{"id":2496,"date":"2014-06-30T07:09:33","date_gmt":"2014-06-30T14:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/silversagesports.digitalnordic.net\/sssfl\/?p=2496"},"modified":"2015-01-21T07:23:46","modified_gmt":"2015-01-21T15:23:46","slug":"brad-rassler-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/brad-rassler-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Brad Rassler \u2013 Now where were we?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cardiac-Ride-Albans-Loop\"<\/a>The continuation of an on-going blog by Brad Rassler<\/p>\n

Oh, right. On Mt. Tam with Bruce Dern and me at home, nursing a crapped-out Achilles.<\/p>\n

Since that post well over a month ago, I\u2019ve driven some 2,888 miles to the Green Mountains of Vermont. I consumed seven donuts on the Trans-Canada Highway. I occupied my office at the headquarters of\u00a0Alpinist\u00a0and\u00a0Backcountry Magazines, where I\u2019m spending the summer, scribbling for a non-living. The first three weeks on the gig I worked well over 200 hours and consumed more donuts and maple syrup. No shortage of Dunkin\u2019 joints around here, dontcha know.<\/p>\n

Back to the Great Basin\u2026Prior to lighting out from Reno, Julie gave my bike a good going over; rather, she fit\u00a0me\u00a0to\u00a0it\u2026using a groaniometer (nah \u2013 it\u2019s really called a goniometer). Anyway, I\u2019m sitting on my bike properly, and for the first time ever, I\u00a0 inhabit it rather than it having me.<\/p>\n

During the same session, Julie asked me to execute a series of one-legged squats. When my knees tracked inward, she diagnosed weak hips and emphasized the importance of performing the floor exercises she had prescribed early on.<\/p>\n

She analyzed my running gait using video and Dartfish.\u00a0 She\u00a0re-emphasized\u00a0the criticality of hip activation exercises.<\/p>\n

On a series of too-long runs, I aggravated an old Achilles injury and the tendon sheath bulged in precisely opposite
\nthe pull-tab of my new Brooks Pure Grits (no Achilles notch on that model).\u00a0 When I begged for relief, Andy Pasternak sent me to physical therapist who informed me I had weak hips (Julie: 1, Brad: 0). This kindly soul \u2013 the PT \u2014 forbad me to run, hike and climb. So I scrapped a planned foray into the Sierra\u2019s Palisades and attended her torture sessions instead.<\/p>\n

Turns out that sweet PT possessed a sadistic streak, evinced by the going over she gave my tendon. I grunted, ground my molars and attempted to stifle agonic squeals as she cranked on the lump to shred the scar tissue. She worked my gastrocs, hamstring
\ns and glutes. She plied the Achilles with ice and stuck electrical patches to my ankle, cranked the knob and redlined the stimulation meter; I watched in fascination and delight as my toes twitched like a machine-gunned mobster doing the frug before hitting the ground for good.<\/p>\n

The following week, I lit out for Vermont.<\/p>\n

So here am I. Turns out I landed in the midst of some of the best road riding in New England. Smuggler\u2019s Notch is just up the road, and on the other side of it, Stowe and a 20% climb to regain the notch. Rain falls nearly every day, which puts the \u201cgreen\u201d in the Green Mountains. There\u00a0are\u00a0a lot of happy cows around here. The locals are mighty friendly in that reserved, New Engandy kind of way.<\/p>\n

More soon. Meanwhile, here\u2019s a pic of one of the scenics just outside of\u00a0Alpinist\u2019s\u00a0headquarters. It might look flat, but it isn\u2019t; all terrain\u2019s a false flat around here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The continuation of an on-going blog by Brad Rassler Oh, right. On Mt. Tam with Bruce Dern and me at home, nursing a crapped-out Achilles. Since that post well over a month ago, I\u2019ve driven some 2,888 miles to the Green Mountains of Vermont. I consumed seven donuts on the Trans-Canada Highway. I occupied my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[15],"class_list":["post-2496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletes-blog","tag-brad-rassler"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}