Ankle Allows Road Cycling, But Little Else

What else do I need? Well, I first needed to overcome a pneumonia I caught while laid-up with the injured joint. Then I needed to get back condition I had before I wrenched the thing. The good news is, road cycling is not very stressful to an ankle. So, as I got over the lung infection, and when the weather allowed, I started rebuilding the base of fitness I had lost by riding on the road. However, it was like losing two to three months of training and starting over from that point.

Base miles without intervals were done on the Lemond cyclocross bike at first. With Donna and solo, I did rides of 20 to 30 miles. Due to work commitments, much (too much) of the riding had to come on weekends. So, at first a 50-mile weekend, followed by a 65-mile weekend, etc. I did manage to get in a least one ride of 20 to 40 miles in the middle of the weeks.

Riders passing horse farms in Saratoga Springs, NY. McMahon's is the birthplace of Funnycide and a good Cargill customer.

With early season racing out of the question, I focused on training for my annual Team Guerrilla Road Ride Alternate Plan B (TGRRAPB) ride, which occurs every Memorial Weekend Saturday. Eventually I worked into longer rides and did some interval training on hills and long tempo runs. A 53-mile, 3500 feet of elevation gain Bruce Ride, "Balloon Festival Preview," was a good warm-up the weekend before. There were a dozen riders and I was one of the slowest, especially on the climbs. My ankle swelled up the last half of the ride, so much so, that Art and Bruce noticed it readily.

Copious icing and continued therapy with Keith Donato resulted in a good recovery. In fact, I think the stress it was placed under force greater progress. I did one good 30-miler during the week out in Cazanovia Lake, which included a great 9 mile climb from Cheenego to Cazanovia on little-traveled Route 13. The short stretch past the Falls is steep. I am packing the Lemond in the back of the Subaru as a travel bike these days to save my Cannondale from getting dinged and it makes a better training ride on the heavier bike. Since I have put the Cane Creek wheels on the Lemond, it is great fun to ride on the road.

Saturday of the big ride and I felt ready to not be too embarrassed. It was a glorious Adirondack day with temperatures in the high 50's, some clouds and a good 15 MPH breeze from the north, which would provide a tailwind on the last half of the 65-mile, 5000-foot ride. Twenty people showed up and we were off to do the most serious climbs, which come in the first third of the ride. Before the first real climb comes the screaming descent down to Diamond Point on Lake George. I hit 51 MPH and passed nearly all the riders that dropped me on the first little climb. I think I passed Bruce going 20 to 30 MPH faster than he was going.

I was not totally embarrassed on the big climbs, but was definitely towards the back of the pack. It was fun to get into the rhythm of the climbs that I now know so well. After the long and fast decent down to Schroon River (50 MPH), it was paceline time on the flat section along the river. I kept into the line-up for most of the long paceline, coming to the front towards the junction of Rt. 8. After the rollers and the stop at Adirondack, it was an easy ride toward the back of the group the rest of the way home. The tailwind helped and my base building paid off. No cramps or fatigue and my ankle held up very well.

Little to no swelling of the ankle and a rapid recovery of the legs were signs that I am ready to start riding like I want to now. Bruce is leading a Tour-paced ride the next day and Donna and I decide to do it. This is a joint club ride with a group from Long Island that Bruce does every year. We will have the option of going slower if needed, since the LI riders are more used to flat lands and a slower 16 MPH pace. Turned out we did not need to have the company of the slow riders. We felt good enough to go faster and there were enough local riders that usually go with Bruce and keep the pace at 18 to 19 MPH to keep us company. The ride was from Saratoga Springs to the Battlefield - one loop of the Battlefield (10.5 miles) and then back. I paced a group back from the Battlefield and it was fun to pick off riders that started ahead of us, or took short cuts around the climbs. My paceline always had Donna on my wheel and we picked up and dropped riders as we made our way back past the scenic, rolling horse and dairy farm scenes that make Saratoga the destination it is.

The Sunday of Memorial Day weekend found us ready to take an easy day. So, we drove up to Newcomb in the Adirondacks and rode the mountain bikes into Camp Santanoni. It was a short 5 mile ride into the Camp on a dirt road. The Great Camp is being restored and is on a beautiful setting next to the lake. We were chased out by some rain and took a nap at a Tauhus trailhead on the way home.

Long post, but it has been awhile since I felt like writing. The ankle still hampers walking and hiking. Too much time has been spent on the recliner with ice on my ankle, but now I am ready to get into better shape and do the riding I love to do.