getting old

Over a week ago my elbow started hurting while standing up on my ride to work. So instead of taking a couple days off, I decided to keep riding but not to stand up. I also tried to do as much stuff as I could with my right hand. After about a week my elbow was still hurting so I looked up my elbow problem on the internet.

Turns out it is my medial epicondyle that is hurting. If you punch this into google you will find many articles about what is called golfer's elbow or medial epicondylitis. Strangely enough you can get this even if you don't play golf. I got mine by tugging really hard on my handlebars as I stand up to pedal.

Treatment involves rest and ice. Ice is easy, but I don't like the rest part. Some sites say 4-6 weeks. Whatever. So anyways I started my ice regimen and things seemed like they were actually getting better.

Then all of sudden my wrist starts hurting on my other arm. It doesn't just hurt when I ride but all the time. I have no idea what caused this. Maybe my right wrist hurts because I was putting all my weight on my right arm while my left arm was hurt. I don't know.

Anyways I bagged all my rides this weekend. Then I wrapped up my wrist with an ace bandage. So guess which arm I had to use to do everything this weekend? And guess which wrist is now hurting the most?

So I have decided to just stop worrying about it. No more bandages. No more favoring. Let the best wrist win. I will stay off my bike till Wednesday, but after that my wrists are just going to have to deal with it.

If my wrists ever stop hurting I will start adding in some upper body workouts to my exercise routines. I don't see myself joining a gym. I am thinking more about channeling Hershel Walker or Stallone in Rocky IV. Pushups, pullups, carrying large pieces of wood on my shoulders, having my friends punch me in the stomach, letting secret service agents chase me up a snow covered mountain. You know just the simple stuff.

bike lust

No riding for me this weekend. The cold scared me off.

I spent most of time looking at commuter bicycles online. I have a nice road bike that I commute on. I don't need really need a new bike. There is no hurt in looking though.

Here are some of the ones I found.

ANT bikes

This guy is an artist who happens to build custom bikes. He has some serious style. I have his flickr stream in my rss reader. Daily art delivered to my door.



Civia cycles

These guys make some pretty cool looking production bikes. Same owner as Surly and Salsa so the quality is probably pretty good.



Batavus

Cool Dutch bikes available with a Nuvinci hub



Breezer bikes

I like all the features on this bike (chain case, internal gear hub, dynamo with front and rear lights, fenders, etc ...) except for the 26" wheels. I guess they did that to run bigger tires. I would rather have 700cc wheels though.




I would really like a bike with a shaft drive, because I hate oiling my chain. Sheldon Brown's website says they don't work very well though. I could probably live with a good chain case.

Maybe I will get lucky and someone will steal my road bike so I can buy one of these bad boys. It is a nasty addiction.

Noontootla

Pic taken by Duckman.More Here

Weather was rainy last week so I decided to ride some forest service roads and avoid the mud. Since Amy was out of town, I posted my ride idea on the sorba website's rides forum. I have tried this a couple times before and have never gotten any takers. The stars must have aligned this week though because there were probably twenty people that show up on Saturday. I couldn't believe it.

I had a great time meeting a bunch of new riders and chatting with some old friends. It is so much fun to share a ride with others. Combined with the ride I did last week I can't remember when I have enjoyed riding my bike more.

The route I chose was new to me. I saw it a long time ago in Alex Nutt's book Mountain Biking Georgia, but I never got around to riding it. I have been missing out.

We started our ride from the church on Doublehead Gap Rd and rode south on FR 58 up to Winding Stair Gap. The climb followed Noontootla Creek where the ride gets its name. The climb is slow and easy. The views of the creek are spectacular. This climb is so much easier then coming up FR 77 from the other side.

Once at Winding Stair Gap, we headed east on FR 42 to Hightower Gap. Most of this part of the ride was downhill. I was in my biggest gear pedaling with all I had to try and keep up with the group. For a little while I was able to ride behind mama and try to copy her line. It was very educational.

Once we hit Hightower Gap we took FR 69 north. We traveled past a beautiful lake, a recreation area with bathrooms, a fish hatchery, and another church. The lake was beautiful. I would love to spend a day sitting on it's banks with a cane pole and a cooler of beer. The fish hatchery also looked pretty cool. I need to find out if I can get a tour of that place.

Finally we turned west on FR 248/ FR 333 back to DoubleHead Gap Rd. This part of the route was a little muddy but not too bad. There was one real big mud pit right before we got back on the road. I should have carried my bike like others did. It was so much fun trying to stay upright while my tire spun around that I couldn't resist.

Once we got back on the road the sun was out and it felt really good. There was a little climb back to the car and my legs ached. I guess I got my money's worth.

reward for getting out of bed

alarm shrieks violently
body springs to silence it
cold air invades my cocoon
burrow deeper under covers

it is too cold
been sick all week
eleven days since last ride
wastes too much gas

hardly know any of the people
too slow to keep up
gained too much weight
stop stop stop stop

check the weather
throw on some clothes
grab water, food
load bike, helmet, shoes

crank up the tunes
sing like you know the words
smile starts to come
great way to start the day

beautiful ride
shared with amazing people
funny jokes, stories
reward for getting out of bed

more here

Best XMAS present ever

Merry Christmas