The beginning of the end

The muscle tear wasn't serious but it was preventing me from pushing through the top part of the pedal stroke. Spinning at high cadence / low load was no problem and my times for flying 500m hadn't dropped off. Starting and accelerating were a totally different matter.

It was impossible to drive hard off the start line and that meant that times were down by nearly 3 seconds for the starting 250m. That's an eternity. And it wasn't going to get much better before the State Titles.

Raced B Grade at Beaumont Rd crits one week after the muscle tear. Didn't drive too hard, just sat in the pack mostly. At the bottom turn on the last lap I switched to idle and kissed my series lead in the pointscore goodbye. After rolling in about a minute behind the main pack it was ice and assessment.

The torn muscle was mostly OK but still sore. The State Titles were going to be painful and could even spell the end of a full winter road season. To make things worse, CNSW had decided to start two of the events out of starting gates to assist riders intending to compete at the Masters World Championships. Practice was two days away...

In the beginning

Just two weeks before the 2007 Masters State Track Titles I managed to tear one of the quad muscles in my right leg. It was the stupidest thing.

First up was a 20km warmup, then a handicap race. Punctured after just 15km with no spare or pump. 4km walk back to the start line. Managed to snaffle a lift with 2km still left to go and sore, blistered feet.

Climbing an innocuous little hill in a small gear on the 40km warmdown ride I pushed just a little harder and felt a minor pain that just said "Don't do that!". Nothing serious. Or so I thought.

The pain wouldn't go away and by the time I had driven home it was making me feel nauseous. Ice and more ice was the order of the day. But the recovery was going to be long, tedious, and painful.

Training for the next four to six weeks would change from peaking to spinning light gearing wherever possible and hoping that fitness and muscle memory might get me through.