Pista #RBVCA2013 from Valparaiso Cerro Abajo on Vimeo.

I was going to just skip posting something today, but haven’t done that for ages, so here it is. I’m kind of down and out. I contracted some kind of sinus funk and on top of this shoulder thing, I’m feeling generally blah, or worse. I had thought a couple week ago that if I spend two plus hours in a hospital everyday, that there would be a super high chance that I’d get sick. I wonder why I’m surprised and disappointed that it occurred? If I can keep it from going into my lungs then I’ll call it a success.

I was supposed to be having hand surgery right now in the Vail Surgical Center in Edwards. I went and saw a hand specialist and he said he can fix this chronic problem I’ve been having riding in less than 10 minutes and there would be a 90 something % that it would be successful. Then late yesterday afternoon, the financial people from the surgical center and doctor called and said they were having an issue with my insurance. I’m going to do a whole post, probably more, on the whole thing, but I decided to cancel the operation because of the financial exposure that I might have. Might have is because my insurance won’t say how much they will pay for the procedure until the procedure is completed. And there is a very high probability that my insurance might pay as little as 25% of the cost. I’m wondering and worrying why I didn’t go through any of this for the shoulder thing. Both the doctor and surgical center needed me to pay up front for the procedures and then have me submit the receipts to my insurance. It was going to be over $6000, which I’ll address later too.

The Burton US Open snowboarding competition is starting today in Vail. They have built these unbelievable huge jumps and a half pipe. They have made so much snow for this that my PT, Brooke, said yesterday that the rumor around Vail is that if it gets really warm early this spring, the locals think that the houses below the huge snow structures are going to be flooded. I don’t know about that, but it is massive. I’m going to try to make my way over there the next couple days and catch some of the competition. I don’t know the exact schedule, but I think the half pipe finals are on Saturday.

I’m not sure if I’ll be in Colorado on Saturday. I have my two week follow up appointment with the shoulder surgeon tomorrow and after that I’m hoping that I can get a more aggressive PT routine prescribed and head back to Kansas and do it there.

We’ve been shoveling the driveway here virtually everyday. It seems to snow just a couple inches , usually at night. Not enough for a plow to clear, but enough that it needs to be removed. I like the small amount of exercise, so I like doing it. My left arm is not getting any more coordinated, but the muscles are growing nearly as fast as my right arm is shrinking. The sun is so intense, that if you expose the dark asphalt early, the snow melts super quick and the whole thing is bone dry by mid afternoon. I like that about Colorado.

It has been okay staying here for two weeks, but I’m pretty sure I couldn’t live here all winter. The winter is way too long and constant. And the whole summit county area really is geared completely towards tourism, especially in the winter. That is not my favorite type of industry for a full year living area. It is beautiful and there is a ton to do, if you have use of all your body parts, but the winter is so long here that I’d have to change my lifestyle to accommodate and I’m not to that point as of now.

These photos are taken from driving on I-70, not close at all to the venue.

It is nearly impossible to show how huge the jumps are.