Yearly Archives: 2016

A Bit of Solitude

This entry was posted in Just Life on by .

I didn’t do a post yesterday.  That is very unlike me.  Mainly the reason was that I was out of time.  The other reason was that I feel a little mentally exhausted.  That might not be the right description, but it is something like that.

Since I hurt my head, things have been a lot screwy.  Very unfamiliar.  It is really hard to explain, but I think there are layers of issues and when you think you’ve conquered one, another one is just there.  It is like there are layers and you don’t get to see what is underneath except when you peel one back.

First, it was crazy headaches.  That was pretty awful.  That probably only last 5 weeks or so.  I think the lack of sleep was exacerbating that issue.  Or maybe that was the reason for lack of sleep.  It really doesn’t matter because it just was.  I sleep way better now and am trying to make  a point of doing it more and more.

Then the real spinning problems.   I guess it is called vertigo.  That makes for the day after you sleep really good pretty bad.  Once you spin a couple times, then you get sick at your stomach and then that lasts the rest of the day, so that day is gone.  I don’t get them so bad now.  I still spin, but not like before.  I think I just get dizzy now and my eyes don’t go into this weird fluttering, called nystagmus.  Nystagmus leaves you feeling like you were seasick or drank way too much and were about to get sick.  It isn’t good and it doesn’t really happen anymore.  But the dizziness still is around, but just not as severe.

Anyway, recently, I’ve noticed that I get mentally tired after conversing for longer than an hour.  I talked to my doctor and she said it was neurofatigue.   I think she is right.  It isn’t that bad, but it is debilitating.  I didn’t notice it for such a long time.  I think that is because the other stuff was way worse.

I don’t have it as badly as some people that hit their heads.  And I know how to fix it, sort of.  Sleep doesn’t help.  I need to do something else, like walk, or rake leaves or anything that is a “no-brainer”.    This allows me to get back to thinking at a better speed.

My doctor says sometimes this doesn’t get fixed.  That it is around the rest of people’s lives.  I hope that isn’t the case.  I’m just a little over 2 months out and am optimistic about a full recovery.  She also said that she doesn’t think that I’m going to be one of those people, which is good.

Anyway, taking all this into account, I decided to not go up to Cable, as I normally do between Christmas and New Years.  I can’t really ski.  Or snow shoe.  I could probably do both, but I’m trying to be patient, thus slow in this recovery.   Plus, I’m having a hard time staying warm.  I guess your temperature gauge can go a little wonky when you hit your head.  I hope that means I have better heat tolerance this summer.  Then, the neurofatigue thing, which would be pretty bad there at this time of the year.

I’m gonna miss seeing everyone.   Tomorrow is the double birkie ski that I have been doing for over 20 years.   Plus, New Year’s out on the Cedar Ridge.  There is always next year.  I might head up there soon when it has gotten a tad more quiet.  This week is the “most crowded”.

My friend Vincent needed a dog sitter for a week, so I flew out to Denver yesterday and am taking care of Nick and Jack.  I love them both, so it is super easy.   Last night I slept nearly 9 hours.  They needed to go out at 6:30, but just to pee.  They both came back in and slept with me until 8.  If I can get in a few more days like this, maybe I’ll peel back another layer and see what it holds.

I went for a bike ride on Christmas Day. I wasn’t planning on it because I thought the roads were going to be too slick. No so.

Heading out.

This is on Sheridan Drive, North of Evanston.

It was windy and Lake Michigan was uninviting.

Jack, Nick and Tucker this summer.

Nick and Jack at the dog park yesterday evening.

With Trudi’s nieces and newphews Christmas Day. Parker, Alec, Hannah, and Madeline. Park is with Trudi, heading to Cable today.

 

Will 60 Minutes Expose it as Real – Mechanical Doping

This entry was posted in Comments about Cycling on by .

There is an article over at Cyclingnews that says that CBS’s 60 Minutes is going to air a segment on mechanical doping on January 29.  That is exactly a month.  Do you think that if 60 Minutes makes a valid argument, or even better yet, exposes the use of mechanical doping for the past decade, it would change the way us Americans think about it?

I’ve usually always agreed with what 60 Minutes covers.  It all seem pertinent.  It is the Sunday evening program, after the football games, that seems to try to expose unfairness throughout society.  They call themselves a “newsmagazine”, which is appropriate, I guess.   They started in 1968, so nearly 50 years ago.  That is crazy.

60 Minutes has already done a ton of stuff on Lance and his issue.  They did an exclusive segment with Tyler Hamilton that was revealing, sort of.  This is going to different.

If 60 minutes is going to air a segment on mechanical doping in the sport of cycling, then there have to be some riders that are shitting themselves right about now.  I assume they will name a rider, or multiple riders, that have had the advantage of this.  Since they “caught” Femke Van den Driessche, the only person, as far as I know, of potential trying to use mechanical doping in cyclocross, obviously it does exist.

Greg (Lemond) has been talking about it for sometime now.  He says it exists and has been used in the peloton.  I have no reason to doubt him.

I think a 60 Minutes show on it will go way more in depth that anything the cycling media has covered on the subject.  They have rarely made mistakes in their reporting and thus, hardly ever have to retract something that isn’t true.  I assume they did their research during the covering of this subject.

So, we have a month to wait.  I did a post about the revealing of mechanical doping a couple weeks ago and in that article, the “inventor” of mechanical doping, Istvan Varjas, said that a major television show was going to cover it.  I’d alway thought it would be a European television show. Never did I think it might be 60 Minutes.  This should be interesting.