Cold and Bloody... First Road Ride of the Year.

First time out on the road bike in New Brunswick since May when I crashed and broke my bike. I've ridden since then, but generally not with anyone else, and not in New Brunswick. So, I was nervous. My heart rate was higher than normal as we passed the place where I crashed the bike, and I was braking more than I normally would. Still, Matt is easy to follow, so it was a pretty good ride.

The problem was, it was early in the morning and the ground was still frozen in some spots on the road by the canal. We hit a patch of black ice and I went down in a very big way, right in front of a car. Poor Matt, I think he was more freaked out than me. My handlebars were screwy, and my hip got pretty cut up and I bruised my elbow, but generally I'm ok. I guess it's good that the first crash of the year is over with...

This is my seriously heavy volume week, and today was supposed to be a 2.5 hr ride and after a rest, an hour long run. The ride was an hour and a half, and I was going to hit the trainer for an hour afterward, but obviously, tending to my poor bleeding hip was a bit more important. Added to that, my knee has been acting up. Bleck.

I'm taking a rest and then heading out for an easy easy run, then maybe later tonight I'll ride for a bit on the trainer just to make sure that everything is ok.

Other than that, training is going really well. Lots of volume, as I said, but it's feeling really good. I'm swimming again, and it's boring in the pool, but it feels good. And Matt and I have been doing our weight lifting together, which has been nice for getting more done and more effectively. Plus, Mark, Matt and I have been having dinner together once a week after training, and Matt and I make oatmeal mornings after rides or weight sets, which is good for keeping me on my healthy diet.

In other news, I have even more mohawk going on in my hair, since we buzzed the sides even more. I like it!

Here it is a week ago, it's shorter now but this is basically what it looks like:
(And check out the sweet Batman shirt my mom got me for Christmas. Yes, it's a children's shirt. And I love it.)


My friend Cristian says it's my return to punk. I don't think so, it's just something interesting to do, but he is right, I have been hanging out with people and going out more. I get the feeling that's going to change soon though, since I'm already feeling completely crazed with school and tutoring starting up again.

Let's hope this Sunday's century ride with the team goes a bit more smoothly than this morning's ride did.. and fingers crossed that running with a couple really deep scratches on my hip doesn't hurt too too much...

How do I manage to do stuff like this?