Cycling

All of the press this weekend about one of the candidates having actually met and conversed with a 60’s radical has led me to confess my own radical past.  My association was not with the Weather Underground  but rather a more benign group, the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).  I was never quite sure why a Democratic Society was considered radical.  But one of J. Edgar Hoover’s favorite hobbies, other than parading around in dresses, was making lists of radical organizations.  And SDS was near the top of the list of groups he considered radical and subversive.  Of course I never actually belonged to SDS, I was considered an ‘associate’.  And how did I become an associate?  Simple;  I bought cups of coffee!   Radical to the extreme!   See, at one point the student cafeteria raised the price of a cup of coffee from $0.10 to $0.15, a 50% increase.   In reaction to the exhorbitant price increase the SDS set up a coffee kiosk outside the student union and sold cups of coffee for $0.10.  And the FBI actually kept tabs on who purchased coffee at the kiosk and listed those of us who did as SDS ‘associates’.  Lest you think that is my paranoid streak talking, I know for a fact that I was listed as such.  At one point I needed a government security clearance and that factoid, my association with a radical organization,  came up as an issue during the screening process.

Spiro T. Agnew: A Great American

I’ve actually seen a lot of similarities between that ‘68-’74 period and the current political (and economic) environment.  In ‘72 we had a VP candidate who was about as eloquent in his speech as the current Republican VP candidate.   Spiro T. Agnew gave us such great phrases as “nattering nabobs of negativity” and “pseudo intellectuals” (pronounced “sway-dough intellectuals”).  The Alaskan guv is working towards those lofty heights; perhaps another sit-down interview or two and she can achieve parity with Spiro.   Of course ‘72 was the year the  Democratic presidential candidate had to reverse course and change his VP selection after the convention, a move that some have called for from the Republicans this year.    The only things missing are a break-in like the one at the Watergate complex and a campaign committee acronym like CREEP, though the way the Republican’s are going in their smear tactics this past week perhaps they can borrow that one.  Of course we can harken back to how the careers of the two folks on the Republican ticket in ‘72 ended.

In late ‘88 or early ‘89 I heard a radio commentator say (paraphrasing, since I do not remember the exact words): ‘the ranks of the Secret Service just grew by 200 Million.’  It might be odd to some, but the simple statement was a backhanded way of saying that the thought of Dan Quayle becoming President of the U. S. was so frightening that everyone in the country was going to be protecting George H. W. Bush.

After listening to the Alaskan governor speak, and reading more about her, I think that if McCain wins in November that not only will the ranks of the Secret Service have a couple hundred million new volunteer workers but that there will be a large number of medical professionals looking after Mr. McCain’s health on a voluntary basis.  And there will a lot of folks, even non-believers, who will start praying for his well being.

’tis the season as they say.  The calls are going out from teams looking to sign up racers for next year.  The team whose colors I have flown this year is taking applications for ‘committed’ racers for 2009, trying to get folks selected before the uniform orders have to go to the vendor.  It had been my plan and goal to become a ‘committed’ racer for that team next year, but after consideration I will not apply.  The reason is simple:  I am not sure how much I can realistically commit to for next year.  I can walk unaided (no crutch, no cane) now, but barely and not for far.  I can ride on the trainer, but a power meter connected to the bike would show  embarrassingly low numbers.  I can pedal fine sitting down, but as soon as I stand up things grind to a halt as soon as the right leg gets to 12 o’clock; not enough strength in the leg, yet, to push the crank over the top of the stroke.   I suspect it will be another 6-8 weeks, minimum, before I can do any real riding and who knows how much longer before I can do anything resembling ‘training’.  And that means being able to compete is somewhere off past the horizon.

So I will stay ‘uncommitted’.  I will order new uniforms from the club/team, and will race in them when and if I am able.  But I cannot, in good conscience, say I will line up for X number of races next year.

For much of my adult life I have been skeptical of physicians.  It was a skepticism born of familiarity.  My bachelors degree is in Biology from a large University where over 90% of the Biology and Chemistry majors I dealt with regularly were pre-med.  Through the graduate school process, and afterwards as an instructor, I dealt with more of the pre-med and medical school students.  There were some intelligent folks, but then there were a lot who were not so bright, and a few whose ethical compass I found scary.  I am not sure how many of those last two groups got weeded out in the medical school process, but let’s say I am not thrilled to be doing a statistical sampling to find out.

Then there have been my own horror story experiences with doctors.  When I contracted malaria I knew what I had, and I conveyed that to my primary care physician.  The problem is he did not want to believe me and instead chased diagnoses of other exotic diseases (meningitis, encephalitis, and others) all the while failing to order the simple blood test that would determine whether or not I had malaria.  That was close to being a fatal mistake.  Finally my complaining resulted in a new primary care physician being assigned to me and  within hours we had a confirmed diagnosis and treatment started.   Then there is the case of my sensitivity to oats.   I knew something was wrong and I conveyed the physical symptoms to the physician.  He found anomalies in the blood tests,  also, but did not want to consider that it all might be food related.  Many, many tests later, looking for all sorts of exotic causes, the physician more or less gave up and told me to live with it.  So I started my own ‘process of elimination’ food testing and eventually came to discover that oats were the culprit.  As soon as I removed oats from my diet the physical symptoms went away and my blood composition returned to a more ‘normal’ state.

For the last few years I have been trying to put aside my past biases and to work with my physicians.  And that is what I was doing with the orthopedic surgeon in regards to my hip.  I have followed her orders, so far, to the letter.  But now it is time for me to consider going outside those bounds.    I was content until yesterday when I learned that she did not want to give me the extra leash I think I can use.  All I asked for was a referral for Physical Therapy.  I am progressing well, and think that I could use some help to guide my recovery.  But the orthopedic surgeon says no, and that if she decides I should have PT that decision will come after my next visit … 5 weeks from today.  Note that she may still decide against it, and from the tone of her message I take it that is a distinct probability.

So now it is time to go against doctors orders and to see about starting on a physical therapy plan.  A friend who is a DPT suggested the exercise I did in the swimming pool on Monday, and she is coming by tonight to assess my ‘walk’ (as it is) and to determine what I need to work on to get to the goal of walking without aids (crutches/canes/etc.).

There are times to be compliant and follow directions.  And there are times to decide that perhaps there are alternatives.

I tried to call my orthopedic surgeon this morning to plea for a bit more leash. I want to progess a bit faster, and want all the tools I think I need to get there. I am bummed that I cannot walk without the ’stick’, and really want to get the right leg to where it can start paying its own way. But, alas, the message on the machine says that she is making this a 5 day holiday weekend so I will not get any more leash until Tuesday at the earliest.

National RR champion Brooke Miller

I am looking forward to a long weekend near the homestead. Last weekend’s travels to San Ardo and beyond stretched the limits and stressed the body. My backside and legs would start complaining about being stuck in a car seat about every half hour. And the body did not take well to the lack of the trainer time to which it has become accustomed. It took me two days to get the muscles back to where they did not seize up and cramp in the first few minutes on the bike. Monday it was 10 minutes on the trainer, get off and stretch, another 10 minutes, get off and stretch, and so forth. For now I think I will need to keep the recovery days to one at a time, not a duo like last weekend.

Stars and Bars

About the only good thing about last Saturday’s trip to San Ardo was to see a few friends, say hello, then heckle, mostly from the feedzone. An interesting perspective on the races when you get the once-per-hour or so snapshot of the dynamics. The women’s P/1/2 race was interesting; it was easy to spot them coming and see the dynamic as they passed up the hill towards the freeway overpass. First lap it was two out in front with Elis doing her best to bridge across but the field less than 5 seconds behind her. Next lap the newly minted women’s national road race champ, Brooke Miller, was trying to keep her 25m gap off the front. Nothing seemed to be sticking in any field. It was interesting to see Brooke out there; it was only about 6 or 7 years ago that she got her first road bike and would ride up Old La Honda on occasion with our Tuesday morning group. Now she has two national titles to go with her NCAA title.

We did move up to the finish line to watch the last half of the fields finish. Need to gently remind a couple of folks that it ain’t over till you cross the line. Saw a couple of folks drop down in the placings by letting up a couple seconds too soon.

Join the argyle brigade

Maurice modeling his argyles. And his quads.

And I am not talking of Garmin-Chipotle. Young Maurice, who has been slaying a few in crits and on the track this year, has a penchant for the argyle knee high socks. Another pair were on display at San Ardo. Perhaps that should be part of the SJBC kit next year?

Advocacy time

Getting politicians to promote cycling issues does not happen very often. So it is a good thing that San Jose councilperson Sam Liccardo has put forth a proposal to make the city (downtown at least) more bicycle friendly. The problem is, he and his backers did not pass this idea by folks who bicycle regularly and know what works, what does not, and what violates best practices. Their ideal is commendable, now folks need to gently persuade them to alter the proposal, make realistic goals, and enlarge the target area to the whole city rather than just the downtown core.

Life as a partial shut-in is getting increasingly boring. Which leads to not much to say or write. Beth says she is short of things to write about, too, except for her quads and the lobbying efforts to get ‘Keirin cut’ jeans manufactured.  At least she has her quads to write about!  Muscle atrophy resulted in  mine shrinking from an already pathetic 56 cm (same as my top tube length) down to a sub-50cm number.  Now that I am back on the trainer they have grown back to almost 51cm, but not something to shout from the rooftops about.

As bad as it is to be a partial shut-in, this weekend may make me long for more time at home.  The Wife got shamed into doing the San Ardo RR tomorrow, which means an inhuman wake-up time to get ready and drive the 2+ hours south for the race.   Uggh!  After the race we will drive further south for the rest of the weekend, and then the long haul north Sunday afternoon/evening.   Too much time in vehicles, and no time on the trainer or doing other recovery activities.    Don’t get me wrong: I loathe the trainer, but it is a means to an end (getting back strength and flexibility that are needed to walk) while sitting in a car gets me nowhere in terms of my current goals.  I suppose I should block off the next few weekends on the calendar so there are no more last minute surprises.

Now that I am permitted, by the orthopedic surgeon and The Wife, to ride on the trainer I am spending some time each day in the garage.  I am not a big fan of the trainer; if I cannot get out where the wind can blow through the helmet vents then I prefer to use the rollers.  But for now that is not an option.

The first task was figuring how to get on the bike, since I cannot just ‘throw’ a leg over the top tube.  The first couple of days were tricky, but I have picked up enough flexibility that I can stand on the left pedal and slip the right leg around the back and over the saddle to mount.  The first session was 15 minutes, and I was not sure I would last.  A lot of tightness and pain behind the right knee and some slight pain at the hip as the right knee is lifted in the stroke.  At first it was all sitting straight up, no bending forward.

I have increased the time on trainer by 5 minutes per session.   A couple more days and  I will hit the one hour mark.  Phew!  There is less pain now, and there is more flexibility each day.  I can now rest my hands on the top of the bars for the most part.  I am nowhere near ready to get to the hoods yet, much less the drops.  And I cannot stand and pedal.  Baby steps, but there are signs of progress.   One of the issues after reaching 30 minutes is that the neighbors do not provide sufficient entertainment to overcome the mind (and butt) numbing effects of the trainer.  I now use the iPod, but that might not be enough once I go past an hour.  Perhaps I will need to mount a TV on the garage wall(?).

The neighbor to our east has a large walnut tree in their side yard next to our property line. It provides some nice shade, but it is a pain and adds a lot of additional work for me. In the early winter I have to trim it back so it is not sitting on our roof or hanging too low over the side-yard. In the spring it flowers, pouring vast quantities of pollen into the air and triggering weeks of bad allergies for both The Wife and myself. Then all the flowers drop, creating a large mess to clean up, including out of the rain gutters which they tend to block. After that there is about three months in which the tree is a great neighbor.   The lasts until the walnuts are ripe adding another mess, and an infestation of small moths that seem to grow up in the walnut tree or walnuts. And finally in the fall we have all the leaves to deal with, and that includes more work on keeping the rain gutters clean.

The walnuts seem to be ‘ripe’ around late July into mid-August. We are near the end of that period now, a period when it is difficult to go into that side yard and during which we get pre-dawn wake up calls from those who feast on the bounty of the walnut tree. The Wife complains that the racket starts way too early most mornings these days. By 5:15 AM or so there may be 2, 3, or 4 squirrels in the tree cracking open walnuts right outside our bedroom window, and dropping quite a few on the roof. Soon the cacophony of Chickadees starts; they come to eat whatever insects are feeding on the tree or the nuts. Occasionally one of the neighborhood feral cats will come to try to get a squirrel, which leads to an all out symphony of warning notices. The pile of walnut shells grows on that side of the house until the weekly visit of the gardeners. By the time they got here last Saturday the debris was probably about a half-inch deep all along that side, making it difficult to get into the side entry into the garage.

Working from home this summer I have been witness to more of the action than normal. As I sit in the back office I can often see two or more squirrels running around the yard or cavorting in the privet trees. I see them digging a lot in the gardens and wonder how many volunteer walnut trees might spring up next year. I have not seen any walnut seedlings yet, but we do have three volunteer oak seedlings in the yard which I presume are the after-effect of squirrel nut hording behaviour.

The local squirrels have feasted so much for the past three weeks that they are looking a bit thick. Perhaps we need to add some exercise facilities. Or perhaps enjoy some squirrel fricassee with a nice salad garnished with walnut bits.

Even though I am working from home, the boss has been cracking the whip so I have not been able to digress into working on other things.  At least for the most part.  I had thought I could use some of this time to do a complete redesign of this blog, but that is not going to happen.  I had wanted to for a while, but then got the swift kick in the behind when Sabine unveiled her sweet new site.  So, though I do not have the time to go full bore, I used Tuesday night (while The Wife was away) to slide in a new WordPress theme and dress it up a little.  Hey, this one even uses gravatars on the comment pages!  Still lame, but better.

With lots of time to think, rather than ride, work on the house, or work in the yard, lots of random stuff tends to zip around through the cerebral synapses. Of course the question remains how much will be remembered once the bones, tendons, ligaments, and skin have finished healing.

One thread in the milieu of thoughts has been of goals, short-term and long-term. The accident has had a great impact on many short-term goals and objectives. All remaining racing related goals for the year were immediately pushed into the mental bin marked ‘unattainable’, at least for this year. Who knows about next year. The Wife and I had a goal of doing some riding outside the US this year and had been planning on some MTB riding in South America to meet that goal. That, too, was swept into the ‘unattainable’ bin. Many more things will be pushed off this year’s calendar or seriously delayed. What comes back onto the calendar for next year remains to be seen and will be determined, in part, by how well the recovery is coming but also, in part, by considering and weighing the risk factors.

The long term goal thread has been dominated by concern about how accidents like this might impact what I want to do in the future. At some point in time, probably at the time I drop out of the day-to-day workforce, I want to take a few months and just meander across the country sampling a bit of the craziness that exists in this nation. Might want to try a couple of others, too. But to do so I must be healthy enough and able to physically stand the daily grind of pedaling many tens of miles. Got some other long term goals on the mind, too, and in general I need to be healthy to meet them.

So now I am sitting here with some work stuff cranking and waiting to finish so I am musing on how to balance staying active, doing what I would like to do, but staying healthy enough to continue to work towards what I want to achieve both now and down the (cronological) road. No answers at time, just part of what ye olde brain is trying to sort out at the moment.