Where's Scott Been? - 2021

 Esteemed blog readers.

I have injured myself again. Not cycling related, but I broke my kneecap.

Part of my non-cycling life involves investigating mechanical stuff that is involved in insurance claims and lawsuits and last Monday I was investigating one of these (not the actual one)

It was parked at a rental lot surrounded by a bunch of other equipment and in my inspection I tripped over one of those forklift blades and landed on my kneecap. I knew right away it was a hard fall, but I didn't think I broke anything until Tuesday when I went in for an X-ray - actual X-rays below:

And here's the imaging report.

Effusion means swelling, and I certainly have plenty of that.

Comminuted means the pieces are separated... that can't be good.

So all riding is on hold for a while. Cycling challenges and Strava trophies and other weekend athlete objectives will be modified... don't know when. Hoping for an orthopedist appointment this week for a prognosis. Apparently sometimes they have to screw the parts back together or take out the loose pieces with surgery.

Anybody with a good patella fracture story, please tell it in the comments.

I don't want no pity though.

2021 Sat 02

 Cold and a little windy, but beautiful. There were a lot of people who looked under-dressed, but possibly they were just tougher than I.

Roadkill Report: skunk - I forget where exactly, but he looked to still be warm.

At Junction we were just headed up Summit Road when old friend Shawn O and his riding buddy Bobby V arrived from South Gate Road on their epic 100 mile journey. We took some photos and then they went down the North. Shawn and Bobby have a personal goal of one century per month for 2021... which makes my objective of 100 Bumps of Winter seem lame... so I didn't bring it up.

When I got to The Wall, I took a quick survey of the dirt around the barrier and decided I could ride around it instead of walking - success!  Also, that tire I glued on last week seems to be doing fine and I haven't applied the extra safety glue... maybe when it warms up a little.

My Garmin cyclocomputer battery crapped out again on the way down though - so I think I'm going to have to start packing my battery charger. But my new Garmin smartwatch handled the task of recording for Strava just fine... I just didn't have speed and time data on my handlebars. I have my watch set to show heart rate while I'm riding and that's interesting info; and by interesting I mean much lower than I imagined. By the way, that "220 minus your age" thing gets more accurate every year.

SHAWN!

This guy passed us on The Dips, but then he faded by the park boundary sign. 
Looks like he has his saddle too high too.

MIKE!

Summit plus three extra Bumps today, for a solid third place in the coveted Legend of the Bump trophy; and by "coveted" I mean just me because nobody else cares about it.

That Laurel Wreath will soon be MINE!

Photo Credit:  Shawn O.

2021 Wed 01

Another solo ride. Things were pretty normal when I left home in time to beat the rain. It started raining just about the time I was on my way back anyway.

When I got home I heard about the Georgia Senate election results right away, and then I heard about the DC riots a little later. Nothing normal at all, except for the Mountain and my bike.

I'm on the Podium!

2021 Sat 01

Last night as I was putting my bike away, I noticed a rear flat. Must've been a slow leak that didn't make itself known during the ride. So at 11pm, I was gluing on a new tubular... I've done enough of these to be able to get it done relatively quickly - and I had two tubulars on my stretching rims so they were ready to go. I'll give it a thorough check later, but I'm sure it's good enough for now.

This morning I got a text from JB saying he was nursing an injury and not riding... so I gave myself a 30-minute late start and had another cup of Christmas blend. Satisfied myself that the new tire install was good. Checked the weather and braced myself for a wet outing. It was foggy too, so I installed my helmet light.

As I rolled out, I got a whiff of the un-mistakeable odor of dead opossum, so I made a mental note to wash my jacket when I rolled back in.

There were more people on The Mountain than I was expecting... I think I saw six people not in cars. We each saw something of each other in ourselves. So the ride to Junction went through thick and thin fog, and light and heavy drizzle. I got wet, the tire held fine, elevation was gained.

This was about the best visibility on the whole Mountain.

AHOY THE BIKE!

 

Bonus photo for the faithful fans who read all the way to the end.