Holy Gluten-Free Granola Batman

Deb is making her awesome "4-c (cashew, cranberry, currant, coconut) crunch" granola. Anti-inflammatory and my favorite post ride snack. Mmmm

The great indoors

The TV coverage of the Giro d'Italia on Universal Sports has save my sanity while riding the indoor trainer. It beats, in order of least to most preferred, 1) staring at the wall 2) riding on the porch either (it reminds me too much that I'm sitting still) 3) watching old cycling dvd's 4) watching tv shows or movies. The last few days were pretty intense viewing. Christian's crash was terrible to see and a blow to the team morale, myself included. I'm not trying to keep up doing it every day though. Stage 6 is a rest day for me. Hopefully by the end, I'll have done my time indoors and can graduate to open roads. We'll see what the doctors say though. Sunny, warm weather in Boulder has brought out the massive population of cyclists and cycling enthusiasts living in town. It amazes me every time to see the bike lanes north of town almost overrun with bikes. I can't wait to get out there too.

The rehab is continuing to progress nicely. I'm moving off the crutch that I use more like a cane and trying to walk without limping. Also I'm just starting some workouts in the gym aside from physical therapy.

Last night Velonews had a little taste-testing of some cycling related coffees for an upcoming article. Too bad the samples were only identified by numbers. I might have boosted my scores of my teammate's coffee brands. On that note, try out both Tom Danielson's and Timmy Duggan's coffee! I'll be going for Tom's decaf roast as I'm on a caffeinated coffee hiatus for the time being. It's been hard.

Serious???

There should be signs! Oh well. A true sense of accomplishment after making it down. This was part of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. You paid an elevator operator 2.50 euros to go up 50m in the tower, then you were on your own for the way down. Oh, the Sagrada Familia is spectactular! Go see it if you ever have the chance.

Last night I got back in to Boulder. I'm getting around well enough that the travel wasn't bad. The hard part is the lack of free hands to roll my luggage. I took advantage of the wheelchairs to speed right through security and customs without waiting in lines. Net time saving was 0min however. I spent a long time waiting to the wheelchair to de-board the plane, but it was smooth sailing through London Heathrow. It definitely keeps the stress level down! There are so many stressed out and angry people in airports... why?

I spent most of today getting doctor's appointments in line for this week. A lot of work ahead, but working with doctor's I've seen before will make it easier.

Rehab and sight-seeing

The Pyrenees are incredible and Andorra is a giant airport shopping mall! This downtime in Spain has given me a chance to visit some new places not too far away with my girlfriend, Deb. We took a rental car a little farther than riding distance from Girona and got to explore some new towns and sight-see in the mountains. In short, it was spectacular. I can't wait to go back again, hopefully on a bike in training or racing.

Rehab has been coming along steadlily. I'm on the trainer for a bit now. Just spinning the legs and getting familiar with the motion. Its not painful so long as I don't try un-clipping. I have just been taking my shoe off on the bike. Walking on one crutch around the house is fine. Although the doctor wants me to wait another week before walking down the street with a single crutch. I'll be waiting for an x-ray or scan to show some evidence of bone healing before getting aggressive with it.

That wasn't so bad

Wow. Thanks for all of the supportive comments. Reading the comments from others have that had a similar injury, and made it through the reovery, really upped the spirits. Its easy to feel disconnected when your communication to the nurses is limited to "dolor" (pain) and "peepee". My teammates are awesome. Beyond all the time they spent visiting and talking to me, they brought me real food - pizza, sandwiches, coffee, croissants. My blackberry saved my sanity as I waited for surgery and the 6 hour post-surgery before eating. The hospital staff was genuinely interested in cycling and the team.

I left the hospital yesterday morning. A list of prescriptions to pick up and a piece of paper, and I was out of there, "adios." I 'm at Dan Martin's place now while I get my feet back under me. He's on the ground level and right in town, so I have everything I need here. Thanks Dan! The stairs to my place would be a little precarious by myself. My roomate, Timmy, just left this morning for Pais Vasco.

Right now, I'm parked in front of the TV watching the Maylasia F1 race, then Flanders is on later.

Surgery

Surgery went well. It was a fracture of the femur that they secured with a plate. A fairly common break, but usually among elderly. I did just turn 25 last week. I'm going to be at the hospital for a few days until I can hobble out of here. Missing Pais Vasco is going to be tough, but I don't have a choice. Perhaps I'll be racing again in May. I sure hope so. On the bright side, the healing process is fairly simple from now on. It'll just take time for the bone to heal. My girlfriend comes over here in a little more than a week, so I hope I'm able to move around a little to enjoy it with her.

Happy as could be

I have never been so grateful for food. It hasn't even been 24 hours, but I've gained a new appreciation for food.