the two of them, there will be 3 29" wheels. My boxing gloves are on, bring it :-)
The final cat: I'm looking into a route traversing most of southern Utah. The idea is rather loose right now...but some things I expect are
4-7 days to complete it
Extremely remote in spots
timing to be mid-late april (sorry Scott)
some intriguing twists to course routing...that's all I'll say for now ;)
Generally speaking, I'm thinking it should be similar in nature and difficulty to the Grand Loop. It's scarier on paper than the GL though - it will be very tough to bail. On GL, especially on the Tab, you just point your bike down some drainage if the shit hits the fan - not an option in S Utah. Hence the allure.
Hard to imagine a better way to get acquanted with my new surroundings. Lots of forays into unprobed territory on the plate for the fall/winter/spring. I'm tossing this out now so anyone interested can weigh in - and start thinking about all the strategy it's gonna take to pull off such a trek.
A good friend referred to my broken foot as a "gift horse" as while everyone is pushing through August burnout and heat, I've got that late winter excitement thing building. I'll have to agree with him!