Remnants of Arizona

I should be writing a Turtle Pond race report right now. I had no choice but to bail on the race. Apparently I took home more than enhanced tan lines and red dust on my MTB from Arizona. Less than 36hrs after we got back, I was fighting an intestinal bug of some sort. Most of the time, these things go away in a day or two. Not this one - four days and counting. My weight is down more than five pounds already. Looks like I'll be visiting the doctor first thing Monday.

I went for late afternoon ride. Legs felt snappy, as I tapered for a race. But I had no sustainable energy. I might have done tempo pace first hour, but was cooked going into second hour. I would have been dropped first time going over the hill at Turtle Pond. I'm really starting to bum out over this. This past week essentially became a rest week, which was not planned. The Battenkill race is next weekend, and I wanted to get liberal doses of intensity in today and early this coming week before backing down. Now it looks like I could end up with back to back rest weeks, which would be a huge hit in training as intensity is supposed to be ramping up this time of year.

The last time I had a bug like this, it took 10 days to get out of my system, and that was after going on Cipro - a pretty nasty antibiotic. That was in 2003, and I missed the Mt Washington race with $400 sunk into it. I lost at least 14 pounds in that episode, but since it was near the end of the racing season, it was not a catastrophe. I have no idea what I picked up or where I got it in 2003. There are dozens of common viral and bacterial bugs that can cause diarrhea. The present case, maybe something from the airplane? Last meal in Phoenix at Chinese joint? Who knows.

So the MTB made it back fine from Arizona. I picked up a new XTR rear derailleur from IBC yesterday to replace the one sheared off at Otis a couple weeks ago. I used a temporary XT derailleur to get me through the trip. Now I notice the front brake lever bottoms out, not on the bar, but the plunger before there's appreciable stopping force. These original Hayes disk brakes are about eight years old now, so perhaps it is time to replace them. I've had near flawless performance over those eight years.