Tour of Denial, Stage 2

  My riding was not improving much on my usual trails.  I know I should have cleaned several sections by now but I just thought it was because I had let go over the winter a little.  The snow was gone by now on much of the mountain in my backyard up to at least 8000'.  

  I came down with a real bad case of the flu.  At first I didn't know what I had.  I thought the flu was what I had during childhood .  I remember nausea,vomiting and diarrhea.  Most likely what I had as a child was rotavirus.  The flu was something new.  With the flu I had a very high fever with intense cold symptoms along with body aches and prostration.  It took me about eight days before I could go back to work.  I don't like missing work.  Being sick is something I seldom do.  

  Coming off the flu I was not improving my riding.  At this time of year I would have liked to visit my friends in Chico and ride the Wildflower Century.  I was there last year and did it in a leisurely 6 hours on my road bike.  There was no way I was ready to go this year.  My progress as a cyclist was going backwards.  

  Meanwhile all this time I was still running my dog team regularly.  The team was in top shape and I didn't have to go out of my way physically when training them.  I just stood on the scooter and they did all the work.  A few spots I might get off and run.  As the dog team progressed I had to run less and less up the hill.  That was fine with me.