Adductor Muscles 101 or No Pain, No MS Gains!

Adductor Muscles: Any muscle used to pull a body part away from the midline of the body. For example, the adductor muscles of the legs spread the legs away from the midline and away from one another.

Why a lesson on the Adductor Muscles this week you ask? Well I sure learned a lot about this very important muscle when I injured it 12 days ago! How did I do this, well here is the culprit.




Above you can see the Concept 2 Rowing Machine! Isn’t she a beauty? As you can see in the picture I have become rather serious about staying in shape for these 150 mile tours, so beside riding and muscle development, rowing has come into my training picture. At least I thought so. The Concept 2 arrived and only took 15 minutes to assemble. It was like hitting the Easy Button! That’s when the trouble started. For whatever reason, seeing that I’ve been working out, my brain told me to jump on and get rowing. I did 5,000 meters in a half hour. This was easy I thought. The next morning when it was too cold to ride, I jumped back on. Another 5,000 meters later I was thinking this was the greatest thing next to sliced bread. On Sunday I found out the hard way where my Adductor Muscle was located. The inside of my right thigh was knotted up and in pain. The past week has been spent in heavy rehab with electro stimulation and very deep tissue (= bite down hard and don’t let everyone in the clinic hear you scream) massages.

After 12 days off the rower and my bike, I am happy to say the pain is for the most part gone and I’ve just completed 5,000 miles fully stretched out, warmed up, and at a reasonable pace so as to not re-injure my Adductor.


The Lesson

I have to say that this was a very painful experience, but here’s the take away. I knew the entire time that if I did the rehab, the massage, the ice, all of it, that the pain would go away and it would get better. When you have MS you DON”T have that option. There is massage and physical therapy, and days you feel good, great, and lousy, but the MS never really goes away. Worse of all, you don’t have the control to make it go away the same way you can when you don’t have MS.

So my pain is a small price to pay to get ready to tour and honor those who don’t have the same options as I do to get rid of the pain. Think about that the next time you strain a muscle, feel some pain in your back, or reach behind your neck to try and rub the stress away. You have the ability to make it go away, those who need our help in finding a cure do not.

Janice Rock's

Last week I introduced you to Janice Dean the Weather Machine, and this week she made me cry. Yes, my sensitive side came gushing out. Thank you Janice for the kind words. Janice is an avid blogger (click to read her blog) click here and posted about the journey we are now taking together. Janice and I will be linking to one another and both posting about the experience.



How about a few gallons of GAS?

I know times are getting tough. I am to the point that if I could I would ride my bicycle to work every day. Buying a horse actually crossed my mind, but I could not figure out where to attach the toll tag. If each of you just donated a few gallons of gas money we would go a long way to finding a cure. Think about it the next time you are at the pump. Now’s even a better time to make the donation, because those few gallons are going to keep going up. Get in now and save! click here to be directed to the donation page. Thank you to everyone who has already donated. Next week I will bring you this year’s fundraising photographs! Until next week, be well, and watch out for cyclists on the road. I’ll be back out there by the weekend!

The Journey Continues! Our MS Trek for 2008

Hello my friends! How have you been? Some of you have been with me from the first mile, others of you are receiving this for the first time, either way, our 2008 Trek to bring awareness and an end to Multiple Sclerosis has begun! Let’s get started with a little catching up on things, shall we?

October 2008, MS150 a family affair!

I am proud to say that my sister Denise joined me on the ride from San Antonio to Corpus. This was her first tour. Here we are on day one and as a good brother you can see I am leading her in the right direction. She was a real trooper having come of knee surgery about six months prior. For the record, she was the athletic one when we were growing up, so it was really great to be able to share the experience of training for an event like this together. This was also the tour where I started riding a TREK 5000 all carbon bike. The difference is amazing compared to my old bike and will make the tours a bit easier to endure over the next 1950 miles I plan to ride for MS.



New Goals!

While fundraising and awareness are naturally the main reason and goal for riding the MS150, striving for other goals is just as important, therefore I have challenged myself to two additional goals. The first will likely be somewhat easy to reach, but difficult to maintain, and that is to get down to 170lbs and then here’s the hard part, maintain it. It has been a while since I was there and I know that once I make it back there, many parts of my life will improve, such as improved muscle use and hopefully relief from some of the pains I encounter stemming from my years as a news photographer. The second goal will help keep the first in check. I plan to complete at least as many more MS150 rides to reach a total of 3,000 miles, the distance from coast to coast. Although I have completed that many miles on my bicycle in general riding and training, I want to do it as MS Tours. This means we have at least another 13 tours together.

My MS Champions!

Each tour I ride to honor people who have come to be known as MS Champions. While riding the tour, these Champions are with me every mile. Each Champion receives a bandanna to sign by themselves, friends, loved ones, and anyone with a message of hope. I then wear them as I ride. This way they are with me for the journey. In the past you have helped to encourage Heather, who is in remission from symptoms, Karlen, who is managing her MS well and Tara, who has fought bravely through her battle with MS and continues to give it her all to make it through each day. Tara was able to make it to see me cross the finish line last October. It was very moving to see her there, thrilled that after a number of tours, she was able to be share in the excitement of the finish.

A New Champion

If you watch FOX News Channel, then this brave and courageous women needs no introduction!



Janice recently used her national platform to make the courageous announcement that she has been living with MS for over two years. Janice and I work for the same company, so I’ve asked if she would allow me to ride for her. Since she is the “Weather Machine” I am hoping she keeps the tour rain free with no wind and moderate temps. I believe she has the power! Click on her banner above to read her blog and learn more about her journey with MS.(Sorry for the small banner, I don't claim to be a web developer)

Where do we go from here?

You will begin to see my weekly training journals. There’s a lot to discuss: a new team, rowing my boat, new adventures and more! I will also be asking for your kind donations. I understand we are in difficult economic times, so as always, all I ask for is what you can afford to donate in support. Every dollar counts! All you need to do is copy this link into your browser: http://www.ms150.org/dallas/donate/donate.cfm?id=218280 and you will be taken to my donation page. If everyone who receives this gives just $10 we will raise over $5,000! That’s a lot of impact for just a small donation. Please help out.

Until next week, be well, and watch out for cyclists on the road. You never know when it could be me!

Its been a long time, hasn't it?

It has been a long time since I used this blog. Let's see, since last we met, I moved back to Texas. Dallas to be exact. I now work for the FOX O&O as an Account Executive. We pulled off the MS150 Cruisin' To The Coast tour with flying colors! 100 riders, 2 days, 150 miles, they said it couldn't be done! Well we did it and in the process raised over $65,000 for the Northern California Chapter. Since then I have done three more tours and am about to embark on number 8! I have set a goal of completing enough tours to have done the miles it takes to cross the country. So far I have 1050 tour miles behind me. In 9 weeks I will ride the MS150 from Frisco, TX to Ft. Worth for the second time. I have many stories to share. There will be training with a new team, my new bike, new shoes, new friends, and new faces of MS that need your help.

Please remember, I do the heavy lifting on this one, mile after mile after mile. All I ask is for you to do what you can to support my efforts in helping grow awareness of MS and to help put an end to it.

Come Monday I will begin updating weekly. This year there will be two tours I do. Let's do our best together to make them successful!

Scott