Starting. Stopping. And starting again...

So far this year, I've started and stopped my cycling season, oh, I don't know, about 10 times. I train for a week, then have 2 weeks off, train for a few days, have a few weeks off, that has been the cycle really. Work has been problematic at best, and then there are the health reasons for not riding. Not that I'm not healthy, in general, but I've had this cyst in my sit bone area for about a month now, and everytime I would ride, it would hurt and feel like a rock sitting in my crotch while I was on the bike. This made me sit weird on my bike, which caused further problems, such as not being balanced really on the bike, not sitting straight, which is a big issue, and it impacted my pedaling a lot, and after a few days of riding like that, it would get really sore, and allow me to not ride again. Being a typical male, I thought it would go away, and that I could ride through it, well, wrong, wrong, and wrong again. Had to go to the doctor last week, which was good. She and I decided that it would be best to do an overall check for anything wrong with the old testicles, and also do a hernia check, which both came out negative, and then we "investigated" the cyst. She decided that a course of anti-biotics might make it go away. A few days into my regimen, the cyst is still there, but much smaller and less pronounced before. I think that this thing grew out of an old saddle sore that was not properly taken care of last year, and it got encapsulated, and for some reason, just showed back up to pain me in the most severe way. I'm hoping that this takes care of it, it appears to be working, and that I can actually resume riding, more or less pain free, in a few more days, and start getting fit again, just in time to probably not race this year. Hell, maybe I might be in the mix again by August, if I'm lucky, but there will be some serious training to be done between now and then, many miles to ride, and much weight to lose. We'll see what shakes loose, but for now, just have to get some fitness back into me before I worry about racing, which is going to mean about a month or so of base mileage type of stuff, and then start working my way back into race type shape. For now, I'd be happy to just be able to ride for 2 hours in a row without almost dying, but hey, that's what happens when you get fat and out of shape. There are some out there who will know what I'm talking about. I've already missed some of my most favorite races of the season thus far, but there are always more to come, and there is always next year, and the year after that, and the year after that, and so on and so forth. There are still guys riding and racing that are 20+ years older than me, and can still throw down at the pro 1-2 races with the best in the Southeast, so that is encouraging, although I might have to start marking trips to Old Mexico to be that competitive when I'm their age, if you know what I mean.

Look people, a week after Paris Roubaix and you're still talking about the disqualifications? Take a look at the letters in Cyclingnews.com and Velonews.com, and it is the dominating topic. Stop. Just stop talking about it. The UCI, being who they are (supreme overlords of the professional cycling world) are sort of like the Bush administration. Even when they're wrong, they are not going to admit it, nor are they going to change their ruling on this matter, so for the sake of my sanity, can we all move along? Thank you. Oh, also, stop talking about Hincapie's broken fork. It's freakin' Paris Roubaix, this stuff happens all the time. Equipment failure is part of the good luck that you need to actually win the race, or well, in this case, lack of equipment failure is part of the good luck that you need, and Georgie "I need a sandwich" Hincapie just hasn't been a lucky guy in this race. Don't get me wrong, I love Hincapie, I think he is a class act on and off the bike for the most part, but it drives me to insanity when people keep talking about how he's going to win it "next year". Hell folks, you've been talking about how he's going to win it next year since about 1999, and he's yet to win it. Sure, he has come close a few times, but I would be surprised if at this point in time, he never wins this race. Of course, I think he would win this race if he would jump ship to a Classics team, but maybe he has something else in mind, like finishing high in the GC of le Tour this coming July. Which wouldn't surprise me. His climbing is strong, his TT has improved, and we know he can roll on the flats with the best of them. I say don't be surprised if you see a good result from Hincapie in the Tour this year. I wouldn't be surprised at all. I still think and believe that Basso is going to make everyone look the fool this year though in The Tour. I had high hopes for Jan, but he appears to be "getting injured" again, and has yet to line up at a race this season, which is disappointing. I'm hoping Jan just hangs it up after this season, he's played out, and it's time to make room for others to come along, although I'm not sure what this would do to T-Mobile, as they are highly dependent on Jan for, well, everything. I still have some hopes for Jan, and hope that his injuries are just that, injuries, that he is working through, and hope that he lines up at le Tour in July looking lean and ready to kill. Like in 2003 when he almost pulled it off.

Upcoming this weekend, Amstel Gold race. Boonen, not racing, we'll see who can take it. I'm going to go with the safe bet, and say that someone, probably Bettini, from Quick Step is going to be very near to winning at the end, if not winning the race outright. The Dutchmen in the race will try to win it, and will fail I think. I suspect we'll see our usual assortment of characters though for the race win, and I hope that unlike last year, there isn't a thick fog enshrouding the entire race so that at least I can see part of it. Last year we got to see about the last 300 meters as they were coming into the finish, because there was so much fog during the race the helicopters couldn't fly, and the race couldn't be filmed. Oh well, damn Dutch weather. What are you going to do in a case like that?