Sorry I have seemed to disappear for so long. Having not posted an update to this website in a week and everyone thinks that I got run over by a car and am lying dead in a ditch.
I have come down with some sort of cold/strep throat type illness. While I don't feel too awful at work or around the house, it absolutely humbles me on my bike. It has become almost impossible to make any hard effort. It all began last Friday with a long climb up Cavesdale. Normally climbing is really effortless for me. However on this particular climb I couldn't get my heart-rate to drop, and I was riding a pace that would normally have me in a recovery zone. I was pushing a 39x29 (cyclocross gearing) and every pedal stroke felt like it was to be my last. I usually would be riding in a 39x23 or 39x21 and still be just fine - something was obviously wrong.
So I decided to take the entire week off, and only ride my bike to work - hoping that whatever sickness I had would pass. However yesterday I went out on another long ride with a large climb, this time the Geysers. I felt like absolute crap from the get-go, but I would give it a try anyways. After all, my riding partner weighed 200 lbs and there was no way a person so heavy could beat me up a climb. After 50ft up the Geysers, he was 30 seconds ahead of me. This time my legs felt even worse. All I could do was watch as this person who weighed 60 lbs more than me rode up the mountain. On gradients where I would normally be riding at 10-12 mph, I never got above 6. I was weaving back and forth all over the road, struggling just to stay upright on my bike. When I finally crested the climb, my riding partner had been waiting for 10 minutes, and I was soaked to bone in sweat. This kinda thing just does not ever happen to me!
I woke up this morning with a resting heart rate of 65 beats per minute, 17 bpm above normal. This is an all-time record for me, and sign that something is seriously wrong.
WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!!
