Mamasitas Ride

Anybody interested in riding out to Mamasitas for some tacos and margaritas Saturday afternoon? I was thinking of leaving from Wilderness Perk around noon - should be great weather. Let me know if you want to go along.

Rode in today!

Doctor gave me a thumbs up to jump on the bike so I rode in today for the first time since early October. I start physical therapy tomorrow. Probably be doing that for awhile. Surgery is still not off the table, but for now it's a wait-and-see approach to see if the disc settles down enough so that it doesn't hamper my everyday life. Once you blow a disc, it doesn't go back to normal, just a matter of how much discomfort you're in.

I still have numbness in my thumb and arm, but I can live with that if need be.

Being on the bike doesn't hurt it hardly at all. I'm gonna have to flip the stem back over so the bar is a little higher and closer. But it's good to be back riding again and getting some exercise.

Not to get all political, but...

Sarah Palin is a jazz singer?  Who knew?

And the winner is... Herniated Disc!

So I got my MRI back yesterday -- and it confirmed I have a herniated disc in my neck (cervical section of the spine to sound technical).
I will be going to a orthopedic surgeon next week to go over options. I hope he just recommends physical therapy and not surgery as I'm not a big fan of spinal surgery. I'm a little sore in the morning, but am able to function with hardly any pain during the day and am now sleeping much better. So I am optimistic I won't have to face the knife.
I haven't been on my bike in three weeks. Depending on what the doc says, I hope to be back commuting by bike next week. So if you see me out riding, go REALLY WIDE around me (da terminator) -- don't need any tumbles for awhile.
My MRI experience last Friday sucked. I've never had one of those before so I was nervous. As soon as they laid me down on the hard plastic "plank" and shoved me in the tube (which felt like a casket) a searing pain shot through my shoulder, down the arm and to my thumb. Knowing I had to lay absolutely still for the next 30 minutes, I knew I was in trouble. After about 5 minutes, I didn't think I could handle another 25 minutes so I had them pull me out and put some pads under my shoulders. It didn't help, though. So, I had to gut out the last 25 minutes. After awhile as I just accepted the throbbing pain, it sort of became numb -- hard to explain.
I did pick up the new kit from BobK (thanks Bob) -- it looks great. Hopefully I won't get so fat over the winter that I'll be able to fit into it next spring.

Tractor Jazz

I can tell from the last post that Kew needs some entertainment, so here is Sweet Georgia Brown played by two guitars, a bass and a tractor.

Thought of the Day

It's said that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. But what if Jack was dull to begin with?

Busy month

It has been a busy month and an especially busy week last week, so I need to catch up on my blog posts. I haven't been out riding much - tried to make as many teamFIRE rides as I could, and just one Wilderness Perk ride. I started the month out judging the Harvest of Harmony marching band competition in Grand Island. No riding that weekend.

My wife and I both had car problems during the last couple of weeks, so I decided to do a little commuting on my Trek hybrid a couple of times. I envy you guys who can do this all of the time - when I drive I miss little things like this tree:

Interestingly, when I got to the other side of the tree, I noticed that it was having a little trouble making up its mind as to whether or not fall is really here (either that, or it is suffering from bipolar disorder):


Last Saturday, I went out on the Wilderness Perk 8 am ride - along with Craig, Trevor, Matt, and Barry (all much stronger riders than I). We took a little different route this time - heading past Cortland out to the road that goes east from 77 towards Adams for about 6 miles, then turning back to the north to go through Firth, past Norris H.S., and then through Hickman on 68th street. I got dropped between Firth and Hickman, but didn't feel too bad as these guys were obviously much faster, and even riding solo for the last 15 miles, I still held an average of about 18 mph for the 55 mile ride.

Today, I tried out the new teamFIRE kit on a short ride (about 30 miles) out to Bluestem and back.

I like the new design - the extra white and the mint green stripe looks good. Not sure if I like the chamois in the bibs as much as the one in my Performance Ultras, but it wasn't too bad. The jersey fits pretty well, I'm glad that we were able to try them on as I never would have ordered a race cut XL based on their sizing chart.

All in all, a nice day to ride, if a bit windy - very tough going out, very fast coming back (hit 42.6 mph coming down the hill on 77 south of Saltillo). Hopefully the nicer weather will hold for the next couple of weeks as I have the last week in October off for fall break. Anybody who is up for a daytime ride during that week - let me know.

Well this sucks

I haven't been on the bike since last week. I have a pinched nerve in my upper back. I fell asleep watching TV last Friday night with my neck in an awkward position. The last few days have not been fun. I've since learned that pinched nerves are painful and lead to numbness. In my case the numbess runs down my right arm and into my thumb. The pain has since subsided a little, but the numbness is still there. Until it comes back, I'll be laying low -- and driving.

Segways and Pacelines

I have been amused and informed by the posts on this and other blogs regarding drafting Segways and riding in pacelines, so I thought I would combine the two activities into one post.

Here is a Segway paceline - they need to work on closing the gaps to achieve a better drafting effect:


Here is a video of a Segway team practicing their close formation riding - notice that the same thing happens to a Segway as happens to a bike if you don't hold your line and you rub wheels when riding in a group:



I hope that the operator wasn't injured, and don't want to take advantage of her misfortune for the amusement of others - I posted the video in the hopes of promoting safety for current and future users.

And finally, a picture that has nothing to do with pacelines, but I found it amusing and disturbing at the same time, so I posted it anyway: