a collection of savage and bitter facebook posts induced by over the counter cold medication

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resuming bike setup and testing

so pulling the new bike i'd only ridden a few times before i injured myself was like making out with a sexy woman you want to um, "grunt" with...but not quite going all the way.

criminy, this marin only has a hundred and sixty miles on it!

as it is, i think i need to shorten the stem just a nip to fit my riding style and maybe soften up the suspension a tad--since i've actually LOST weight during four months of relative inactivity.

at any rate, i took it REALLY easy and stuck to the easiest trails in golden gate park i could find with a few minor exceptions.

i'll tell you what, as compared to my first ride back on a 29er hardtail, praise be to the life giving sun for 120mm of suspension. i hardly feel anything through the shoulder i dislocated!

i think i'll stick to easy rides in GG park every other day for a week or two, then i'll start grinding up those fire roads in marin.

chasing trains and eating poorly

yesterday, my friend patrick picked me up bright and early, after which we drove east to stockton, then south through the valley. our goal was to watch trains between stockton and a bit south of merced to chase trains on the BNSF stockton subdivision between richmond and fresno. here's a few of the photos:

next weekend, the plan is to check out the union pacific around pinole and elsewhere in the east bay. stay tuned!

back in the saddle!

the medical people said it was OK for me to ride, so long as i don't do any crazy shit. golden gate park doesn't have much extreme terrain which is why i chose the hardtail--with the new dualie i'd have been tempted to ride stuff which might require sudden tests of my range of motion which likely might require further hospital visits, possible surgeries and all that bad juju.

as it is, i'm able to deal with moderate terrain--i rode over several twelve to sixteen inch drops and felt no discomfort at all. i'm not sure how a twenty mile ride through the headlands might feel though. i'm figuring fatigue might become an issue and with that in mind, i am going to bring myself along slowly and carefully.

i'm nowhere near out of the woods yet.

to use a sports analogy, the team is still down fifteen points with four and a half minutes on the clock and one timeout remaining.

emergency rooms and taking long vacations with a fucked up arm suck!