I got fucked up. Pain pills and cough meds. Stuff I failed to mention in my last post. In fact, I was pretty loaded up on a bottle of hydro-codone cough syrup when I published that post. Shit happens. Bike crashes. Pain pills. I got no control over it. I was in pain. That was for real. I just can’t take one. I have to take several. So I took 20 vicodin and started my whole sobriety date over.
I have several dates now.
10/08/1999 – last shot of heroin.
05/08/2001 – last drink.
03/01/2011 – last bong hit.
10/14/2011 – last pain pill(s).
The amoxicillan took a toll on me. It led to some nasty, ummm, gynecological issues that I won’t go into to too much detail about. Let’s just say, pissing blood hurts like a mother fucker. Cipro was rx’ed and I started feeling better. I got my stitches out, and stayed off my bike for 14 days. My knee felt awesome. I tested it out on my rollers and the range of motion actually helped.
So yesterday, I rode. 50ish miles, real easy.
I was so fucking happy to be on my bike, 14 days is a long time away. I don’t do well without my bikes. I am sure many of you have had to be off your bikes for much longer. I dread the day that happens to me. You might as well cut off my air supply.
And today, my knee is infected – AGAIN. It sucks.
Off the bike again.
I’ve been thinking long and hard about racing. I remember my first bike race. It was a CX race, just 2 weeks after the Ironman and I needed something else to do. I remember I had two goals: 1. Don’t crash and 2. Don’t DFL. I had so much fun that day. These days, it’s not as much fun. The pressure to podium and the teams and the drama and the bullshit have all kind of ruined it for me.
But I LOVE to ride bikes.
Racing, not so much.
The sickness that comes after a hard effort just isn’t worth it. Crits and CX are fun, but it’s even more fun to go ride my bike for 5 or 10 hours and just pedal. No pressure. No whipping my dick out to see who can go the fastest. No trying to hang on someone’s wheel. Just ride my fucking bike.
You know what I am saying?
Shit like this, Reverend Dick, riding his bike with his family. That shit is cool. Makes me smile. I dig that stuff.
So, I’ve come to a decision not to race next year. No USAC license for me. Endurance mountain biking – The Whiskey, and most likely Mohican, will be the exceptions. I’ve got a kid living with me now. She needs me. I’ve got to make sure she graduates from High School and then on her own from there.
Priorities people.
Family.
Work.
Pedaling a bike.
Racing? Not so much a priority.
I hope all of you got to ride this weekend. Have a great week.
L7 – Off the Wagon
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-J92_ZfJA4[/youtube]
I’d like to introduce Sparky Joe to Bra Juju (Julius Malema to you). And then sit back and watch with a stash of Windhoek quarts.
@ bgw I think in the ensuing scenario the piranha would climb out of the tank and watch from the relative safety of the couch.
Juju and Barry Hussein seem cut from the same cloth. No matter; I’d sit and palaver with either of ’em. But just so The Annointed One knows, if he wants to see me he’ll call me in person. Same as Steve Jobs, I don’t talk to flunkies.
Joe,
trust me on this one, there is no comparison.
Malema has openly come out & stated that South Africa should follow the Zimbabwe model, & that’s a fucking basket case.
Not to mention that the man is in his 30’s but is still in charge of the ANC youth league.
The old order in the ANC is changing, they were all freedom fighters but also educated, the young aren’t & they are stroking populist sentiment.
TIA, (this is Africa), true story, when I was offered a job in New Zealand, I had to go up to the NZ consultant in Zimbabwe for an interview, things have changed now.
After the interview, I went to a Wimpy bar, (seriously low cost hamburger franchise),
I ordered a Banana Pecan nut sundae, after 5 minutes, the waiter appeared at my table saying “I’m sorry sir, we’ve run out of pecan nuts”, no problem I said.
5 minutes later he appeared & said, “I’m sorry sir, we’ve run out of bananas”, once more I said, no problem.
At the end of the day I ended up with two scopes of ice cream but still paid for a Banana Pecan nut sundae.
I loved it & it was a wonderful country.
It seems you know more about our Barry Soetoro than I do about your bloke, so I’ll concede the point. Still, while they may differ on tactics I can’t shake a strong hunch their strategies are more similar than different. Time will tell, I suppose.