Thursday, May 8, 2008

12 Hours of Lodi, Poison Ivy. Crohn's Flare Up... What a week!

I must be crazy. Just looking at the proposed schedule for this week makes me tired. Did I really think that anyone could do all of these things? Especially while fighting a chronic illness. If I didn't know better I'd think I was high or something.

Saturday was when the fun times began. I knew I had a big week ahead of me, so I wanted to sleep in a little late. Best laid plans. When my wife woke me up at 8:00 it was not for Sexy Time, no it was because someone wanted to look at the house. I want to sell this house in the hood and get out of the ghetto, but don't they know a man's got to get some sleep! Heck, the new house isn't even being built yet.

So anyway, I begrudgingly got up, went to the bagel store to get some grub and a dew and headed over to my parents to work on a fundraising letter. When I signed up for the Get your Guts in Gear charity bike ride, I had no idea that the fundraising would be the hardest part. My father is off somewhere preaching. I think he said he was going to Kansas, but we all know that everyone in the mid-west has already been saved. So I sat down with my Mom and started working on the fundraising letter as my wife and the three girls watched a movie in the living room.

As we finished up the letter, it was time to race back home, get Corrina's soccer uniform, and head off to her game. It was her second game. Other than running like a girl, she did pretty good, but for the second week in a row it ended in 0 - 0 tie.

After the game it was off to meet the crew for the 12 hours of Lodi Farm mountain bike race. Out of the six riders in our group, I was the oldest by far, and probably in the worst physical shape. This should be fun. All but one of us arrived at the course around the same time. After setting up the camp area and registering for the race we decided to head out for a practice lap to become familiar with the ~8 mile course.

I should have known at that point that I was being set up. But hey, I'm a trusting man. I was told that I would be on the team with Brian (who wasn't there yet), and Christian (who I didn't know) because we all rode 29ers. Okay, sounds fair, right? Oh yeah, Christian is going to be leaving 4 hours before the 12 hour event is over. Fine, he'll ride the first leg so he still does at least two laps before leaving. Should be no problem.

During the practice lap I learned a few things. First of all, this was the toughest course I had probably ever rode. Secondly, Christian had only riding a mountain bike twice before this event. He began crying almost immediately upon starting the course. We were less than a mile of the way into the ~8 mile course and we needed to stop twice to wait for him. On our third stop for him, I learned an additional item. Christian hardly ever completes anything he starts. He had taken an opportunity to head back to camp and hang out.

When I finally made it through the course and found my way back to camp the sun had gone down. But Brian had made it to the course and Christian said that he would be fine doing the first lap. It was back to getting ready for the midnight start of the race. We ate some hot dogs and burgers and tried to rest, but stay loose.

After the long winded racers meeting, I had a date with a port-a-john. Oh shit! that's a lot of blood to be loosing right before a race. I need to get my ass to stop bleeding 'cause that ain't gonna be comfortable on the bike. That's right. Dr. Crohn's decided to flare again. My intestines seem to have the best timing. But I missed 24 hours of Big Bear last year due to my Crohn's, I wasn't missing this race.

So I held tp in place to get the bleeding to stop. Once I thought it had at least slowed enough for me to get back to the camp, I did just that. I never told anyone of my teammates what was happening. I just hoped that with me going third there would be some recover time.

But once again Christian wimped out. He once again bailed on the lap at the one mile mark. Now Brian and I would have to compete in the three person sport division with just two people and after an hour delay. Great.

Bottom line. Both Brian and I were able to complete three laps a piece during the 12 hour period. I was cramping the entire time. Had some mechanical issues with my bike during my first lap. My legs and arms are bruised and scraped up pretty bad. But most of all, I had a blast! And not only that, but if you include the practice lap, then out of the six riders in our group no one rode more than me and only Eric the Mexican actually rode as many laps as me. Not to bad for a bloody assed cronies!

Of course, all I wanted to do after this was go to sleep. But work had other plans. So after a 4 hours of sleep, it was off to work for an overnight grill building party. Yeah, I'm not even going to comment on that one. The only thing that was getting me through all of this was that I had VIP tickets to The Jammys in New York city for Wednesday.

On Tuesday morning I woke up with an outbreak of poison ivy on my arms and legs, and my morning constitutional filled the bowl with blood. I was a little dizzy but I had to get to work, and didn't want to jeopardize going to NYC. This was turning out to be a great week. Sleep deprivation, poison ivy and a bloody ass. That combination always equals fun.

Finally Wednesday morning arrived. The plan was to meet JP at his house around 11:00am, drive to NYC with a stop at the Dog House of course! But before I had even gotten up, JP had called to say that he also had poison ivy also, that it was really bad, and that he had to see a doctor. I never thought giving away free VIP tickets to the Jammy's would be so tough. But JP was now the secound friend to bail, since Peaches had bailed a week or so before.

Oh well, no big deal I've gone to shows alone before. I always meet plenty of people and end up having fun no matter what. So I decided to shower and head to the big city. But while in the shower my stomach felt like I ate a Hot Pocket stuffed with 3 fruity mentos. Not a pretty site! And once again, the toilet was filled with blood.

Instead of going to the show, I spent the day being poked and prodded by the doctors. They burned off two internal hemorrhoid's and gave me more medications and some hemorrhoid cream to stop the bleeding. Fun times. As I was leaving the last Doctor appointment at 5:00 pm yesterday, my Doc said, "If the bleeding continues and you continue to get dizzy you're going to have to go back to the hospital."

Great doc. That's just what I need to hear four weeks before leaving for a 210 mile road bicycle ride to raise money and awareness for Crohn's disease. That my Crohn's disease might stop me from being able to do this ride.

Well let me tell you. Nothing is going to stop me from doing this ride. I may be fragile, but I'm not afraid and nothing is going to stop me from participating in this event. So please help me battle back against this awful disease and donate now using my name and rider number (NY-30) so that I can do this ride.