Bike 'Er

I'm still laying low from work...the docs from the city still won't let me come back to work, broken foot, but that hasn't kept me off the bike.

Today's the first day in a while sans "Le Tour," and I was supposed to be taking a rest day after having ridden almost 300 miles on the road bike in the past three days. Actually, since being cleared to ride from my doc about ten days ago, I haven't ridden less than 60 miles in a day (I'm not doing the math, math makes me tired). Instead of resting today, I went on a mountain bike ride up in Nederland with a couple of friends from work. We road up some steep fire roads and eventually found the "secret path" that one of my more annoying friends had been "leading" us to for several thousand feet of climbing (maybe an exaggeration).

Along the way we found: a partial jaw bone and teeth from some unknown animal, a wild tundra with flowers that resembled a Monet painting, trees that attacked our progress unexpectedly and yes, we eventually found the "secret path." We got rained on on the way back to town, ran into some honkeys in a really nice Toyota 4x4 (save money on the dental plan, buy a nice truck), talked about work and relationships and how you know when you've found "it," etc., etc.

Dropped back into town via Boulder Canyon, got some T-Bell and went over to Amante to write this and finish a great book I've been digesting, 1491 by Charles Mann.

I got into this sport as a mountain biker and by golly, it's great to get back to it every now and again.

Just read that Iban Mayo tested positive for EPO.

www.doperssuck.com

Velo Scum

Ad nauseum and almost without question, the national media has been reporting on the "woes" of the Tour de France and the "downfall" of the sport of cycling.

When was the last time you took an illicit substance to enhance your performance? When was the last time you put any noxious substance into your body other than the drip coffee at the office or that nasty sandwich from Subway?

Exactly.

The month of July should be the most cherished of months for cyclists across the globe. Instead it has become a shade of itself, a farce, a time when everyone from the Cat V rider getting dropped at the local crit, all the way up to Discovery Channel racer who would not wear the Yellow Jersey today questions what is and has happened to the world's greatest sport.

Celebrate the heart of cycling by encouraging your neighbor to get out and ride his or her dusty ten speed, wave to the auto driver that lets you go first at the four-way stop and take your kids out for a ride around the block, hammer up the next climb like Contador hammered on that not-so-great Dane a couple days ago.

Get out and celebrate OUR passion and steal it back from the dopers, the accusers and the nay-sayers.

Great Divide

Sitting in my favorite coffee shop in Boulder, Amante Coffee (www.amantecoffee.com) watching the Tour and thinking that it would be pretty damn amazing to get out there and do that sort of thing, even for a day.

But...we have that opportunity, we being anyone who owns a bicycle. We have the ability to ride just like to Euro pros and now we can even go to the local bike shop, sign for a second mortgage, and walk out with essentially the same bike that the pros ride. So what's your excuse?

I have a broken foot and my ortho doc has released me to go back to work. Unfortunately the city docs that I work for don't agree, so I guess I'm off work, and getting paid, at least until some time in August. I'll spare you the details, but I'm scrapping my way forward with that whole thing and in the mean time I've been back on my bike since last Thursday.

With my proposal to ride solo in next year's RAAM I've been put into an odd spot mentally and I suppose physically. The thought and idea of racing my bicycle across America all by my "lonesome" seems wildly outrageous, but not really impossible, per se. Honestly I find myself reflecting on this year's race and how I was feeling along the way. Perhaps I find myself in a position where if the body is put into a taxing situation with no expectation of "let-up" outside of abandoning the race or crossing the finish line in Atlantic City, then the body will pay the price and will follow the will of the participant, i.e. me.

Team Strong Heart was formed with only the expectation that we finish. Perhaps that is where I will start for next year and then work forward from there. When I tell the story of Team Strong Heart to people who weren't somehow involved in the effort it always strikes me that a word that comes up is "heroic." Maybe David Bowie is right.

And so...I get up each morning with the expectation that the wheels will turn and the arms and legs will burn.

2008 RAAM Announcement

Hi all,

So after much consideration and a series of "sleepless" nights I've decided to attack the 2008 Race Across America as a SOLO rider.

I recently had a revelation that spurred my interest in the SOLO aspect of the race and believe that I will be well suited and prepared for next June.

You might be thinking "this guy is crazy" and you know that I actually appreciate that thought because it acknowledges the lunacy of racing a bicycle 3100 miles in a very short amount of time. I'm choosing to carry the momentum from our 2007 effort and parlay that excitement, intensity and passion into next year.

Of course, my race effort will not be possible or complete without a complement of crew and supporters for the journey. If you would like to be a part of this Team Strong Heart endeavor, please contact me directly at timothyleecase2005@yahoo.com or through your Team Strong Heart contacts.

Keep the rubber side down...

Tim Case

Wounded Eagle

Alrighty then...

So I was doing laundry late last night and guess what I did??? That's right folks, I broke my damn foot! Sweet! I was walking down the stairs in my basement and hit a bitty half step, rolled my foot, heard an excellent snapping noise and the tendon in my foot snapped a bone in two places. After it happened I went to bed and woke up early to go to work and could feel the pedal pulse throbbing down there. The ED doc thinks I'll be out of commission for 4 to 6 weeks from work and perhaps as long off my bike.

Fall riding anyone?

You know, I had gone on an amazing road ride out on Peak to Peak Highway, and was generally having an a-okay day. Heck, it was even my birthday yesterday! Happy birthday to me. What do you get the man who has everything? A pair of crutches!

If anyone has suggestions for recovery while maintaining my cycling fitness with an immobilized foot, drop me a line. This is pretty much a nightmare come true, especially after RAAM. Luckily the Tour de France is in full swing and those badboys are in the mountains as I type this.

I miss Lance and Jan...

Goodnight and goodluck.

TC

The Day After Christmas

Remember when you were a kid and you had a birthday or a holiday where there was at least one gift that you received? I remember the sound of the wrapping paper crumpling in my hands, the sound of the ribbon straining as I tried to tug apart anything standing in the way between me and the gift. When I finally got to the gift I thought it was the best moment in my young life, how could this get any better. I played with the gift, inspected it from various angles, slept with the gift and then........BAM! The next day there was a major letdown, because you know what? NO more gifts until next year! A sort of melancholy crept in because the power and emotion of getting that gift wore off, almost overnight.

The 2007 Race Across America experience, the crew, the race, my teammates, the connections and pain and wonder and suffering and joy was like a big ole' gift that somehow I was lucky enough to receive. We rode across the country on our bikes, drove our sore behinds back to Minnesota where I met up with several long lost friends and opened up new connections, did some riding, drank some coffee, watched some bike racing, etc., etc. Could it get any better than this?

As I sit typing this I'm at work, working the job that I love in one of the most beautiful places in this country (I can say that now, having visited 14 states recently), yet I can't help but feel a sort of melancholy for this too feels like the day after Christmas.

My cycling form is starting to come back and I've found that the 80 miler just doesn't feel that long anymore and the next hill is just that, a hill. Perspective is a blessing and a curse. For about a week, several weeks ago, I received the gift of being able to race in the "world's toughest bicycle race," with a collection of some of the most genuine, down to earth, intelligent, complicated people I've ever met.

What each of us decides to do with this gift is solely our responsibility. I've chosen to tackle the 2008 RAAM on a two person team. Ever since I got the call from Bernie that he wanted me on Team Strongheart I've been thinking about RAAM and ever since I've gotten back to Colorado not a day passes where RAAM isn't still on my mind. I've decided to take the gift of RAAM and use it, keep it and tuck it away for those times when riding feels more like a job and that hill seems like a mountain. What will you do with the gift?