I drove up to Steamboat yesterday and got there just in time to miss a day of rain. I showed up at Kent Eriksen Cycles just in time to suit up and go for a great ride up the river. I’m still kind of shell-shocked about my upper trochanter hurtin’. The lack of sleep is getting bad again.

Anyway, I love to ride, but would not ride some if I thought that the thing would heal faster. I have had contact with my surgeon, plus Stacie, and now Eric Heiden. They all assure me that this isn’t an issue, but I have a hard time understanding why it wouldn’t be. My abductors muscle connects to the top of this bone and I can’t see how it didn’t rip the top of this bone off and if that is the case, why the use of the muscle wouldn’t make it nearly impossible for the thing to attach. I guess I have to believe what I hear, but it is challenging for me.

Anyway, it is approaching noon. I woke up this morning after an all night rain here in Steamboat. Kent lives up in the woods by the hot springs here in Steamboat. He works until super late, like after 1 am, but was up at 8 this morning when I got up. I didn’t sleep much between 2 and 5, so I thought 8 was late.

I like hanging out in the morning with Kent. We don’t get to talk so much, so it’s nice. He was a little worried about the rain and some beaver ponds he has down below his land. So, we loaded up Bromont and headed down to the Beaver ponds with shovels. I never imagined that would be a task for this morning.

It was a little more of a massive project than I had anticipated. I’m limping around, at best, so was sort of worried about helping much. Kent got down in the pond as we dug a spillway off the end of the lower pond. Last week it was 4 feet from the top of the dam and today it was overflowing. Kent has a million projects going on here, all at once. He needs a full-time guy around here doing the odd jobs.

Anyway, Bromont got to romp around in the woods for an hour while we worked. I only have one pair of shoes with me, since I drove the Insight and can’t really walk much. They are toast now, which is alright. It is so strange not worrying about getting sick or repercussions of things I would normally stress about while I’m racing. Strange in a nice way.

I’m heading down to town soon to eat lunch with the crew that work at the shop. Katie’s mom makes lunch for all the guys everyday, so the set an extra place setting for me. Bromont is completely wiped out from chasing ducks and running around, so he’ll be fine sleeping all afternoon. It is supposed to rain all day, so looks like it will be an inside day.

Having some morning coffee with Kent. The phone rings pretty constant in the morning.

A new pole barn Kent built recently. Not completely done yet.

Kent doing a temporary fix, lining our spillway with plastic.

Bromont getting led around by a mother duck.

All wet and happy.