Good Results at Valley of the Sun

Valley of the Sun stage race is one of the first big stage races of the season out here in the western half of the country, and riders don't usually show up unless they are fit. Coached rider Jesee O went out to AZ to give VOS a try. Jesse is a cat 5 rider, who contacted me near the end of the 2005 season because he was unsatisfied with his race performance in the 2 races he had entered that year. VOS was his first time to do a true 3 day stage race, and he got a great result. Jesse was 4th after the 22K individual time trial, and then 3rd after the road race. He held on to his place through the crit, and walked a way with two top 5 stage finishes as well as a bronze medal for GC. Good job Jesse!

As far as the women go, coached rider Beatrice D took 2 minutes off of her TT time from last year. I'd call that one a success as well.

My knee surgery

I don't usually write about myself, but I've got some interesting stuff here. I've been off the bike for several months due to what I originally thought was an overuse injury. I finally had an MRI, and the MRI indicated that I had a torn meniscus. The only way to resolve the issue was surgery, so on valentine's day I had arthroscopic surgery to repair the meniscus.
The meniscus is essentially a shock absorber in the knee joint, you an see a drawing one it here.
The surgery went well. I an actually put weight on it just hours after the surgery, and I am starting PT in just a day or two. Any way, the cool part is this. I have some before and after photos of the knee, along with a video of the arthroscope.

Before photo. Se that flap of stuff hanging there? That isn't supposed to look like that!



After photo.....much better!

Julia Lafranchise wins Collegiate criterium

Julia Lafranchise won the Collegiate Women's A criterium at the Red Trolley Classic. Her primary goal is to do well at collegiate national championships in May. I'd say she is off to a pretty good start!

Photo from 2006: