Food Poisoning Adventure

If you don't follow on Facebook or Twitter, you missed being the first to see the news of the latest (not greatest, but not too shabby either) California adventure.  I went out West to meet some new riders and get some testing done at Athleticamps in Fulsom, CA.  We've got great facilities back at home, but why not explore a little bit when the opportunity presents itself.

I flew in to San Francisco, where apparently Rice-A-Roni isn't such a big deal anymore: street fare is the new hype. I wasn't hungry though and headed northbound and inland to NorCal where the next morning determined the fate of the rest of my stay.  I choose the breakfast panini over sugary, soupy oatmeal.  Bad choice.

Athleticamps gave me the opportunity to do a lactate threshold test.  They drew blood out of my earlobe at 3 minute intervals to measure and chart lactate concentration levels, while increasing the resistance that I had to pedal against.  Right up next, I was hooked up to a huge tube and a machine.  I wondered if I looked like Snuffy the Snuffalupagus, until I caught a glimpse of my reflection in a mirror: nah, I just I looked like I was about to do a VO2 max test.

VO2 max testing at Athleticamps -Copyright: Alex Chiu 2012

It was during the Retul bike fit that signs of what was about to hit the fan started to show.  All I had to do was push 150 watts for a few seconds while the Retul camera picked up data from the sensors that were stuck all over my body.  The program mapped and measured my movents and the Athleticamps experts used the data to analyze and tweak my position.  But every effort between adjustments was harder and harder for me to complete, I was not feeling good.

At the end of the day, all of the ''evil'' came out of me, you know, the way it does when you have really bad food poisoning.  I spent the next days in bed.  Then, being as lucky as I am, I got 3 seats to myself so I could sleep comfortably on the whole flight home.  My first purchase in Québec: high quality probiotics to get my digestive system back on track.  I'm on the road to a full recovery now.  Going-going, back-back, to Cali-Cali wasn't exactly what I expected.  But it was another great experience to add to the bank.