Simple post today. Iola is in the books.

Shane and Maja both raced, Shane getting a 3rd and his Maja getting a 4th place finish. I finished well and felt good. A little tightness in the shoulder, but otherwise good. Gonna pre-ride Geneva to see how I take a more technical course. My other arm hurts worse now .. I think due to my left having to do the bulk of the things the right can’t or couldn’t. Oh well, someday. Jeff S did well as did John K. Randy A made an appearance, while not his best, he has been off the bike for a quite a while. He wasn’t DFL so that is a good thing for him  

Now I am off to do the lawn work and other crap that goes with spring. Will try to catch a ride later.

Finally got it all put together and will take it out for maiden voyage tomorrow. Gotta get the kinx out cuz it is gonna race on Sunday at Iola. Wooooot!
Salsa Dos Niner frame
Reba Race with poploc
Disc-0-flea wheelset (thanks Russell)
Hayes Trail Carbon brakes (Thanks Lenny and the Hayes group!)
Answer Pro Taper OS bars (Hayes strikes again!)
Easton EA70 Stem
Salsa Shaft seatpost
Xt cranks, Shifters
Xtr Derrailleurs
Aztec Powerlines shift cable set
Salsa Pepperjack Grips
WTB SLT saddle (test ride, but hey! I’m cheap at heart!)

See ya at Iola!

LOL, I had too much fun today. I decided (while my wife told me I was nutz) that I would go for a ride this morning and get it done before the heavy weatyher got here. Ya know, the weather guessers were calling for T-Storms, but not til later in the morning. Against my wife’s lofty opinion of the merits of my ride, I left. I made it about 3 miles in and … rain. I thought, “hey! This isn’t so bad. I’ll keep going.”

It started to rain a little harder. hmmm. I am now about half way to nowhere. Kinda where I wanted to be, minus the now increasing rain. I decide maybe I should turn for home, but then I somehow get my tire turned towards, and proceed to get stuck on sto0pid. I just thought a quick trip around the Kettles wouldn’t be so bad. LOL. This is about the time the thunder started. Well, that and me cussing the weather idjits. I did find that the rumble of closing thunder really helped me pick up my pace. I pretended it was Bubba and Hauser chasing me down. It didn’t work too well after a few cuz a.) I like them and b.) I wasn’t liking how insistent the thunder was getting. I put on a good pace, got my a** home and took off about 18.5 pounds of clothes (2 gallons water = 16.6 lbs and about 2 lbs for the kit dry weight)

I then went and checked radar cuz it was crack-a-lackin reaaallll goood by now.

hmmm, mebbe I wasn’t too bryte going fer a ryde?

I live by the tip of the arrow … made it just in time

Off I go again today. 11 of us from around SE Wisconsin have begged and borrowed our way into a ton of medical supplies, packed our bags and are now ready to head back to Haiti to try to help and ease some of the suffering occurring there daily.
     Tomorrow, we will land in Port au Prince where our first stop will be at an orphanage. We will do a mini clinic there … each kid will get dewormed, then flouride treatment and new toothbrushes/toothpaste and taught how to use them. They will all be treated for scabies, malaria and a host of other parasitic crap that infects these people constantly. Then we are off for a 6 hour ride into the nether regions of the southwest peninsula to Basin Cayma. It is a small remote village in an area that rarely receives medical attention and has minimal services within 2 hours travel. That is 2 hours travel for us … for them it can easily mean a 2 day walk to get out for a Dr or Hospital. We will be setting up a temp clinic there to work out of for the next 6 days. I will post some pics and stories on our return. This year, we are going to try “flying” in country on their local air service when we come back out. That should be interesting       (last year’s trip posts)

peace

… and it really was tough cuz it was sunny and 63 degrees today and we were forced to put up with watching all these pro guys speeding by us. We cheered really really loud but they didn’t give us the fan of the day award. Dang!

Oh well. We thought of our missing compadre while having two wheeled celebs like Levi ride within 10 feet of us. at 35 mph. really fast. woosh. Too bad you weren’t here. LOL

Toodles

but he better step off away from my new bike!

Ok, so it isn’t my new bike, but still pretty sweet. Click the pic and read on…

I have finally started to get the new wheels put together for the ‘08 season. Gonna be a mish mosh of quality stuph. I got the new brakes (Hayes Stroker Trail Carbon) and some sweet bars (Answer Pro Taper Carbon OS) and some new wheels for the 29 inch beast soon to be born.

I must say, Sun Ringle seems to have the best customer service there is. Heck, some guy named Russell even got someone to spell the big words and wrote out the packing slip by hand. It also seems he is somewhat of a prognosticator as well. He seems to think these wheels will make me fast. Along the way to penning the receipt (which is certainly more valuable than the contents themselves) he also coined a new moniker for the Disc O Flea wheels he so lovingly created - “Hauser Hurter“.
I’m not sure about which one is which though, cuz he also said he sent me a “Bubba Beater” so that leads me to an obvious conclusion: Which wheel is the “Hauser Hurter” and which is the “Bubba Beater“?

before you get any crazy ideas, These terms are clearly trademarked  ® So don’t go rippin’ em off.

vroooom!

No, not feeling ill with fever, but ready-to-get-back-on-a-bike fever. Yesterday, Billy and I went to Mad city for the 17th Annual Cronometro Bike Swap where we wandered and browsed for all things bicycling. Spotted many deals, missed a few but generally came home with some goodies, if not needed, certainly well appreciated. Shane got his first pair of “real” bikes shoes. He will go clipless this year. Look out Dakota! Maja got a brand-spankin used pair of Forté Ergo Carbon bar ends and I got another light set. Planet bike Alias (new) for the low low price of 50 dolares. Now I am set for 24/9 with plenty of wattage, Shane is set to use the full circle and Maja is ready to put some power down on the bars. TehBossLady is getting better, but resigned to the probability she will not be riding this year. Gotta see how her rehab goes. I am working on getting her to the computer to thank everyone herself for their thoughts. She just isn’t a compugeek.

We both thank you truly for all your calls, best wishes and prayers. They DO make a difference.

peace

You all know the crap I’ve been going thru with my arm. It is getting better, and as of my last eval I may return to full duty in about 6 more weeks. I have some strength issues related to lifting my arm to the front (picture lifting a basketball overhead, or an uppercut move with arm) I can’t raise it above my eye level without help or cheating by swinging out my elbow. My doc says it is due to the biceps tendon having been removed. I ache now, not really pain anymore. I have a pretty constant ache and only get my ass handed to me when I lift too much or do a wrong move.
Sounds good, so why am I crying?
Cuz just when shit seems to get better, Karma comes screaming back at my family and slaps me square in the nuts. My wife, Connie (aka TheBossLady) was walking out our door Wednesday the 26th, to go to work, when she slipped on the frost on our deck. She does about 40 peely skid marks ala Wile E Coyote, goes down and lays there, screams in pain. I go out, and she tells me she thinks she broke her ankle and hit her knee, too. I look at her ankle, no real swelling going on. I look at her knee same thing. She has a couple scrapes on her elbows but is otherwise OK. Now she has layed there for a few and I tell her we gotta get in the house cuz it’s too friggin cold to lay on the driveway. My weaktit self can’t help too much cuz I had just got home from rehab, so my arm is already spent, but we manage to get in the back door. Now she is complaining of her knee that it won’t bend. Ankle hurts but is not so bad anymore.
I do a thorough check when we get her in and the pain subsides somewhat. I check her knee and tell her it is either broken (tibial or patellar fx) or maybe a LCL or ACL injury. I can touch the tendons and ligaments without too much complaint, but to touch the ( not to be technical) bumps on the outside of the knee was very painful so most likely a high tibial fracture. Those are not good. Well, I was unable to help her get up by myself and she certainly was unable to bear any weight or straighten the leg on her own. We had to call an ambulance. Fortunately I know one of the paramedics working that day and they come over and pull in my drive with no lights and siren. Our kids were still in bed. The Meds came in and took care and gave pain meds -Dilaudid (she was a 8/10 at this point), thankfully Wisconsin allows paramedics to do this prehospital. She goes to the ED and they confirm it is a fracture of the tibia, most likely in the tibial plateau. That is the area on the top of tibia that the femur hinges upon and is normally smoothly round and cupped. She broke the bearing surface. CT scans were done and we saw the Ortho yesterday. She had to go in today for immediate repair. The CT confirmed a comminuted, depressed (5-7mm) fracture of the left lateral tibial plateau ( http://orthopedics.about.com/od/brokenbones/ss/tibialplateau.htm )
crap!
We are looking at 10 weeks minimum where she will not be able to put any weight on her leg. Her job has already ([sarcasm]God bless them[/sarcasm]) told her they have no ability to put her on light duty, so we’re fooked there for income the next three months. She can’t walk so it really is gonna be a bitch to run our house with 2 kids and a grandbaby we take care of 3 days a week. My mom and her mom are talking about coming and staying with us to help out. That will be nice if they can. I went shopping today for all the handicap crap we have to have now … grab rails for bathrooms, tub chair and non slip base for shower and a roller chair so she can get around the house more easily. She can’t use crutches cuz she already has an effed up shoulder injury. Her surgeon is going to give her a cortisone shot and hope it helps. He thinks she has bursitis although she has a history of frozen shoulder.
Ahhhh, ok. I’m better now. I am at home on vacation. All my buddies are busy with family travels for Xmas and work is an hour away. I needed to let out my last two days somewhere.
Tag! You’re it.
peace

*EDIT* I just got home from the hospital … Connie is sleeping finally and kinda snowed from Morphine and nerve blocks. If all goes well, I can bring her home tomorrow. The surgery went well and barring any further injury should heal well. Later … I gotta get some sleep …
jon

Thanks for all the phone calls, and prayers. I am sure they help.

Well, I did not get that official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model BB rifle with a compass in the stock. We watched our fam’s fav Xmas story at least a half dozen times. I did, however get some really cool stuff for biking, playtime, and general foolin around the yard and house. The kids were busy shredding paper and flying from one new toy to the next. My grandaughter gave it her best shot to taste all the wrappings and ribbons, she would tear it from the gift, then eat it. Man, you’d think after 7 months she’d have it all figured out! We were all too pooped to eat the planned (and cooked) Turkey dinner, so it was ham sammies for tonight. Phew! Gave the old gastric channels a rest! Tomorrow, we’ll make short work of the ridge-runner. Now is the time to relax after running hither and thither, will and nilly. Tomorrow, it is clean up the house day! WOOHOO!

Merry Christmas!