In Other News

I don't think this has been mentioned...

@Faust29 , you can fly to NYC and ride from there to your hometown, and even to the Canuck border!!! Let's do this in January!!!!

https://empiretrail.ny.gov/

 

I go to up state and cross this trail often, at least the map says I did. I tried to rent a mtn bike. A what? I did see a mtn bike race at Empire Brewery. The ran the course back and forth on the grassy knoll to add length. The put in a plywood jump at the entrance to the grass area. I talked to one racer who was all bloody and dropped out. Yep Mtn biking has a universal theme.
Happy you can crash anywhere anytime trails

 

MBA’s historically low production values must still be profitable, while Bike’s high standards are obviously not.

I picked up the latest copy of Outside. It’s now just a bunch of cheap listicles that feels like it was printed by the guys who put out grocery store ads.

 

I used to subscribe to them all......MBA, Outside, BIKE, Dirt Rag and Bicycling. I no longer subscribe to any of them but MBA was actually always my favorite. BIKE started out with great photos of people actually MOUNTAIN biking but then trended into the "artsy" staged photos. I was also not into their articles with "deep" meanings like many people were/are. They also starting getting political at times but of course nowhere near the extent of Outside which clearly had an agenda that was too over the top for me. I try to avoid politics so I definitely wasn't going to pay for it.

 

One of our Assistant Environmental Planners quit our company in 2016 and went to work as a writer for Outside Mag. She is pretty and made the cover one time holding a pint of beer and sitting against the top tube of a red city bike. Ok that’s all I got…

 

BIKE had Kristin Butcher as a writer.

Mic drop.

 

I used to work some of the test riders. they would get free bikes as swag. he never sold me nothing. I never read the mags as I would always ride instead. Plus it takes me 7 years to ride a bike into the ground. replace, do it again, again, again, so on so forth etc. Lets see, yep except I lost one when my 4x4 was stolen, my brother found the truck on the streets of LA, the bike was gone.

 

Well come some good news: Ventura County located between San Nicolas in the Pacific Ocean and Canada, the Costa la Oro and the Costa le Sorrow; we have had no new deaths, 33 in the hospital and 3 in ICU. So the Alpha and now the Delta have run their course. Thank goodness for the blessing. I can wait to see what the next strain will bring besides being even more mutated.

 

Uruguay Jeff threw me an acoustic guitar riff; I roughly added a drum and guitar tracks: Jeff's riff

No clue where it might go. Vocals and words? The cool thing about hobbying is doing whatever the hell you want.

 

Fun! The verse reminds me of cats in the cradle by Cat Stevens. Not the chorus,just the verse.

 

G*d speed Dragon 3. Congrads to Space X a Southern California company that is doing well.

 

Clean up needed on Aisle #3. (And #1-#14)

 

That Russian bot posted like 35 messages in a matter of minutes.

 

And I missed it!!!! Again!!

 

You snooze, you lose... This one wanted to enhance your love life. I can send you his links if you really want...

 

The Philippines was 40 years ago....

 

I learned a lot today... R is the recently sprained but healing well; L is 30-yr old "repaired" subtalor compound dislocation.

Starting with steroid shots to provide relief, but moreover to determine if discomfort source is the ankle joint (where leg bone meets foot, flexion, extention movement) or subtalor joint (black arrows drawn, sideways roll movement). Once we know we can move ahead to... Addition shots up to 3x/year; clean up joint contact arthroscopically; clean up plus subtalor fusion with two screws (my L subtalor presently has almost no motion, so it's virtually fused already); ankle joint replacement surgery (which doesn't address subtalor).

Steroid shot in ankle joint did provide relief but I'm putting my money on subtalor joint as the problem. He said it could be some bone-on-bone there, believable considering the cartilage cups were pretty much exploded according to the repair surgeon. I can see it going to subtalor fusion after more diagnostics. Ankle fusion is a big deal – don't need it. Subtalor movement I've lived without. There is arthritis in both joints and some spurs and calcification noted from previous injuries.

The ortho I hooked up with is the right guy. Doesn't believe avoiding the activities is a viable path forward. He'd rather see my joints flame out and at least try to make them wortk for two more decades than me get unhealthy physically and mentally not doing stuff. I'm pretty psyched to be doing something with this after all this time. It's been more problematic lately, which seems like will lead to major improvement vs just dealing with discomfort and laying low on certain activities I still love.

PS: Left leg was dominant before dislocation. Look at that skinny peg now.

 

Fighting this head on is the way to go, and I like the attitude of the doc! CJ and I have dealt a lot with arthritis, seems it advances faster from crashes. We both have had surgery in the past to remove/clean up arthritis in our shoulders. One thing that has significantly helped CJ is stretching. Stretching is so underrated. When she pins me down and I stretch with her I do get more mileage out of myself. Stretching takes so much discipline, but so worth it. Just throwing that out there.
If ANYONE has got this… you do.

 

My BFF just got the subtalor fusion done. Fell off a roof 25 years ago, blew up his left foot. The ST joint steadily deteriorated over the years, had umpteen cortisone shots, but the last couple of years saw him in constant pain. He's on the mend from the surgery, and I hope to be riding with him again soon! Joints like the subtalor are so unknown and inscrutable, until they're not. Best of luck to you, Mike.

 

That's an encouraging anecdote, @Walleye – thanks for the good wishes! And, best wishes to your friend on his recovery and re-entry. I'll be interested to know how it goes for him.

I'm not looking at steroid shots as anything but a stopgap. Although I can see why people get them ongoingly, as I do have relief from the ankle shot. I'm hoping it wears off quickly, which might help indicate the subtalor as the problem. Either way, I'm extremely grateful to be able to ride and get around mostly with a minimal limp. My bro Ammon had his taken off below the knee because he was out there too long waiting for the pluck. In fairness, he is still charging like a MF with his prosthetic. I was a may-be amputee until I was discharged.


PS: @Mikie, thanks for the stretching nudge. As little of it as I do, I still believe it's very beneficial. I do it reactively, mostly. Which kind of misses the point...

 

FOR SURE, all you aging hooligans out there!

 

Ohhhhh, your turn is coming young man.

 

It was inevitable that I would have to bring it to this at some point...

Watch - if you are Hooligan enough to handle it.

 

I'm definitely included in the aging hooligan category! I've been stretching the last 10 yrs......multiple times a day!!

 

I stretch my legs in bed every day for at least fifteen minutes before I ever lift the covers off.

 

Huh… you mean to tell me there was a Hooligan gang before our Hooligan gang!?!?

 

AND Hooligals...

You used a split infinitive? Rumble, rumble, rumble...

 

You can't - literally cannot - split an infinitive in Latin. But in English, a West Germanic and not Latin language, is "to" really a part of the infinitive?

 

To tell me?

 

OK - view the Newhart episode I linked, but feel free to jump to 18:30 or so for the grammatical errors and the ensuing rumble between the Puffians and the Hooligals.