2014 SMR 35

JB texted me this morning to say he was staying home with a sore throat.  I allowed myself an extra 20 minutes to get ready and for it to warm up a little bit.  35°F at 8am... mite chilly.

I wasn't sure if I'd make the Summit today but that was my objective.  Ten weeks since my rib crash, and the ribs didn't hurt at all after the two ibuprofens kicked in.  On Christmas Day though, I had a kind of scary bout of vertigo and I don't think that's completely gone away either... very weird sort of out-of-body sensation so I promised myself I'd be real careful and not ignore the signs if it started happening again.

Saturday Morning Shoutout:  Smooth Joey on Summit Road.

Wildlife Encounter:  deer near Little Pine Creek

So climbing wasn't much of a problem other than 10 weeks of lost fitness.  Descending though was a little spooky - didn't feel natural, had to concentrate on every little movement, had all the sensations of a brick on a skateboard.  Made it home safe anyway - success.

Salted Watermelon GU - truly tasty, thanks Santa!

New outhouse at Muir -
same as the old one that burned down in the big fire,
but NEW and clean.

Rain + cold weather = clear blue sky

The Curious Tale of the Malfunctioning Flight Deck

I have always had a Flight Deck computer on my Klein. This unit uses special buttons under your brake hoods to cycle through the computer functions instead of buttons on the face of the unit like most of them.  It also knows what gear you're in and has a little display for that so you don't have to look back at your cassette.  Not everybody likes them and they never really caught on in big way, but I've gotten used to it.  

Sometime after my pelvis crash in March, the buttons stopped working; I still had speed and odometer and gear indicator, but I couldn't scroll to the stopwatch or trip distance functions.  I figured I somehow mangled the little wires that go under your handlebar tape.  I got used to the limited functionality and I have Strava on my phone for GPS trip data anyway, so I figured I could live with that - but also considered switching out to a Garmin cyclocomputer or something similar.  

Some time after my rib crash in October, the battery went dead in my Flight Deck and I changed it out and reset all the inputs.  But I didn't realize until TODAY, that the buttons magically started working again.  Maybe it just needed that new battery (even though the LoBatt indicator never came on).  Or maybe when I re-wrapped the bars in November I somehow unmangled the little wires that go under the handlebar tape.  At any rate, I got my functionality back, but didn't get to use it today because I didn't figure it out until half-way through the ride.

Last night I searched on POV videos of riding Diablo on YouTube and they all suck.  Mine (on Vimeo) are way more interesting.  Come on... go ahead and watch.   

Me GottaGo from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.

2014 SMR 34

Well I'm half-way back.

I absolutely HAD to ride today... it's been NINE weeks since the Foxy's crash that cracked seven ribs and sent me to the ER.

Winter from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.

Wildlife Encounter:  two deer and a coyote.

Got going a little early because I knew I'd be slow.  JB caught me about Clavicle Cracker.  By that time I had convinced myself that Junction would be my turn around.

I haven't seen the Mountain this green in years; and it's especially nice to see standing water in the ditches and running water in the creeks.

I didn't feel comfortable on the bike, I didn't feel strong, the ribs are still hurting, and I didn't feel confident with my handling... but I did feel like a bike rider and that's a feeling I've been missing for a long time.

Twice this year I've had my identity as a bike rider stripped from me by injuries; most of my readers will understand how that might affect any one of us.  But another part of my identity for the last 17 years has been as the companion of a greyhound and now that's been taken away as well.  My family brought our second dog Abbey into our lives in 2007, and last night I brought her ashes home in a cedar box.  Please honor her by giving your own pets a little special attention today.

Another Broken Ribs Update

It's now been seven weeks since my crash.  Friday was my first day with no pain pills, but I'm still going to have a bottle of Ibuprofen with me all the time.

I've been riding to work for a week and a half - kind of scary because the trail is covered with wet, decomposing leaves that are slippery and hide the edges of the path.  On Wednesday I hit a bump and one of my lights fell off the mount and rolled into the ditch somewhere... here's how I had it set up...

Two Planet Bike Blaze lights - 1/2 Watt each, 45 lumens each.
They don't rotate so finding the perfect spot to mount them
on my sweepy handlebars was kind of a chore.

So I decided I'd had enough of the low-middle range of headlights and did some research and bought a NiteRider Lumina 750.  That's right, 750 lumens... 16 times as much light as a Blaze.  So now I have this:

The Blaze light shines up for visibility and to give some perspective.
The NiteRider shines mostly down so I can see the road right in
front of me - it works great.

The NiteRider Lumina also has a swivel feature so you can mount it
anywhere you want and still point it any direction you want...
big plus especially for me.

Friday morning I got stung by a bee while I was locking up my bike at work.  Bstrd was inside my jacket and stung me through my shirt so I didn't take the full dose of venom but it hurts like the dickens and it swelled up and turned bright pink.

I might've tried riding Diablo on Saturday but it's been so rainy and wet that I'm still too nervous... next week probably... that 8-week healing time turns out to be right again.