Because I haven't been able to handle the suck-factor of saying over and over and over and over: "Thanks for asking, but no, I'm sorry I can't go ride/run/play/etc w/you today either because....knee...old....no there's nothing docs can do....patellar...osteo...broken bone-chips....blah blah blah", I've pretty much gone off the social grid for a while. Saying it over and over doesn't exactly reinforce optimism so I opted to just not be faced w/having to answer everyone's questions , although I really do know you/they all mean well).
So, yeah yeah yeah, all is fine, and at the end of the day, it's a grand old world out there and maybe sometimes better appreciated at a slow speed (boring! ha!). I've got some awesome friends and family and I couldn't be better blessed/lucky in that department!!
Thanks for the invites and don't give up on me....I plan to join in again soon! Life is good! 61+ years to go still!
So, same ol same ol....ol knee is really no better/worse than 1 week before/after surgery. $30K wasted and humility gained. I've accepted laying off certain activities for a while, and I've been able to incorporate some hiking, some decent riding miles although mainly road (new roadbike!), the canals and fireroads and a few miles of singletrack here and there. No real singletrack, definitely no descending. And every few days, there've been some short "runs". I definitely miss running the most...the freedom, the speed, the simplicity and definitely the runner's bod (and the nightly cookies)! :)
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| Shonny & Wild Horses @ Salt River |
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| Donkey |
Some canal riding down in the valley....still amazes me that this is so close to Urbania.
Schilling leading the way on a lil exploratory ride.
Hiking "Hangover" w/Turner dog and his mama Timoni.
GET STRONGER / FIX YO'SELF (PSA) . . .
Also, have been working on LOTS of work on STRENGTH/MOBILITY - the other reason for this post. If you're my family reading this (or even some blog-cruiser), listen up....
Over the past few years, I kept thinking, I run I ride I climb blah blah blah why in the heck would I need to touch weights and gain strength?! I'm already strong!! Why? ...well because I most likely could've avoided -- or at least postponed -- a lot of the permanent damage in my knees.
As triathletes/runners/cyclists, we hear this all the time, but most of us or like "whatever...won't happen to me, I'm invincible! I'm strong! I'm a bad-ass!" And sometimes WE need it most, because we're always only moving in one direction...forward! Our lateral mobility, our core strength, dynamic strength, etc is generally lacking sorely. And lord help us if we ever have to jump vertically! We further neglect what we don't use and any little idiosyncrasie is amplified and before ya know it, joints aren't tracking properly, muscles/tendons/soft-tissue/etc might get all mangled and simply trying to adapt to our bad form. Of course, this leads into a zillion topics and lessons, but I wanted to at least highlight a few steps to improving yourself ASAP!
If you're super-athletic or happy in retirement and fishing from a boat....take care of yourself, keep up your strength, your mobility,...! At least do some basics. Use weights....they need not be supremely heavy, but use some. And really, it's all about your FORM and ENGAGING PROPERLY.
Over the past 10 yrs, I actually thought I was doing the best things...kept 'working out' and even regularly did lots of strength yoga; but looking back, there were a lot of subtle form faults I had...more like "workarounds" that I invented. From the outside, it looked fine, but I wasn't "engaging" what really needed to be engaged. Form, form, form!! Start w/your body weight for the first few weeks if that's all you can do. Then work on weights, more dynamics later. Make iT fun, just do it. Women in my family....this is mainly for you!!! Either way, I feel obligated to put this out there. I wish I'd been pressured/bullied into more of this sooner. Yes, there's so much we should be doing, but at least start here....the absolute basics! All ya might need is a band ($5), and you can improvise w/everything else til ya get it dialed in. You'll notice a difference after the first session or two! Do it! (Got questions? hit me up! I'll bombard you w/references/ videos/whatever...I want everyone healthy! And family: next time we're all at the river-house, there shall be group sessions on the dock! :-)
LIVIN' . . .
Ok, so after that PSA, here are some obligatory photos of the warmest/driest winter I've experienced in AZ. For immediate selfish reasons, it's been awesome. For the potential problems in the future (drought, summer fires, forest closures, wildlife dismay, etc.), it's really not been ideal. Hopefully, we'll get some precip soon.
Up Mingus on the roadbike.
Went out for my first "big" day on the MTB and was just gonna stick mainly to old jeep/mining roads and play it by ear. Had my first ever sidewall slice (actually my first flat in 4+ years) so of course I was ill-prepared and got to walk 4 miles to the "main" dirt road (was walking on it for an hour before the first truck rolled by...dusted me out), then I hitched a ride w/a local landscaper and his wife for another 20 mins on dirt then about 20 mins back into town on hardball. I sat happily in the back w/a bunch of rakes, hoes, shovels, chainsaw, weedeater and ol caballo. Somehow, I was still absolutely stoked about finally getting a healthy dose of sunshine and challenge, both which I've been lacking lately.
Just a mere moment before the torn sidewall. Pedaling out of that wash below, I heard pshhhhhhhh, for all of about 10 secs. When I took this pic, I thought, wow, what a gorgeous day, then...pshhhhhhh. Ha!
At least I had a good view when walking the carbon caballo.
Last time that we (me & the mtb) had to hitch a ride, I met/found one of the coolest guys all the planet. (Not really the case on this day though, or at least I don't think so....they didn't speak much english nor I much espanol. I think they thought I was nuts. Yeah, prolly.)
1st venture on singletrack in over a month. Some hard-earned views way up there (ie. HAB)
Back toward Mingus.
And I'd be remiss if I didn't post one more pic of Repo who lived his last day last week and was laid to rest today. Always making us laugh, contributing to the world and living his life fully...
Respect.
Out.
