Challenge delayed...

Training had been going great up to last weekend. With two out of the six weeks down, I had gone from being completely unprepared to beginning to feel like this might be possible. Over those two weeks, I logged over 220 miles biking on the roads, 20 miles in the kayak, a few hours climbing and one day biking on the trails. But I suffered a setback in the middle of my workout on Saturday morning.

I headed out early Saturday morning and was amazed to be able to fit the bike, both sets of wheels, the kayak, and all associated gear in my new little Honda hatchback. The plan was to ride about 30 miles on the road, switch out the wheels and do an easy 15 miles on the Barton Creek greenbelt trail, and then take the kayak out for about 5 miles on the lake. All to be done in time for me to go to the store and clean up the backyard before 50 people arrived for our first pool party of the summer.

About halfway through my mountain bike ride, I was coming down a set of steep limestone shelves and I went to drop my front tire down a two-foot drop. Normally I would have dropped my but behind the seat, but at that moment I realized I had raised my seat way up for the morning ride on the roads. So not only could I not slide back off the seat, but my center of gravity was way higher than I am used to. Result: I went over the handlebars and dropped about six feet onto the rocks below.

So forgive any typos you see as I am now trying to hunt and peck with my left hand in a cast. All in all I was lucky. I got a bunch of scrapes and a good lump on my knee. But I also broke my left hand and sprained the wrist. Not sure how long I will be out of commission, but it is clear I won't be able to bike, kayak, or climb for a while. So training is on hold until the cast comes off. Hopefully I can do the challenge in August, but we will see...