Steve Tilford

It is funny how fast weeks are going this Fall. I’m not sure why that is, but it is, at least for me. This week has went fast, even though I was draggin’.

I’m heading back to the doctor this morning at 9 am. On Wednesday, he sucked a big syringe of goopy mess out of my knee and now I’m eating a handful of antibiotics every 6 hours. I think my knee felt better this morning, but I still don’t get what happened. Whatever it is, I don’t like it. I haven’t ridden since Tuesday.

Actually, I haven’t been riding that much this past month. I don’t think I’ve had much over a 200 mile week the last 4 weeks. Some of that is because I’ve been riding cross and MTB, but my hours are way down too.

After seeing the knee guy, I’m going to call a GP and try to see him. I haven’t been feeling very well since way before Chequamegon, so that is a couple months I thought it would just pass, but it hasn’t and it’s been way too long for that. I don’t have a regular doctor, so I need to get one.

Yesterday I did a bunch of auto repair. I’m pretty good at it. At least sometimes. I guess it is just putting in the time and having a good attitude. You figure they had to have put it together some way, so there is a way to take it apart. Sometimes I wonder what the engineers were thinking when they designed certain cars/engines. I wonder if they took repair accessibility into consideration at all. The Internet is awesome for pointers.

I was replacing the filler neck of Dennis’ pickup truck. I had just filled it up with gas and then got the part in the mail. It was totally rusted, so I had to drill the screws out to remove it. Then I proceeded to spill a 1/2 gallon of gasoline on myself while trying to loosen the hose clamps and install the new part. I have never had much problem with gas, but for some reason, the stuff was kind of burning my skin and when I looked at it, the skin was whitish. I took off my clothing and headed to the shower pretty quickly. I still smell like gas this morning, so I guess it permeated my skin.

I got lucky and loosened all the bolts to the power steering pump on the same car. I don’t have the pump, but am picking one up after seeing the doctor. I say I’m good at auto repair, but I’m not that good at diagnosis. At least good enough to be sure that I’m not wasting my time and money doing this. I’m pretty sure it is the pump, but probably only 70% sure. Guess it will be a little surprise.

Yesterday I also took a bunch of brake rotors to the recycling place. I’m not sure how many I had, but they weighed a little over 300 lbs. I guess I’ve done a lot of brake work the last 6 months or so. I got $12.75 for them. I got a better rate for cast iron, $85 a ton, compared to $65 for normal metal. Those recycling places are a trip. It is amazing what is there and the machinery moving the metal around. Something out of a sci-fi movie.

There are two cross races this weekend in Lawrence, but I’m not going to be able to race. For sure. Catherine texted me that she is going to race, so I’ll probably go help her. Hopefully, the doctor will give me the go-ahead to ride some. I think I could probably bend my knee enough to pedal. It was hurting pretty good yesterday, but like I said, today it seems a little better.

Okay, I better get going. I hate these semi-early morning appointments.

Gas filler neck I replaced. How rusted was this? I’m surprised any gasoline wen into the tank at all.

New filler neck. And a steering shaft piece I’m putting in later today.

I’m also changing the power steering pump. I have all the bolts loose. Just need to go get a new pump and then change it.

Pile of brake rotors I took to recycle yesterday. I guess I’d been stocking them up for a while.

Craziness at the recycling place.

Cash for rotors.

We took a bunch of old helmets over to the Bicycle Coalition last night. They can use just about anything extra cycling related.

Hi guys. I finally opened my computer to try to write a post, so bare with me. I’m not so cognizant for very long periods, so I kind of loose focus, or thought process pretty easily right now.

It’s been 8 days since I crashed and smashed my skull. I can’t seem to understand if it has only been a day or two or a month. It has been neither, but the time is moving so slowly, even though I don’t remember a lot of it.

I haven’t really talked to Jack or Kris,, the two guys that didn’t fall with Bill and I, so I’m not exactly sure what happened. I know I hit a dog and then Bill ran into me from behind. We were towards the end of an evening training ride, so were going pretty quickly, over 30 mph. I don’t think I hit the brakes at all, so I guess all my forward speed was transferred to the ground. I don’t remember anything. I do remember asking Bill if he was okay when we were in the ambulance, going to the hospital, but I don’t remember what he said back.

I was in intensive care for the first day or two and don’t have any recollection of that either. Stacie, my friend and an orthopedic surgeon, from Louisville, got on a plane and flew to Topeka. She slept in my room with me for two days and was really the biggest part of me improving quickly, even though to me, it seems, I’m still at square one.

My skull if pretty fractured. I have taken a bunch of CAT scans and am not really sure exactly where it is broken. I know my skull is fracture on the top, but again behind the right ear. So, the pressure in my head if really high, thus, pretty crazy headaches continually. I’ve never experienced headaches like this. It is barely survivable.

I was in the hospital until Tuesday or Wednesday, I’m not sure. Bill was there for 3 days. He broke a bunch of ribs and collapsed his lung, which needed to be reinflated. He came by and visited when he was leaving.

I didn’t really sleep or eat in the hospital. I think I ate a bowl of oatmeal, some mashed potatoes, and that was it for 5 days. I was sleeping maybe an hour a night. These super sharp headaches pretty much limited any chance of sleeping at all.

I was home for a day and then had to go back to the emergency room again. I spend 1/2 a day at the hospital, more CAT scans, blood tests, etc. I was doing alright, I guess. The pressure is acceptable and headaches are about the same. I went to the ear, nose, and throat doctor yesterday and he said that I have a bunch of blood behind my eardrums, that should leave as the swelling goes away. I pretty much can’t hear at all out of my left ear, some out of my right.

I’ve been sleeping a couple hours a night the last two nights. I have over 700 emails, which I can’t really read. My right eye is really cloudy, from back pressure, so I’m waiting for that to work a bit better before trying to answer the email. I had a flight to go out to LA this weekend to hang with my friend Seth Davidson, who is doing the South Bay Cycling Awards tonight. I’m bumming I’m missing that. Plus, Berryman MTB Epic is going on right now South of St. Louis. It’s a bad time to be out of commission.

Okay, that is about it from here. Supposedly I can’t ride my bike for over 4 weeks. It was originally 8 weeks, but I negotiated it in half. We’ll see how how that goes. I can barely walk, I’m really wobbly. This might be slow going for a while.