Yearly Archives: 2013

Heading to Lousiville for Surgery

This entry was posted in Just Life on by .

I was so busy yesterday that I didn’t even post anything here. It is pretty unusual for me not to put at least to write something down. I figured I had one day left to use my thumb at home for the next 6-8 weeks, so I might as well do something that involves the thumb seriously. And that was working on my van.

The van hasn’t been starting quickly for the last few months and since it is going to be getting colder out soon, it will start slower. Since it is diesel, the van has two huge batteries to turn over the high compression cylinders. And since it is a van, not a pickup, everything under the hood is jammed in there, so they put the batteries up under the right side, by the double doors. There are very, very hard to access. Especially since my van has aftermarket running boards and the brackets interfere with the whole process.

Anyway, after spending most of the morning and afternoon on the project, I finished it. I can’t say that working on a car, on my back, is something that my shoulder PT has prepared me for. Plus, my thumb is next to valueless, so that makes it just that much more difficult. I really couldn’t use hardly any pneumatic tools to access the tight spaces, so that was a drag.

I’m packing up and heading to Louisville Kentucky this morning. I have 3 doctor’s appointments tomorrow and then the surgery on Thursday. My friend, Stacie sent up the whole thing. She’s not a hand surgeon, but knows a really good one there. I really am tired with this whole medical involvement this year, so I went with it. She’s really on top of things, so I’m in good hands. She even has me seeing a special cast/split maker that will help make it so that I can ride while my thumb is immobilized.

It’s a 600 mile drive to Louisville. I like the town, but not the drive. I-70 in Missouri from Kansas City to St. Louis is always crowded nowadays. They need to make it 3 lanes in each direction, but that would cost a gazillion dollars and take years.

Okay, I guess I need to get packing. Seems like I’m continuously packing and unpacking nowadays. I guess I’ve been doing that for a long time, practically my whole life, but this packing and unpacking doesn’t seem as rewarding for some reason. Better work on changing that.

The batteries are in these boxes that are mounting up on the floor, mid way back.

The batteries are in these boxes that are mounting up on the floor, mid way back.

Finally out.

Finally out.

Mess in the driveway.

Mess in the driveway.

World Time Trial Championships

This entry was posted in Racing on by .

Today is the Elite Men’s Worlds for Time Trialing. So far, the United States has had some pretty great results. We’ve finished on the podium twice, with Carmen Small 3rd place in the women’s race and Zeke Mostov, 3rd place in the juniors. And Lawson Craddock had a pretty unbelievable ride finishing 5th in the U23 after crashing. He tweeted something about being good with 5th, even after crashing on the “straightest road in Italy.”

I normally wouldn’t call watching time trialing exciting. But with the results from the Team Time Trial being within a second, with Omega barely getting by GreenEdge and then Carmen Small beating her US team mate, Evelyn Stevens by .04 seconds to take the bronze medal in the Elite women’s race, it has been nail biters.

Bradley Wiggins was being the goof ball that he is and is saying that if he happens to win the race today that it will be the biggest victory of his career. I wonder if he forgot that he won the Olympic Games, just a year ago in the time trial. Man, the guy is completely mental. He must feel an unbelievable amount of pressure.

Bradley goes on to compare time trialing to getting a tatoo. “Everyone has different ways of dealing with [riding for more than an hour]; that’s what defines you as a time trialist. You can get into your own little world, you need to be able to deflect the pain,” Wiggins said. “I told Alex [Dowsett, British teammate], it feels like having a tattoo, it hurts for the first 10 minutes, but after awhile you don’t feel it. You get to a different state. It’s only when you finish, you cross the line, that you realize how much pain you’re in.”

I leave that for you to judge.

Anyway, the Elite men’s race today is going to be great. There are some many guys that could finish on the podium that it is going to be hard picking. Here’s my picks in order – Cancellara. Martin. Wiggins. Phinney. Porte. Pinotti.

Lawson's tweet from the day before the Worlds.

Lawson’s tweet from the day before the Worlds.

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