I. Give. Up.

I really do. I give up the hope that I will ever "fix" my back. I have run the complete gamut of available assistance, from orthopedic sports medicine to massage therapy to chiropractic. Nothing--nothing--helps. The latest effort involved the chiropractor plastering kinesio tape across my upper back. I rode with it today. And like clockwork, 70 minutes into the ride, I started feeling pain--like being stabbed in the back with a burning brand. Sometimes it would ease--particularly when I turned out of the wind--but otherwise was approaching intolerable. Perhaps it was worsened by the damage to my morale, knowing now I could not race Conroe next weekend. (I can hardly swim 1.2 miles and then bike 55 miles in a race when I can barely ride 25 in training.)

So I am not a happy camper. I have to resign myself to only being able to ride long distances recreationally, stopping every hour or whenever necessary to give my back a break. Not, not happy......