Updates...

Things are moving along nicely at this point in time. And by moving along nicely, I mean the following items:

1. My shoulder is getting better every day, although, there is still pain every day, it's just not as bad as it was even say, oh a week ago. I can actually roll over on it in the middle of the night and there isn't a shooting pain through my body that wakes me up. Believe it or not, this is progress my friends, this is progress. And I haven't taken a serious painkiller in well over a month, which is also a good thing. Therapy on the wounded wing continues to this day, and I will actually have another appointment on Monday morning with my PT Beverly. I haven't seen her the last bunch of times that I went in there, so I think she'll be surprised at the progress that I've made with the range of motion and all, there is still much to go though, as I still can't really reach behind my back that much, but even that has improved a bit. It's been a couple of months, and I still probably have another 2 months of appointments and therapy, at least. We'll see what my doc says at my next check up, which is in February.

2. Since the shoulder has been feeling OK, and since I have a new bike (see previous post about bike), I have been able to ride the bike in the great outdoors once again, which has been redeeming for my soul I think. I didn't realize how much I missed just riding outdoors (not for the fitness, or for training, or for anything like that) over the last couple of months, and in actuality, it improves my attitude a lot when I'm able to do this. So far, I've had a few 3 hour plus rides, which isn't too bad, but the pace and fitness is, shall we say, not so good, but hey, what do you expect? I haven't been able to really do anything for 2 months solid. Anyway, the legs are coming around pretty quick, and consider this. My first ride I did about 2 hours, and was wiped out. Only a week later, I did back to back 3 hour rides, and felt pretty good when I got done. A little tired, but not falling down on the floor tired. As I said, progress. I am still nowhere near where I have been in the past, but that shall come as well I hope. I plan on being able to do 4-5 hour rides within a few weeks, and start piling up training miles. Not so much because I need to ride that long to get fit, but because I like seeing the world from the saddle of the bike is all. Oh, and in talking to other folks before my accident happened, and talking to folks after, pretty much everyone has said that when they got back on the bike on the open road, they were very cautious about traffic and cars, and were wary of everything that drove their way. I'm happy to report that apparently I've suffered no such psychological scarring from this episode in my life. In other words, I just ride along sort of like nothing happened (except my shoulder sort of aches when riding), which I consider lucky for me in the sense that I'm NOT riding along thinking about if a car is going to hit me or not. I just ride.

3. It's been almost 1 month since I got married, and I've got to say, it's the best decision I ever made in this life. I love my wife more and more everyday, and I didn't think that I could love her more than I already did. Well, I was wrong. Sure we're still in the honeymoon phase of getting married, but hey, as James Brown said, I feel good.

4. After speaking with, and working with, the insurance agent for the young lady that hit me back in October, we've got everything taken care of that needs to be taken care of. Meaning, I got some estimates for him, some pictures, and some other documentation of the bike damages, and he has submitted it to his claims guy, and he has backed up basically everything I said, and or claimed, so they should be paying that off for me soon, maybe as soon as next week. Which means, I can now give Curtis his money for the bike that he sold me, although he hasn't asked for it yet, but I just need to cut him a check anyway. I feel good about the deal that they gave me for my damaged bike parts, and it should make everything OK in the end. So I can't argue with that. Now the rest of the claims that my lawyers are putting in is of course, and entirely different story, and a different channel. They're still working on that end of things, and apparently, they really need to wait until all treatments and appointments are over and done with before they can go and seek whatever it is they're going to seek out on my behalf. Basically, right now, they're collecting bills and documents. Everything should be fine there as well in the end. I'll save further comment on that until everything is over and done with.

5. The New England Patriots last night capped off the perfect undefeated season. 16-0 ain't too bad, and I'm pretty sure that they would kick the ever living crap out of the 1972 Dolphins easily. Randy Moss has become a new man in New England, and has toned down his asshole-ishness, and has become the really great player he was probably always destined to become. I guess Coach Bill seems to have a way with guys like that. I think he probably sat him down, and told him, hey, come play here, behave yourself, and you'll catch a record number of passes and touchdowns. Well, after last night, mission accomplished for that man, and for Brady, and for the whole team. It was fun watching them play this year, and it'll be fun watching them run amok in the playoffs. I won't jinx them by talking about the Super Bowl and all, we'll leave that talk for if and when they make it there again this year.

6. The last thing is that in a few more days, I'll be headed back to work for the first time in a couple of weeks. I have to say, getting married, and then having a bunch of vacation at the end of the year has done me well in terms of mental well being. That being said, another one of my co-workers has resigned, and she'll be leaving the company on the 10th, which will unfortunately place us back in the dark dark recesses of probably a lot of work, but I'm not going to think about that for right now. I'm going to just kick back for the rest of my vacation, and hang out until I have to go back to work on Wednesday, January the 2nd. Soon enough, I think, I'll start searching for another job. There are a couple of little things I need to take care of at work, and until I can get those couple of things cleared up, I need to just stay there for a short time longer. I can see the end of my reign of terror at my current workplace though, and I can't wait for that to happen. We'll see what shakes loose in the next few months for sure.

For some reason if I don't post again until after the New Year, Happy New Year to everyone! We'll see you on the frontside of 2008. Hard to imagine that it actually IS 2008 now. Seems like yesterday that I was just graduating from college, when in fact, it was 12 years ago now. Yikes. This kid is getting old, or something like that.

New ride...

Due in part to my friend Curtis and his willingness to sell me his race bike from last season, I now have a new bike to ride post accident. I finally was able to get it, and take it out for a spin yesterday, and I've got to say, I love this bike already. It seems to be a bit slower steering than say, the Giant TCR, but then again, what bike doesn't steer slower than the Twitch-master 2000 that the Giant TCR really is (which is one of the reasons that I loved that bike, and that frame design for many years now). Anyway, Pinarello, I think I'm hooked on it already. We'll see how I feel about in a month or so from now, but I suspect that I will feel the same way even next year at this time. Chances are good that even though I'll most assuredly get more new bikes, I might be keeping this one for awhile. I always need to have a spare, or find it a good practice to have a spare hanging around. I imagine that after serving duty under my butt this season, this bike might go into the "Sunday Ride" bin of use, meaning, keep it clean and super shiny, and only break it out once a week for a slow Sunday rider, where there will no doubt be a coffee shop stop somewhere along the way. Anywho, check out the picture of the new ride.

Now there are some of you out there (ahem, Jason) who will no doubt criticize the now existing Sram component group that is on the bike, and the future Dura-Ace components that will be going on the bike. Some will be yelling for Campy to be placed on the bike, mostly because it's Italian damn it all, and deserves, and actually demands Italian components. I would love to have a full Record group to place on this bike of course, but since I don't, and don't want to spend the coin to get said Record group, I will put the Dura-Ace group on there. Which in this case, I am assuming that it's going to be OK. Why you might ask? Well, let me tell you. This frame, even though it comes from an Italian company, is indeed built in Taiwan. So, technically, the Shimano Dura-Ace group, produced in Japan, is a lot closer to where this frame was made, as opposed to Campy components which are still made in Italy, at least for now. That being said, I wouldn't have a problem placing a Campy Chorus group on there as well. Another nice component group that is probably the equal of Dura-Ace as it pertains to performance, and about the same price, but it does have that Campy carbon look. One group that won't be gracing this bike will be SRAM Red, mostly, because it is incredibly and ridiculously expensive for a bike group. But hey, if you want it, and have the money, don't let me dissuade you from paying your hard earned dollars for the SRAM Red group. I think though, that unfortunately, the SRAM Red group falls into the same state of mind of Serotta frame purchasers, which is, more money than sense.

Sad, so sad...

I got this picture from the BikesnobNYC blog. If you haven't read it, please do. It's worth it. You'll love it. At least, I think you will, if you're kind of jerk like I am, you'll appreciate the humor, and the bike snobbery. Anyway, this picture of this "custom" road bike, makes me want to sort of throw up.



I can't even begin to start about how, and where this bike went wrong. First, it's a mountain bike, converted to a road bike. And that's the only nice thing I can say about it. Just look at the picture, and make your own decisions on what the hell is going on with this thing. And here I thought I couldn't hate tri-geeks any more than I already do. Boy, was I wrong.