Goin to CO

I called up BCSM on Monday and then again on Tuesday and left messages both times. Today I got a call back and set up the appointment to visit Mr. Andy Pruitt! Pretty cool! I will be seeing Andy on Thursday the 29th of June. SO, now I have to figure out all the logistics. First off, I was just informed by a friend that I need to be 25 years old to drive a rented car. I will need one to drive from the Denver airport to Boulder.
So that kind of screws things up a little, but I’ll figure out a way. I am really excited to see Andy and get my positioning on the bike set up so that (hopefully) I won’t have pain. I trust that Andy will really help me out. My Minnesota home-girl, Marjie, insured me that he (Andy) will hook me up. Knowing who Andy Pruitt is, and the problem I have, I don’t see how he couldn’t help me with my problem. Andy will point out my asymmetries on the bike and address them accordingly. After all, that’s what he does for a living.

Over the time that I have been trying to figure out my back pain I have come to the conclusion that it simply has to do with my body not functioning symmetrically on the bike. Steve Hogg assured me of this, and it totally makes sense. When I ride, I have the tendency to lean my entire torso to the left (while looking at me from behind) and I drop my right shoulder significantly lower than the left. So basically I am sitting on the bike and my back and shoulders are torqued. Sit like that on a bike and pedal for hours, you will get pain one way or another. That’s my theory. As far as how this gets fixed, I do not know. That’s why I am going to see Andy.

Lately I have been doing a lot of Yoga. If you have never done Yoga, do yourself a favor and go to a Yoga class or look up some of the different poses online and do them at home. I was introduced to it after my coach recommended it to help my flexibility. Yoga helps to get the body back into balance by doing the different poses and “listening to your body”. The hope I had was that this would help straiten me out and make me more symmetrical when I rode. Although I can now to a straddle split, and my hamstrings are much, much more flexible, it did not do much for the back pain. I still do yoga every other day though.

I think I am getting closer and closer to being a pain free bike rider. The only pain I want after seeing Andy is from pedaling my bike FAST.

Best
TG
Lance uses his teammates to block the wind
and help him win the Tour de France. I use
my teamates to help me do this when
my back starts to hurt flippin bad.