Shirt Design Preview

Hello, all. JDRF has sent me a proof of my jersey for the Killington ride. It is adorned with the JDRF logos and has my sponsors' names on the back. I hope no one minds...I asked to have

my top donors listed on the shirt. Space limitations prevent all of my donors' names from appearing. It will be great having the names of so many friends an coworkers riding with me those 99.46 miles in August.

Training is progressing a bit slow for my tastes. Between travel, family obligations and nursing my knee, I have only managed 4 rides this month. However, I have now put almost 600 miles on my bike, and my longest ride to date is 48 miles. I need to be up to 75 miles in 1 month in order to stay on track. If my knee cooperates, I feel this is very do-able.

The route has been posted on the JDRF site. It was a long time coming. I have attached an image of the route from mapmyride.com. Check out the elevation profile. Oh, mama! The last 11 or 12 miles are going to be a test!

Knee Pain

Well, I have hit a bit of a frustrating point in my training. And I think it all began over a desire to have some really sexy road bike shoes. There could be a lesson in all of this. But right now I'm too busy to admit it.

I have been riding with a pair of mountain bike shoes and pedals that I purchased roughly a decade ago. They work great, actually. I got the idea of "upgrading" to road shoes and pedals, however, since it got hot. That ride in the rain also factored in. I estimated that road shoes would be cooler and not fill up with as much water when it did rain. Other folks claimed I would benefit from the stiffer footbed and lighter weight, as well. Two ebay purchases later and I'm holding some really nice pedals and shoes.

So, my first ride with the new pedals was a 48 mile jaunt last Saturday. I knew something was not right when, 4 miles into the trip, my left knee began to mumble in discomfort. Within 10 more miles, I admitted to my riding partner that my knee "hurt." And, before the ride was out, the pain was really significant. Great first outing with my new kicks, huh?

Well, I have been to a couple of local bike shops, consulted with experienced cyclists, and researched quite a bit on the internet. So, I am completely qualified to start guessing at how to change my setup in order to address the pain. There are no less than a dozen variables: seat height, lateral/medial cleat position; internal/external cleat rotation; varus/valgus forefoot cant; etc. I endeavored to ride a bit yesterday to see if some of the first adjustments made a difference. Not really. Keep guessing, that is my plan.

Wish me luck. In the mean time, I'm going to keep a positive attitude about this new purchase. Afterall, those shoes really are awesome!