Zheng Gu Shui

Ahhh, good ole' Zheng Gu Shui. You know Zheng Gu Shui..right? Ok, I'll acquiesce with the smarty-pants Chinese herbal jargon. My point here is this stuff is fantastic for healing up ones blown out shoulder. As my mate John so eloquently stated in the last post, it's been a hard couple of weeks, with illness and crashes. The great thing is that when you surround yourself with good people, good things happen and progress continues. After a couple early season crits in St. Louis and Dallas with good results, it seems as though I've been plagued with a wee bit of bad juju. First the sinus infection which I thought I could kick on my own, (wrong!) led to an exacerbated ilness. I then lined up this weekend and hit the deck straining my AC joint...again. The great thing is that the crit season is upon us and that excites both myself and my teammates. Thus I need to make sure that I can ride well and score some results for our wonderful sponsors. This leads me to Zheng Gu Shui and it's wonderfull effects. Along with the chinese herbs, massive icings and Advil I've been able to get back on the bike (inside) and keep the progress going after just one day's rest. Long live Chinese Medicine and riding fast.

Race Reports and Coping with Crashing

The last two weeks have seen just as many members involved in crashes.

The Matrix Crit, held in the Wilson Block Historic District, Dallas started the two day event under windy overcast conditions. During the 90 minute event, just as an 18 man break reeled in and the sun took of its cloudy mask, the right breakaway artists played their deal making hand. A hard chasing field was spitting out riders on every lap of the technical course. In the ensuing charge, I found myself on an unknown rider's wheel. This was the first sign that I was on the rivet myself. Like a swinging pendelum, the wheel in front of me sweept my wheel and I, along with several around me went down. The result is I took a free lap (or two), finished in the field, which is like the 4th group to cross the line and miss Sundays race along with about the next two weeks for healing. With JLa out again (this time on antibiotics for a sinus infection, geez), Jed is the only Toyota / Cycling Team memeber who starts on Sunday. Jed's race tactics are marred by the exclusion of the "one hot lap" prime. He positoned himself perfectly at the start of the race and was likely set to take the first prime offered except he overshot a turn and went off-road. What could have easily been a quiet ride home in the Venza, was quite the opposite with a stop at our favourite place to fill up and get kolache's in West, TX.

The Sugarland, TX Sugar Crit's venue is "a pedestrian-oriented, main street city center and a central business district that is within walking distance of stores, services, restaurants, sidewalk cafes, entertainment, and a hotel & conference center." The P12 race was marked with numerous crashes that affected the outcome for the team. At about minute 30, Jed put a lil $ in his jersey pocket for winning a prime. This would be the only luck for the team. Joseph got stuck behind a crash and was able to take a free lap while Jed took to chasing and used valuable reserves trying to get back up to the field except it was already three groups away. Joseph was involved in another crash, this time injuring a shoulder that had only just healed from a recent crash. The team is holding vigils for healing, sunny weather and victories for the month of May.