Back in the Saddle Again!

Today, it's a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the low to mid 60s. The streets are dry and much of the salt and sand (but not all) has been washed away.

Technically, I'm still under doctor's orders: "No skiing. No riding." But, it's been a couple of weeks (yikes! three weeks!) since then, and it was a short ride. And, as they say, "better to ask forgiveness, than permission."

So, after far too many nights away, the bike, she is home again.

Half a Cat

So, the surgery went well and my shoulder is back together again.

It was cool to see the bandage taken off a couple days later -- the two inch incision was stapled closed, and looked like something out of Star Trek -- I looked like mini-Borg. Fortunately, the 20 or so staples came out very easily.... no, I didn't take pictures before or after.

Today's second check-up went well. I am now approved to lift half a cat. Either that, or a whole cat, using both arms. No skiing. No riding.

For now, the focus is on range-of-motion. Then, in two weeks, I'll begin strength training. I'd intended to focus on "getting into shape" in 2007... I guess this was one way to start! ;-)

Thank You for Not Bleeding

Updated: Parts are on order for the bike; less than $180 to put it back together myself. Unfortunately, I can't do the same thing for my shoulder. Reconstructive surgery is scheduled for next week. Woohoo.

They say that there are two kinds of riders: those that have crashed, and those that will crash.

I am now among the former group.

I have a dislocated shoulder (AC Separation, Grade 3, to be exact) and the Gixer has a few scars as well. Fortunately, both of us will mend.

Special thanks go out to my guardian angel who stopped his SUV in the lane to stop vehicles coming around the corner from running me or the bike over.

With a little help, my reading on how to upright a bike paid off. And, as I rubbed my sore shoulder and wondered about whether I was in shock or not, I debated about whether the bike was in good enough shape to ride home. (It was, almost, I wasn't.)

Wisely, I chose to nurse it back to a parking space in the garage at work, and called The-Best-Wife-Ever(tm) for a ride to the hospital.

Waiting in the ER seemed to take a long time, but was actually pretty brief. Thankfully it was a quiet Wednesday night in Ashburn. The triage nurse appreciated my wife's exclamation when my shoulder was revealed. "I sometimes want to do that, but I'm not supposed to," she said.

I was back at work this morning, running a little slower than usual, but not totally out of commission. (I've even learned to type with both hands with my right elbow properly supported. ;-)) We stopped by the bike this morning. It was a relief to us both to see that the damage to the bike was relatively minor.

This is the second time I've had to learn that cold tires don't grip well when turning. The first time, I totaled my BMW M3. With only two wheels, motorcycles are less forgiving. Cold tires on a cold road, always a bad combination in high-performance vehicles with lots of torque.

My new rule of thumb, which The-Best-Wife-Ever(tm) heartily endorses is: if I have to wear three layers of clothing, it's too cold to ride.

Hopefully the bike and I will be back in shape soon -- just in time for more nice weather!

Oh, and The-Best-Wife-Ever(tm) says, "Thank you for not bleeding."