THE SIX DOLLAR MAN

That's what I feel like right now. About $6, not $6 million. Although I have enough hardware in me to say otherwise. Make that 6 cents. I feel like crap. I had surgery on my elbow Friday. The good news was the surgeon did not have to re-break the old injury to access the new break. He did have to "pull my tricep away from the joint to do the repair". Just the sound of that made me wince. The after effects are making me wince now. I was in surgery from 3 PM until after 10 PM. They had to operate on me face down which meant I had a chest tube in to breath...and a tube inserted into my manhood. The adhesive they used to fix the chest tube was industrial strength and my skin was not liking it. My chin looks like I am a burn victim with blisters. So add that to how you think I look after 2 days in the hospital. That's right...I look sweet. The morphine drip was good the first 16 hours or so. Now that I am at home I feel like I took the short end of a beating. My rib is really killing me too. Needless to say, this surgery seems to be having more of a negative effect than the last one in August. I feel a lot more banged up and am in no big hurry to get back on the trainer. I want my mommy. Or Dr. Rudy Wells to make me bionic....

THE BREAK

There it is in all it's glory. The hardware is from the previous fix. The new fracture is above it, in the end of the humurus, 4mm across. They might have to re-break the old injury to fix the new. My left tricep will never be the same.

Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow at 3pm at Virgina Mason.

THE VERDICT IS IN

And it's not good, but, it was expected. I need surgery on my elbow, again. I go in this Friday. The end of my humerus that goes into the joint at the elbow has a 4 mm fracture in it. Looks like a plate and lots of screws for the fix. The best/ worst part is that due to the location of the break, there is a very high probability that the surgeon will need to re-break the old repair to access the new break. He might also have to relocate my ulnar nerve. So...the doc says no road riding for at least 12 weeks, so I know from last time that means at least 8-9 weeks. Needless to say, the happy train has left my station with no scheduled stops anytime in the near future.

Thanks for the comments of support (those of you who know my true grouchy demeanor might want to aim those to my lady instead). I can tell you that since the fall and break on Saturday I have yet to miss a day of spinning my legs. It has only been on rollers with a fork mount for 25-30 min. at a time but it's at least something. The last time I only missed 3 days: the day after the break, the day of my surgery and the day after. I will say that I have yet to muster that resolve again for this time but I did just return home with a new toy: a trainer. I have always been a rollers guy and never owned a trainer before (using a fork mount with last break). But even with a super heavy rear wheel and tire, a massive gear and heavy drums, the resistance was ok but not great. So I was able to get my hands on an Elite Fluid Wireless Trainer with watt output. I am curious to see how that is. Maybe it will help to strengthen the motivation because I can tell you, it needs it.

Out.

BROKEN AGAIN

Call me Cadel Evans, except slower. I broke a bone in my elbow again on Saturday. Same elbow as before, different bone. X-rays revealed a break in my humerus near the joint. and no, it's not funny. Needless to say, I am pissed and more than a little depressed. A line from a Smith's song keeps coming back to me: "I wear black on the outside because black is how I feel on the inside."

Especially since I was really looking forward to the spring races and, dare I say it, had really good form that was only going to get better. I think I bruised or cracked a rib also, so the pain in the ass factor is back. Not to mention the expense. I see the surgeon tomorrow and am probably going to have another surgery. Andy from the team said he was putting me on suicide watch. Might not be a bad idea. I don't know if I have the motivation in me to do another 2 months on the trainer. I think all of those chips were cashed in last time.

F*#K!!

IF YOU AIN'T FIRST, YOU'RE LAST(TM) Ricky Bobby, Inc.

NASCAR in Kitsap County?! I say bring it!

BREAKING NEWS: KLODEN WINS 2006 TOUR!?

Details here.

LET'S HEAR IT FOR TOLERANCE

Apparently differing points of view, especially those involving the political process, aren't tolerated in Kitsap County, or at least in my neighborhood.

There is a measure up for a vote which would add three-tenths of a penny to local sales tax to help pay for expanded passenger only ferry service from Kingston, Southworth and Bremerton to Seattle. For Bremerton residents this could be particularly important because it could mark the return of half-hour ferry runs to Seattle.

Me and my lady are all for it, especially her because she works in downtown Seattle and commutes every day on the ferry. I am for it because I believe that with a quicker ferry run, more people who work in Seattle will look at Bremerton as a viable place to live and hopefully that will lead to more economic development in downtown Bremerton (and yes, increase my property value).

We put a small yard sign in our front yard in favor of the measure last night. It was gone by 7 a.m. this morning when my lady left for work. WTF?! It is behavior like this that does not make me optimistic that the measure will pass. That three-tenths of a cent will be such a huge burden on everyone over here after all.

Idiots. (how about that for tolerance?)

ROAD SALT

Check this out: http://www.king5.com/sharedcontent/VideoPlayer/makeASX.php?title=www.king5.com/kiraw_011607portlandhomevid.wmv

Ok, first the background, I come from what could be referred to as the eastern part of the Midwest. Northwest Ohio specifically. I have spent a lot of my time driving on the highways of Ohio and Michigan in conditions similar to what have been going on around here recently. I have one thing to say: WTF?!

I don't get the mentality around here nor do I get the lack of basic driving skills. My main thing is: what's up with the resistance to using road salt or for that matter at least attempting to do something to clear the roads? The area got hit last Wednesday. I was out on my bike as well as driving around Sat, Sun and Mon. What did I see? The same patches of ice on the same roads for almost a week. Pathetic.

Road salt is bad for the environment: Maybe. But isn't it also bad with all the banged up heaps of cars that will require repair after sliding into each other, a ditch, a tree or whatever thus burning up those precious non-renewable resources. OK, that argument might be a stretch, more to the point, you can't tell me that all the "sand-de-icer" crap that they put down does not have some negative impact when it mixes in with the run off. Next.

Road salt is bad for the infrastructure. Not sure what was meant by this or how road salt affects the infrastructure but it was what some DOT lackey said on the news last night. Right, and the studded tires that are still legal in the area so you don't slide on the ice that is not getting thawed by your crazy sand concoction are doing wonders for the roads. I will also bring up my smashed into phone and electrical pole argument again, but maybe those aren't a part of the "infrastructure." Next.

Road salt rusts your car. Sure, if you don't wash your car after driving around in it. We had these things in Ohio called car washes (you may have heard of them) they had jets that cleaned under the car. We also had this cool invention called rust coating put on your cars by companies like Ziebart. By the way, salt water/ salt in the air can rust your car too, so what's the anti-rust argument made by people living by the coast?? Hmmm, silence. Somebody who I had this discussion with yesterday replied "how many 1950 era cars do you see driving around in mint condition in Ohio?" My answer: "none in the winter, they are smart enough to keep a collector car in the garage when it snows." Next excuse please.

We don't need to spend money to outfit the DOT with the equipment needed to spread road salt for the few times it is needed.: I have lived here exactly 4 winters. 2 of those 4 winters, they could have used mounds of road salt and fleets of salt trucks. 2 out of 4, that's 50% for the math challenged. Seems like a high enough percentage for me.

From what I have seen around here, there is alot of "reaction" to events and very little "pro-active" behavior (which would lead me to rants on the 520 bridge, the Alaskan Way Viaduct and other things which would draw this out more than it already is).

Bottom line, whatever salmon, tree friendly recipe they have cooked up doesn't work. Usse something that does. Oh yeah and to all you people who brake on hills or going into a curve too fast or who speed up or brake on bridges: LEARN HOW TO DRIVE OR STAY HOME!

I have probably jinxed myself now. PNWBUCKEYE, out.

"If you really love doing something, you can't half-ass it"

-John in the morning, KEXP

Perfect. Words to live by.

METH COFFEE:

If there was a product made for the tweakers out here in Mason and Kitsap County, it's this: Meth Coffee.

Thanks to my buddy Billy for filling me in so I too can really get my tweak on.

TWITCHING WITH TWIGHT:

Staying with the quotes and I will admit to the fact that this is a repost. It's my blog, so I can put up what I want. I meant to do this at the beginning of the year...but forgot, because I was weak. The cold this week and crappy road conditions have kept me on the rollers since Wednesday and I am too lazy to drive to the Pass to do some cool Nordic skiing, both reasons due to me being...weak. In an effort to drive the weakness from my mind and body, I always go to the Twight, as in Mark Twight, and in particular, a little thing he wrote called Twitching With Twight. It hangs in my office, to remind me to keep from being weak.

Mark Twight is an extreme alpinist with high standards for himself and everyone around him. His battle against camping out at the top of the bell curve is laid out in no uncertain terms.

A review from The Vancouver Sun states: “If you’ve delved into the growing body of mountaineering literature by reading books like Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air...be forewarned: They’re like Billy Joel; Kiss or Kill is like the Dead Kennedys.” Nice.

The following excerpt is admittedly over the top, but is a mantra that all self-proclaimed hard men should embrace whenever they feel weakness and a lack of discipline and motivation creeping into their souls. I read it again today...and went out and rode my cross bike on the slippy, icey roads after. So it works. I hope you enjoy:

"What’s your problem? I think I know. You see it in the mirror every morning. Temptation and doubt hip to hip inside your head. You know it’s not supposed to be like this but you drank the Kool-Aid and dressed yourself up in someone else’s life.
You’re haunted because you remember having something more. With each drag of the razor you ask yourself why you piss your blood into another man’s cup. Working at the job he offered, your future is between his thumb and forefinger. And the necessary accessories, the proclamations of success you thought gave you stability provide your boss security. Your debt encourages acquiescence; the heavy mortgage makes you polite.

Aren’t you sick of being tempted by an alternative lifestyle, but bound by chains of your own choosing?Do you have the courage to live with the integrity that stabs deep?
Use the mirror to cut to the heart of things and uncover your true self. Use the razor to cut away what you don’t need. The life you want to live has no recipe. Following the recipe got you here in the first place: But there is a way out.

Live the lifestyle instead of paying lip service to the lifestyle. Live with commitment. With emotional content. Live whatever life you choose honestly. Give up this renaissance man, dilettante bullshit of doing a lot of different things (and none of them very well by real standards). Get to the guts of one thing; accept, without casuistry, the responsibility of making a choice. When you live honestly, you can not separate your mind from your body, or your thoughts from your actions.

Tell the truth. First, to yourself. Say it until it hurts. Learn the reality of your own selfishness. Quit living for other people at the expense of your own self, you’re not really alive. You live in the land of denial-and they say the view is pretty as long as you remain asleep.

Well it’s time to WAKE THE FUCK UP!

So do it. Wake up. When you drink the coffee tomorrow, take it black and notice it. Feel the caffeine surge through you. Don’t take it for granted. Use it for something. Burn the Grisham books. Sell the bad CD’s. Mariah Carey, Dave Matthews, and ‘N Sync aren’t part of the soundtrack where you’re going.

Cut your hair. Don’t worry about the gray. If you’re good at what you do, no one cares what you look like. Go to the weight room. Learn the difference between working out and what you’ve been doing. Live for the Iron and the fresh air. Punish your body to perfect your soul.

Quit posturing at the weekly parties. Your high pulse rate, your 5.12’s and quick time on the Slickrock Trail don’t mean shit to anybody else. These numbers are the measuring sticks of your own progress; show, don’t tell. Don’t react to the itch with a scratch. Instead, learn it. Honor the necessity of both the itch and the scratch.

But a haircut and a new soundtrack do not a modern man make. As long as you have a safety net you act without commitment. You’ll go back to your own habits once you meet a little resistance. You need the samurai’s desperateness and his insanity.You ask about security? What you need is uncertainty. What you need is confusion. Something which forces you to reinvent yourself, a whip to drive you harder.

In Dune, Frank Herbert called it “the attitude of the knife”, cut off what’s incomplete and say “now it has finished, for it has ended there.”

-Mark TwightTwitching With Twight

GONZO QUOTE:

I'm on a quote binge. This one from one of my all time favorite authors: Hunter S. Thompson. Speaking of HST, check out Buy The Ticket, Take the Ride. It is playing on HBO or one of those channels. It is a documentary on the King of Gonzo well worth watching. To the quote then:

"Indeed. If the greatest mania of all is passion:
and if I am a natural slave to passion: and if the balance between my brain and my soul and my body is as wild and delicate as the skin of a Ming vase-
Well, that explains a lot of things, doesn't it? We need look no further."
-Hunter S. Thompson

Over and out.

I'M BACK.

I've been laying low, licking my wounds from Monday's debacle. Time to move on, it was after all, only a football game.

Those of you who know me well, know I have always enjoyed swimming against the stream, rocking the apple cart as it were. I read the following in an article in a 2006 issue of Climbing Magazine and liked it enough to write it down. Now I'm not saying that I think I am some kind of paradigm shifter who has the key to unlock some brave new world, just that I like thinking outside the box.

Unconscious, unexamined beliefs create our reality. Significant advances occur when the current paradigm is challenged and overturned. This happens when people, often a single, open-minded individual “see” the world in a brand new way.”

“There are no limits...except those we impose on ourselves by closing our eyes to the endless potential all around us. The next paradigm shift might be just around the corner. What will the “new world” look like?”

Florida crushes Ohio State 41-14.

Wow, is the nightmare over? That is definitely not the logo I wanted to place at the top of this posting. But, since I like to take my shots, when deserved, I will take my lumps too. What can I say? The Gators dominated the Buckeyes. Was it the Heisman Curse? The 50+ day lay off? Who knows, all I do know is the Buckeyes got there asses kicked. Stunned would be an understatement describing my mood right now. To put a spin on one of my all time favorite Shaq quotes: "The Gators were like the Pythagorean theorem out there, the Buckeyes had no answer for them."

If only the Buckeyes knew, the answer is "C-squared".

GO BUCKEYES! NEED I SAY MORE?

Terje's First Descent

Needless to say, this guy can snowboard. Check it out. By the way, my boss showed this to me, that is why my job is cool.

IT'S A SAD DAY IN PNW STEELER NATION:

Bill Cowher resigns as head coach of the Steelers.

I have been a Steelers fan since 1976 when I was 9 years old. In that 20 year period, the Steelers have had 2 head coaches. That's right, 2. Chuck Noll who won 4 Super Bowls and Bill Cowher who has been to the big game twice and finally won one for the Rooney family last year. That is one of the things that makes me love the Steelers and has made them one of the most successful franchises over the past 30 years: the Rooney family's loyalty and commitment to individuals even when the won-loss record may have tipped too far to the L's.

Cowher, his jaw and his fiery intensity, everything about him screamed that he was a Steeler through and through. He led the Steelers to 6 AFC championship games during his 15 year tenure. Good bye Bill Cowher, thanks for all the memories, you will be missed.

I HAVE SAID IT BEFORE:

And I will say it again, Notre Dame and Brady Quinn are over-rated.

LSU routs Notre Dame 41-14.

Boo hoo Irish.

Rolling It Old School

I felt like making fun of myself and my buddy Greg and wanted to include everyone. That's us, Spring 1991, rolling it old school on the farm roads of Columbus, Ohio. Apparantly Greg played in a big hair band and I was looking for a Dead Concert. Classic.

Happy New Year!

PNWBuckeye 2006 Year In Review

January: The year started out great as my beloved Steelers finally won their 5th Super Bowl. I have been a Steelers fan for 30 years and was super happy that they finally won #5. It was made even sweeter due to the fact that they beat the Seahawks so I got to display my Steeler joy to all the hometown Hawk fans....Too bad, so sad for you.

February: The close of the football season doldrums was blunted by the Winter Olympics, made even sweeter due to the fact that I could actually watch cool events on Canadian coverage.

March/ April: The start of the racing season was finally here. The early spring road races in the PNW remind me a lot of the spring road races in Ohio which I always enjoyed. The highlight was a 3rd place in an 80mile road race. Jonny Sundt, myself and 2 others broke away from the field with 30k to go and held them off. Usually I get last in the break so to the dude who got 4th: you really can't sprint! The other highlight: I got asked to join the Benaroya Research Institute Team, a great group of guys who know how to race their bikes. I also raced my first stage race since 1999 which turned out to be fun even though it meant I had to ride a time trial. Low point: 40 degrees and pouring rain for TST with snow in the feedzone, the place where I pulled the pin and crawled into a warm car. Hands down the worst racing conditions I have ever experienced in 25 years. Ugh.

May: I flew back to Ohio for my father's surprise 80th birthday. It was the first time in a long time that myself and my 2 sisters were together. Needless to say the parents were quite happy and it was a fun trip.

June: I lined up on the start line for a beat down in my very first NRC stage race as a rider. I have directed teams at quite a few of these but never raced one. So I decide that my first one will be Mt. Hood with a zillion feet of climbing. Brilliant. Needless to say I made all the time cuts and got to the last stage pulling the plug in the feed zone so that my 2 remaining team mates did not have to wait too long for my slow ass to finish. Good experience though. Also managed to sneak into a 5 man break in a local crit and true to form got last in the break.

July: I finally got to see what the Cascade Classic was all about after usually spending the month of July at Superweek. This year I served as Guest Director for the Priority Health Pro Cycling Team and although I had nothing to do with it, I can say that I got my first win as a Director at an NRC stage race as Tom Zirbell rode his blonde mullet to victory in one of the road stages. This was also the site of the infamous helmetless, Ipod listening to, motorpacing session behind Pru-Dog's Bu coming down Mt. Hood. (contact El Gato for more details). July also saw the inaugural Silverdale Criterium that I helped promote. Look for more money in this race next year.

August: Thanks to a moron who will remain nameless (he rode for Broadmark) not knowing how to maintain his track bike and who dropped his chain (for the second time that evening) right in front of me and the field in the points race at Marymoor, I ended up with a busted elbow that required surgery. Season over. Grrr.....

September: My friend Paul and his wife Lori came to visit me and my lady for a week from Detroit. Paul and I used to race together back in the nineties. He bought a new CSK from me and was inspired to do some more racing. He timed his trip to be able to race in the 2nd Annual Blackberry Criterium that I helped promote and managed 2nd in the cat 3 race. The race itself was a success boasting a $5000 purse for the Pro 1-2 and looks to grow even bigger next year. If you are smart, you will do this race next year, if you are dumb, you won't.

October: I got to start riding on the road again after 2 months of being off the bike. I also got to see the Steelers start to dig a hole for themselves that by season end they were unable to dig out of. At least the Buckeyes have been kicking ass. I also got to have cataract surgery in my right eye. Talk about a short and sweet procedure. Needless to say I was the youngest patient there by about 30 years.

November: Me and my lady traveled to Florida to spend a week with friends at....Disney World, the land where commercialism has gone wild. We visited all 4 theme parks (Epcot: cool; The Animal Kingdom: not cool; MGM studios: not that cool; and the Magic kingdom: cool in that this was the Disney I remembered as a kid, got to see fireworks over the castle, ride Magic Mountain (which is a very cool old school coaster) etc.). This was also the month of my 39th birthday so next year I am officially almost old. Oh yeah...The Buckeyes beat that team from up north, again and are playing for the National Championship. GO BUCKEYES!!

December: Needless to say, I rode my ass off in December. Why you ask? Because I like riding my bike and I could, that's why. Even though it has been one of the wettest past 2 months in history I still managed to log quite a few miles in preparation for next year.

All in all it was a good 2006 for me and my lady. The busted wing sucked quite a bit as did my eye surgery but who well. I got some decent results on the bike, got on a good team with guys I like riding with, got to visit my family and I have a job that is fun so no complaints from me. Here is looking at an even better 2007!