Information on seeing the Tour de France in person, including the process I go through myself each year- figuring out the TdF route, finding places to stay, rental cars, trains & more.
It’s Sunday morning, I should already be out riding but Kevin’s got to head to Kaiser to get checked out for the plague that’s taken out everyone else in the family (actually not all that bad for me, just a couple days of chest stuff, but my wife ended up with walking pneumonia, and since we’re heading to France in just a few days, better get Kevin checked out fast!).
Last Thursday’s ride though… another shortened event as Kevin just didn’t quite have the knees up to speed yet. He’s good about doing his stretching exercises, but the west-side Old LaHonda loop was out of the question. The good news is that he got his brain implant “turned on” Thursday, a couple months ahead of schedule. The doctors think they have enough info already to have programmed it to look for the beginnings of a seizure and stop them in their tracks. We’re very hopeful. What’s puzzling is trying to figure out whether it’s actually working or not. Kevin will often go for many days between seizures, so the fact that he hasn’t had one since having it turned on may, or may not, mean anything.
Getting back to today… I’m going to get out on some sort of ride, but it’s not likely to be for awhile. Kevin’s urgent care appointment at Kaiser isn’t until 2:30pm, leaving not too much time afterward. Still lots to do to get ready for France though, including a bit more work on the Bike Fridays. This is definitely not the lead-up ride preparation I’d hoped for prior to France though! –Mike–
You do NOT want to experience this on a ride! Kevin’s got serious knee pain, feels like he can’t make it home, and with France just 10 days away…It wasn’t supposed to be a tough ride. Hold the power down (250 watts max) and re-introduce Kevin to the routine after being off the bike through three brain surgeries for his epilepsy. We chose the old familiar… Old LaHonda/Pescardero/Tunitas Creek. Things didn’t go quite according to plan.
Old LaHonda wasn’t too bad, just slow. Not even sure how slow, but keeping the wattage down, it was probably in the 27 minute range. A bit odd being passed by quite a few people, and a bit tough a few times keeping Kevin from going into “target acquisition mode” those few times we managed to creep up on anyone. He’d had some issues with his knee a couple weeks ago, when he got out for a short ride in-between surgeries, but so far, not too bad.
The Cookie Face Test shows a surprise… helmet hair! Just a hint of if, despite how short his hair is, having been shaved off for his surgery.Haskins, the climb over Pescadero Road, was also pretty slow. Knee still OK. Coming into Pescadero it got a bit cooler (fog moving in) and ouch, a bit of pain. Maybe it will go away after lunch.
Riding into a mild headwind on Stage Road, things started looking not very good. Kevin was taking it really easy but the knee was getting worse as he went. I suspected some connection between the colder weather out on the coast, and hoped that heading back inland soon would help. Tunitas was now out of the question; that steep & nasty run up from San Gregorio to Highway 1 via Stage would kill him. We headed up 84 instead, enjoying a nice tailwind that helped keep the power down and the pain away from his knee. Yeah well, by the time we got to LaHonda, it didn’t much matter whether the road was tilting up or flat. We stopped about half a mile east of LaHonda to consider our options and yes, got desperate enough to try and call for a sag (neither wife nor daughter answered their phones though).
What to do. This is one of those times you’re very fortunate to have a former employee and friend who’s now an extraordinary Physical Therapist. That would be Todd Norwood, who works out of Agile Fitness in Palo Alto. The plug is very well deserved. Todd suggested that he ride up near the front of the saddle, and try to keep his heels level. Thankfully I carry enough tools with me to fix or adjust most anything, so I both moved his saddle forward and tilted it down a bit at the front, to keep him from sliding back. Amazing difference! Pain greatly reduced; he was able to make it over the top and ride home. As we neared Skyline I was thinking how much life had changed in the past hour; had we sagged in, and not had a good idea what was going on and/or a way to effectively deal with it, Kevin’s trip to France was in serious jeopardy. Now, there’s hope. He’s got some exercises to do and we’ll see if the changes I made to his seat positioning allow him to get back into the groove.
Seems like this year, not much is coming easy! Next year ought to be a breeze by comparison. 🙂
