The World According to Angie

Lusting after this t-shirt

I have been positively lusting after this t-shirt for well over a year, but I haven't been able to justify $23 for a short-sleeved tee.  I'm thinking, however, as mountain biking season approaches, and I'm working so hard to get back in shape and get ready to ride, I might just make it a reward for myself:

Yes, it's so delightfully naughty ... totally me, yes?  I need this shirt.  So yeah, I think I'm going to make it a goal reward.  When I stay on program through the next weeks of Dealer Meeting travel, I'll order this from Cafe Press (click here to see it in their store) as a bit of a reward.

Hee hee hee...!

A ride? Really?!?

I don't know what meteorlogical phenomenon is behind it, but we've been blessed with a spate of unseasonably beautiful weather here in Dallas.  Like, 70-degree weather. In early January.  This is unheard of.  So, on Saturday, we did something I don't think I had entirely prepared myself for ... we pulled out the bikes and went for a ride.

Now, don't get all excited: it wasn't that kind of a ride.  We didn't hit the trail.  I'm totally not ready for that.  My body is so horribly out of shape, I've got about 15 pounds to lose and a lot of cardio work to do before I'm going to be ready to get back out on the DORBA loops.

But Veronica was begging for some street-riding, around Jim's neighborhood, and since the weather was perfect, why not?

So we dusted off the gear, lubed up the bikes, aired up the tires, and hit the road for a leisurely ride throughout the neighborhood.

It was a little bit strange to me, to think that this was the first time we'd gotten on our bikes since JIm's accident at Arbor Hills back in July.  You know, the one that both began and ended our season, that led to his separated shoulder and surgery and everything?

Well, I guess this sort of gives us closure to that particular chapter of life.  And the timing is pretty good, too.  Jim had his final follow-up appointment with Dr. Schacherer this week, at twelve weeks post-surgery.  He's been given the all-clear to resume all activities, including weight-lifting and - yes, even mountain biking.  As to whether JIm will be willing to do any trail riding with me ... that remains to be seen.

But he was definitely game for the street riding, and it made for a fun, relaxing Saturday afternoon.  What a blessing this warm weather has been ... and I've got to tell you - it's making me hungry for some trail-time this spring!  Time to get my hiney back in shape so I'm ready to ride in April...

First ride: total bust! (but Jim's okay...)

Well ... this was not what I had in mind when I filed for a vacation day today.

Jim and I had it all planned out: we'd take Friday off work for a long weekend, before Veronica comes home from her grandparents'.  We were going to spend the three days playing, relaxing, and just generally goofing off.

We kicked it all off this morning with a ride at Arbor Hills.  You heard me right: a ride.  As in "dust off the mountain bikes and hit the trail".  The rain finally stopped about a week ago, and brave friends had already ventured off onto the few trails that dried out.  Our original plan was to ease back into it with a ride at Rowlett, but when the skies ripped open and it rained super-hard out in Garland last night - leaving Rowlett muddy but Arbor rideable - we decided Arbor was "it".

It got off to a bad start: our surface lap to warm up promptly made me sick.  I mean ... real sick.  Heart racing, vision gone white, and migraine came back full force.  WTF?!?!  (Actually, that's another post for later; I've started new drug therapy for my migraines and I should NOT have tried working out so hard so fast.)

But I wanted Jim to be able to ride the trail, so I sat it out on the bench at the trailhead while he rode.

And about 20 minutes later, he came walking up the path, dragging his bike and holding his arm.

Turns out the trail is in very bad shape ... erosion to the point of being downright dangerous ... Jim cleared a root that had bad washout and his tire landed in a hole in the other side ... and he came straight down on his shoulder.

We got back up to the car immediately and I realized something was very, very wrong - he couldn't stand up and was having a hard time holding his head up.  Jim's got a high threshold for pain - bouncing on his head last year at Irwin didn't phase him much - so this terrified me.  As I eased his shirt off to have a look at his back - which looked like he'd gone through a shredder - another rider came up to see if he was okay.  Turns out this guy also landed hard on the trail, and probably broke his wrist.  He was waiting for his buddy to hit topside to take him to the ER.

And when Jim said he couldn't lift his arm, this other rider told us to head straight to the ER.

We wound up over at Richardson Medical Center, and they took very good care of Jim.  This was a first for us - a major crisis-type medical situation - and I got to fill out all the forms with the ER admitting lady while they took Jim back for x-rays.  (Guess this is one of those relationship rites of passage, eh?)

Three hours later, we walked out the door with his arm in a sling, a referral to an orthopedic (he goes in Monday afternoon), and a prescription for painkillers.  The good news is that nothing is broken.  The bad news is that he has a Type III Shoulder Separation.  Which, of course, we knew nothing about until I came home and hit WebMD.  (It's a beautiful thing!)

For the concerned types, you can check out the article... the basic gist is that the collarbone and the shoulder blade are connected by the AC joint, which is held together by two ligaments.  Since it's a Type III injury, Jim ripped both the AC and CC ligaments.

Prognosis: unknown.  He is to keep his arm in a sling and rest it until he gets in to see the ortho on Monday.  The writeup says that Type III injury treatment is "controversial" - some docs want to go with physical therapy, while others feel surgery is needed to repair the damage.  If surgery is the way we have to go, so be it ... but I'm not going to get too worked up one way or the other until Jim actually sees the doc.

So ... our weekend plans have changed a bit.  We've rented a couple of movies, and we're going to stay indoors, resting and relaxing... where we're less likely to hurt ourselves.

Keep Jim in your thoughts, and if you feel like it, drop him a note ... I know he'd love to hear from you.

Rain, rain, go away... so I can ride!

Thursday has dawned cool and muggy here in Big D.  The kids waiting for the schoolbus looked sticky but happy, since they were sans-backpacks for the first time since August: it appears that the last day of school has arrived.

How precisely did summer sneak up on me so quickly?!?  I know I lost February and March to travel for dealer meetings, but it doesn't seem like that long ago I flew to San Antonio for Easter.  I guess it has to do with all this rain.

Which is going to be my mini-rant for the morning.  I know the rain is a GOOD thing.  After last season's drought, we need all the water we can get.  But I am absolutely dying to get back on my bike and back on the trail!

Road riders don't seem to have a concept as to how big a deal the rain is to us off-roaders.  On rare sunny afternoons, they smile at me and chirp, "So, are you riding today?"  And then they look at me like I'm a wimp when I say "No, we can't, the trails are too wet."

Wet pavement just means you get splashed when you ride.  Wet trails mean no traction, sliding around corners, and damaging the hard-pack singletrack we love so much.  As the saying goes, "Only an @$$hole rides wet trails."

It's going to take at least five days of sunny, dry weather for the trails to dry out enough for us to get out there and ride.  And the weather forecast has those stupid little thunderclouds stretching from now until the middle of next week.

So, as this three day weekend approaches, our plans for riding Rowlett, or hitting Arbor, or heading to another trail on the further reaches of town ... well, that's all evaporated ... in a way I wish all this groundwater would.

I should be grateful for the half-hour Jim and I managed at RCP on Monday.  We rode loop 1 on the north end, and found mud puddles and sloppy corners.  They were manageable ... the downed trees were a little less so.  The south went a bit better, which suprised me, since it's usually slower to dry out.  We left just as the rain started up again.

Arbor, on the other hand, probably won't be rideable for a couple weeks.  We spent the afternoon out there last weekend with V, riding the paved trails and letting her practice her off-road skills in the big, grassy area by the parking lot.  We hiked part of the DORBA loop, and I was stunned to see its condition.  Lots of rain means they can't mow or trim, but lots of rain also means everything is growing.  I didn't recognize some portions of the trail for all the foliage.  And the trail itself?  Well, it was pure sand by the end of last season, and now with all this rain, there's lots of erosion and spots that look downright dangerous.

All my complaining aside, I'm going to check the boards (www.dorba.org) and see if we can participate in their next trail maintenance day.  I wanted to do it all last season, but never managed to get it on my calendar.  Now, even if I can't be on my bike, at least I'll feel like I'm making a contribution to getting them rideable again.

Remind me about this, as we hit August and I'm complaining about the sandy, crumbly, dry trails...

On a final note, since I mentioned riding with V ... I predict we'll have her on a trail before the end of the season.  Yeah, Jim rode loop 1 of RCP with her, very slowly, some time back ... but I seriously predict we'll have her riding with us someplace like LB Houston.  I'll want us to go ride it ourselves before we take her out there, just to confirm that what I remember is right ... but I think if we skip the offshoots of the more advanced stuff, that should be rideable by her.  And what a fun, healthy way for us to spend an afternoon together.....

Back to work, for at least a few hours, before I head off to play pincushion for the allergist.  Time to figure out what's causing these sinus infections, since two surgeries didn't do the trick.  Hey, if it takes a shot a week for the rest of my life to keep those things at bay, and keep me out on the trail, I'll suffer through it ... it's worth it.

Now, if only Mother Nature would cooperate...