Malaysia
Posted by mattcrane | Filed under Uncategorized
Hello Readers
I have not been neglecting you, I have been out of the country! Although I could have been blogging while on my trip, I wasn’t- for a variety of reasons but all closely linked to the central fact that I was basically just too tired to do so. I guess I didn’t announce where I was going in my last post, so to fill you in I was racing the Jelajah Malaysia, April 19th-26th.
This race ended up being longer, harder, and hotter than I had anticipated, but as it was eight days long and covered over 1200km, it was excellent preperation for the events coming up here at home, and served as a quick and dirty way to get me right back on track following time off with my last injury.
However, it was HOT, as I believe I mentioned. Unrelentingly hot. 100-110 degrees with 90-95% humidity. HOT in other words. I don’t like the heat, in fact I loathe it and it cramps my style as well as my legs terribly. Actually I very rarely cramp, but the point is the legs don’t like it! In fact, the neccessity to better manage myself in hot weather was a deciding factor in why I moved down here to Georgia.
Faced with the conditions assaulting me each day upon leaving the air conditioned hotel cocoon, I had little choice but to man up and somehow get through it, and I must say that having done so, I think I am nearing a point where I can start performing at my best, if not better, in the hot races. One thing that really helped me with this was an awesome tip I got from Matty Rice. He claimed that keeping a jersey zipped up and constantly wet, preferably with cold water, is much cooler than keeping it open. The big man knows his stuff, and I hereby hand him my accolades and thanks on a nice cool silver platter. Managing your jersey in this way is akin to air conditioning for the core, as it cools air entering the jersey. Magic! Also, it saved me from exposing my unsightly and deathly pale British lineage present most prominently in the flesh and form of my chest. What a relief!
I would love to say that I have some great culture notes from the trip, but sadly I do not, having been bogged down in the mire of the stage race schedule. I began writing it out for you here, as I assume this might be interesting material, but in the aim of keeping entries shorter, I will save it for my next post. I will say, regarding the trip, that Malaysian people are some of the nicest and friendliest I have yet come across, and that this race was exceptional in its organization. For the next few days I will be getting my sleep back on track, eating a lot of nice healthy food to recoup some strength, and keeping the legs open with some long noodling around style rides.
Time for breakfast, catch you later!
Crane
The Daily Grind
Posted by mattcrane | Filed under Uncategorized
Oh man my life has been boring this past week! Sitting on the couch right when I was starting to get the ball rolling has been frustrating, but approaching it all with a healthy consideration of “it is what it is” has kept me in good spirits. To alleviate the considerable amount of cabin fever I am experiencing, I have devised a few activities to keep me from lashing out a la Jack Torrance.
(In order of awesomeness, strictly relative to circumstance:)
1) Enlightenment regarding use of milk steamer, resulting in fiendish pursuit of ideal cappuccino. Daily consumption count is reaching upwards of three (nearly perfect cappuccinos), but all in the name and for the sake of my future profession as a world famous barista.
nb: Steaming a pitcher of milk requires no particular skill or undue effort. Nor does adding it to coffee. Try it sometime; the results are delicious and members of the opposite (or the same, perhaps in between-your preference) sex will find your coffee preperation abilities an alluring addition to the charming character traits they are already aware of, and which undoubtedly led them into your residence in the first place.
(Plus you’re a cyclist. If you don’t own an espresso machine you can’t possibly have any conception of the joy resultant from procrastinating in kit with aroma and crema rich micro coffee in hand. Without this vital chamois clad daily routine, you will never truly understand cycling, and will be forever heckled by not only fourteen year old boys yelling “LAAAANCE” at you, but also by Italians and especially wanna-be Italians the world over.)
2) Trips to the office of Dr. Steve Hatfield, who has been instrumental in helping me with various injuries, and who is a huge resource for the cycling community. Guy knows his stuff! (http://www.elitesportsmedicine.com/) Latest prognosis: I’ll be on the trainer tomorrow! I just need to continue with ice and compression to reduce swelling under the patella, which is restricting- painfully-my full joint movement.
3) Reading Tom Robbins’ Another Roadside Attraction. If not already aware of the massively entertaining work of this fiendish genius, I suggest you become acquainted. His writing is intricate without being overly complex, and his mastery of literary device, if not the outright humor contained in the plot, combined with stark gems of life wisdom and musing, will have you enthralled or at least very entertained. I promise!
4) Use wages from Bantam Publishing, which is in NO WAY affiliated with the great Tom Robbins to buy hand strength improving grip thingy. Use sporadically throughout day as sole means of exercise.
5) Eat copius amounts of cake as comfort food.
6) Owing to loathsome feelings regarding television, watch DVDs non stop, even if they are of television shows, although this transgression is limited to Entourage and select others of high quality content.
And that’s basically it! The list has met with few revisions, save a really exciting trip to Target last week, where I was more than happy to take advantage of the motorized shopping cart, which I have come to realize exists more for the use of those made immobile from obesity than from injury. What a world we live in!
Stop drinking coffee and go ride!
Crane
Posted by mattcrane | Filed under Uncategorized
Hey Everyone-
Well, it looks like Missingsaddle.com is down, and so am I! Clearly some sexually frustrated malcontent is responsible for the bug attack on an innocent and friendly cycling website, and to the hacker responsible I say get either a therapist, a girlfriend, or as it is likely that you are lacking in the life and social skills required for either, a six pack, a bag of Doritos and a tube sock. No but seriously, put down the keyboard and go for a walk outside. Exit the snobby online forum for immature and vindictive sad sack hacker wannabes, and try having a real conversation with someone. High school is over, and the jocks who picked on you are likely stuck in miserable desk jobs wondering why they hate themselves. Forget them and your agenda against mean old mankind and pull yourself together you sad little boy. And please leave the cycling community alone if you insist on venting your pathetic inconcequential feelings in destructive ways. Everyone is too busy worrying about everything bothering them to take pity on you, so if you wonder why no one pats you on the back and says its all ok, its because no one cares. Knowing this, you can hopefully focus more on dealing with your issues and stop putting the impetus for it on the world around you. Life sucks and then you die you sniveling mouse jockey, get over it and make the most of the first part before the inevitible happens.
Anyway, the fact that I’m down right now can’t be blamed on an emotionally retarded weakling, but strictly on myself. Although quite how I’m not too sure, as I was on the ground before I even had time to notice I was no longer on my bike. We were setting up a leadout for Brad with about 10 minutes left to race in the Redlands Criterium, and entering the second to last corner, I dumped myself on rough pavement, resulting in a grisly sight when I picked myself up off the ground: my exposed patella. Yup, I took a good chunk out of myself!
I was taken to Redlands hospital following some excellent assistance and care from the Mavic neutral service crew and the race medics, and in the ambulance was thankfully relieved of the sizeable pain I was in with a bit of morphine. As it was a busy night in the ER, I was kept waiting for a few hours before the doctor could see me, but this was alright as it occassioned more offers of narcotic bliss.
When Dr. Fiore was able to see me, and began going to town cleaning out the injury, two things came to light: First, that the wound was a lot deeper than we suspected-the view of my joint capsule and the inner workings of my body beneath the skin being an indication of depth; and second, that there was asphalt deep inside of me that would require surgery to remove.
A night in hospital isn’t something I would normally call pleasant, but my room was comfortable, the nursing staff was very helpful, and I was able to watch Adult Swim catroons before drifing off into a long drug induced sleep; so all in all it was an approximation of pleasant.
Surgery went as planned in the morning, and by evening I was ready to be released. It was good to see the team again before I left the next morning, and I got to show them the photos you are about to see below
(GORY!)
Morgan and Reistad were essential in getting me home comfortably, but with their help the flight wasn’t bad at all, and as a perk for wheeling me around and being at my beck and call, they were allowed to jump security and boarding lines with me. I’m back in Athens now resting up, and on Friday I’ll get word from my doc about how best to proceed with getting back on the bike.
Keep It Upright,
Crane
