Dan Action

Getting ready. June 20, 2007

The rain has come in droves starting today. I got rained out of work thoroughly so Dave and I went to l

the lab at his school and he took some sonogram pictures of my heart. Good news, it’s still there.

I’m feeling last night’s ride today pretty well, it was a good one. Only a few folks showed up for the group ride because of the threat of rain, so the ten or so of us set out into the wind. After somewhere around 20 miles, Tony and Ryan Saylor slipped off the front. That didn’t leave us with too many folks strong enough to chase really effectively, but three, and sometimes, four of us took up the task and went for it at the front. With only the few of us working through the rolling hills, recovery time was nil. It took us 15 miles or so to bring the two of them back, and as soon as we did, Tony, who was on the break flatted. I will say, though, I felt way better than I expected and was taking pulls that seemingly came from nowhere, given my earlier feeling of fatigue. I was pleasantly surprised. Every now and again my tenacity shows itself to be a virtue.

In other news, Mike Arena, Brendan McGrath and I are putting on an alleycat down here in early July. The 7th to be exact. In the gross spirit of the fourth of July, we are calling this one Manifest Destiny, to make an even more heinous allusion. The race, in the true horrible spirit works it’s way from the East side of town to the West. It even gets a little more pioneer/ Oregon Trail when the last section send people on a mile or two of trail, complete with river crossings and Donner Party type antics. Well, hopefully not, but you never know.

In still other news, Hannah will be here next week. I am doing laundry in anticipation. And my newest band, Sex Potion, is playing next Saturday. The next six weeks or so are getting pretty packed with things like shows, rides, shows, the alleycat, other alleycats, my 31st birthday, and more shows. The busyness is good, along with working a bit for the last push to have some cash when I get to Providence, I won’t have too much time to really dawdle and miss it so much. I hate to admit it, but I’m actually even excited to get back to work too. Who knew?

Ouch, that hurts. June 17, 2007

                                                                                  Well, they always say to try something new. Today I went for heat stroke/ exhaustion. I don’t know the difference, to tell the truth, but it dosen’t matter, I got fucked up. In 97 degree heat, I took advantage of my day off to get a good long day of riding the ‘cross bike in. The day was to be “epic” (is that word dead yet?), 60 miles, two thirds of which are on trails. I dressed light, but even that proved to not be enough, Soon I was, as they say, down to the bib straps. Luckily the shiny new white helmet from Giro got here. (Thanks Hannah, thanks Giro.) My riding was spot on, and most of the ride went without deadly encounters with wildlife, save for the 3 foot snake in the middle of the trail on my way home. I thought it was just a stick but when I went to hop over it, it recoiled. Visions of it attaching itself (via it’s fangs; no doubt the size of the needle I recieved a spinal tap with years ago.) to my calf flashed through my brain as I went through the last bit of energy/ adrenaline I could muster to distance myself from the beast I could only imagine was chasing me. Have I mentioned I fear snakes a bit? I soon hit the streets which meant I was getting close to home, only a couple miles left. That’s when the headache hit it’s peak. I was getting increasingly dizzy and nauseous, the street sigs were getting blurry and I just kept trying to think of shortcuts to get home, there aren’t any. I made it home on the sheer feeling that if I had stopped I think I would of collapsed. I got home and whined and hyperventilated for a little while. I thought of my friend Molly; at the first cross race I worked the pits at, Gloucester, 2005, it snowed unexpectedly and froze all involved, everyone in the pits, everyone on their bikes. After Molly finished, and finished well, she was in the car convulsing. I felt something like that, only from extreme heat. I ran the hose after a while of shaking on the porch and put it over my head. It must’ve shocked me pretty good because I was pretty much down for the night soon after.

Look what I found. June 9, 2007

I found a photo of me from the Sterling M.R.C. race last month, here’s lookin’ at you.  I have to admit, it kind of looks like a  photo from some catolog or something.

Wildlife June 8, 2007

Man, I was reading Adam St.Germain’s blog today and I really wished I was racing consistently through the road season, although I have my reasons for not, and I am just as happy with the fact that I really only have a couple of races under my belt so far this year. His re-caps are fun to read, they play out like so many races I’ve done in the past.  Well, CX season is getiing near.  I’ll be racing my face off soon.

Well, I feel like I am actually coming out of the slump that had me beat down the past couple of weeks. Work has been pretty constant, and I’ve found ways to keep riding fun and and not so prone to overheating. This last week has seen the start of doing night interval workouts, as well as trying to find trails I vaguely remember from group rides which turn into adventures on their own, and who said adventures weren’t fun, huh?

Here’s the thing about riding the trails around Gainesville; every time I head into the woods/ jungle I cross paths with the local wildlife in ways the scare the shit out of me. Let’s look at today for an example. I was riding on University of Florida’s campus, where there are pockets of trees and trail. I was trying to devise a decent loop to do so I could ditch the bottles I was carrying. As soon a got onto the trail, five feet in front of my wheel, a huge bird startled and took to flight. It was a little slow taking off, so there I was locking up my brakes in vain hope not to suffer putting my face into the frantic path of this absurdly huge bird’s talon’s or beak. Turns out the bird is either a spotted or horned owl, and as the on in front of my face flew up, another came from a close branch and the two took turns criss-crossing into the trees overhead. Suffice to say, that woke me up; some damn two foot bird of prey flailing over my front wheel, I thought that would be enough, but no. Fifteen minutes later I duck under a low fence by a small pond and I hear some wild thrashing in the tall grass to my right, and then SPLASH! This huge gator goes flying into the water and I watch it eyeing me swimming slowly along the shore. That was enough, I understand the idea that even this caliber of predator is still more, or at least as scared of me as I it, but come on, how close does one have to come? Visions of this gator pretty much mauling me went wild in my head. I don’t relish the idea of attack by an alligator, go figure. To this date, I had close calls with: a gator, a fucking huge owl, countless deer, a family of wild pig, snakes, and vultures. In every one of these cases, it is an issue of locking up the brakes to avoid collision or getting bit, or what have you. Truly absurd.

So hot right now. June 6, 2007

To look around my room, would you think of me as too sentimental? I’m not; and the fact is, while momento is not lost on me by any means, I’m stunned by those feelings infrequently. Many times will pass, space changes, frankly, you run out of space to hold all the things you accrue. I write metaphorically as well as physically. Anyway, where would your sense of value be should all things be called precious? There is much I treasure; my memory dosen’t fail me that often yet. Do I remember that special time at a fountain in Boston, under a highway bridge in rural Illinois, at a cabin by the Quabbin resevior? Yes, I do. Did I sell the gift you gave me? No. (more…)

Drought June 4, 2007

Last week saw me laid up on the couch and shed loft before the week ended.  I’ll admit, it was way too hectic a week to try to keep up the training intensity through feeling downtrodden.  The weekend’s debauchery while Dru’s folks were in town put me in a little bit of a weakened state; and with Dave (my employer) pretty out of focus work-wise, I was stressing about money.  That is the kind of anxiety that creeps through the mist of every other thought and causes me to tense and cringe, even, no, especially while riding.  Not to mention two, count them, two  late practices  and one  even later show to play.   But if I couldn’t work , I’d try to ride.  No wonder  the last  post  sounded  a little bleak.  Thursday night after the show I started feeling pretty feverish and weak.  I thought it might’ve been from inhaling too much baby powder from Travis  and my dressing up zombie-style for the show, but I got the desperate, emotional trainwreck feelings  and headrushes I only get from fevers.  So it was off to the library after work Thursday to get some movies and lay up.  First Blood, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, & Vincent Price in some Edgar Allen Poe stories later I was fitfully sleeping with the dogs.  The next morning I slept in hardcore then got up for more movie time.  I can’t get across to you that I absolutely could not shake feeling completely and entirely exhausted, every movement, all the time.  After I took a bath, those feelings were only amplified.  I actually started to worry.  I’ve only had Lyme disease once before; it’s impossible for me to remember the feelings leading up to the full-blown emergency room visit save for the re-telling, but I do remember feeling sore and fatigued.  If you know me, you probably know I don’t worry about these types of ailments in too profound ways. I will say after much sleep and worry and stress, I, as I usually do when sedentary, got fed up.  I had to go for a ride.  It’d been raining all night and day, but it cleared in the evening. That’s my time.  I just got out and spun for an hour, but it got me so nice and limber again.  My bones were cracking just like they should.  I pedaled home and ate and ate.  Sunday I felt  a little renewed, so I set off to catch the westward wind for a while. I got a good sixty miles on and felt not too strong, but  kind of accomplished given how shitty I felt. I also kind of felt a little rewarded for a bit of patience on a kind of slow ride by myself, a rarity these days, to be honest.  Well, It’s Monday, and  Elvis Costello wasn’t talking shit when he wrote the lines  “welcome to the working week”.  Here we go.