Sunday, February 28, 2010

Final Preparations

Thinking I'll start out riding again on the mountain bike, on the street. In the almost four months since riding, the MTB tires have gone flat. I run tubeless. New Stans are the order of the day.




Ah... the infamous Stans Booger.




New Stans. If there's a product that improves the mountain biking experience more than Stans I don't know what it is.




The maintenance just began. Now it's onto a fork overhaul. Last time I used EnduroSeals...




They work well. My oil is noteable clean this time around. But... I'm going back with stock Fox seals this time. They work well too. Slide a little better, but don't seal as well.





No cartridge service this go round...so... it's quick work. A couple of hours, it's all back together and ready to ride.

Then I make some CO2 cannister covers out of old inner tube. Keeps them from clanking in the seat bag. And prevents fingers from freezing to them, too.

Busy day. Got a lot done. Next time... a ride.



Sunday, February 21, 2010

Experimental Breakfast

Cooking breakfast with the Jetboil this morning.




I'm trying to work up a packable pancake recepie for camping. Testing the current version today. Tastes good. But needs some perfecting.


Afield or at home; no breakfast is complete without bacon...



Thursday, February 18, 2010

Long Deferred Maintenance


Took care of some long deferred maintenance. Maintenance deferred out of fear it would make me itchy to ride. It has. I'm coping.

When I had my fall, the RH brifter got moved on the bar. No damage, it just slipped around the bar. First operation... realign it.

It got scratched up in the tumble. It works fine. Just scratched. Good thing my elbow took up most of the impact.


Moving the brifter around means new bar tape. Proud I was able to do this. It's a two handed job unpossible for me only a week or two ago. Progress.




My bar taping skills have definately improved. I replaced the seat post. At top is the stock Specialized seat post. It's a piece of junk. The single-bolt attachement is almost impossible to get tight enough to keep the seat from tipping up/down. Really, gotta crank the heck out of it. Making precise adjustments are nearly impossible, too.




At bottom is the Deda post I've replaced it with. The two bolt adjustment assembly makes precise adjustment a snap. And no tipping up/down as I ride. It's substantially stiffer than the Speshy piece as well.




The saddle also got scraped up in the crash. Not necessarily bad enough to warrant replacement. But... it was a carry over from my previous roadie bike, and was red in color. Didn't match this bikes color scheme. So.. I took opportunity to replace it.




Final step was refitting to the bike. I may have to make some more adjustments because of my arm inflexibility. May end up with a total barney setup with a riser stem for a while. Hard to tell without actually being on the road... I'm prepared for the "GO" from doc!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Overdue Cleaning

A long overdue bike cleaning today. How does one dirty up a bike on the trainer? Well... it was dirty when I got hurt. I'm just now getting around to it. If I remember right... I had a rainy ride just a day or two before "that" night.


Lucky... it's a nice day to be out in the sunshine!




But the water from the hose is really cold. Brrr. One of my favorite cleaning tools. A cheeep paintbrush with the bristles cut down...




Works on chainrings too!




Another brush with bristles intact for nooks and crannies...




Don't forget the loob!




More maintenance on deck for tomorrow.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

The Final Stretch

I'm nearing the end of elbow rehab. The final push for motion range is on. Tons of stretching, strengthening, and heat. Extension is still being stubburn. My threapist started me with a different type of splint last week. It's a spring loaded mechanism that keeps solid tension on the arm. That's the robo-arm thing I'm wearing in the pic. It seems to be helping. Some. I've got about 10° to go before I'd consider it full-use. Certainly I'm going to lose some range, but need more than I've got now.

I'm able to do most things now. Including wash the car. Haven't driven it since hurting my arm. Dusty! But it was a nice day to be outside and washing. Water was cold though!



I'm enjoying cooking. Baked chicken basted with a garlic and ginger extract. And served with spinach with feta and fresh slices of ginger.




Thus begins the final and perhaps most difficult part of injury recovery. Ditching those pounds gained while being on the couch.

Morning Pancakes


Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Plodding Along

Plodding along. Not only rehabbing the elbow, I'm rehabbing my cycling fitness too. The elbow continues to improve. When it's good it nears 100% range of motion in flexion. When it's bad it still has a few degrees to go. In extension (straightening) is being stubburn. My OT is setting me up with anther type of splint to open things up.

My cycling rehab is about where my elbow was six weeks ago. That is... just at the beginning. In some ways I've given up on reaching for long rides. I've only got a few more weeks until I'm riding outdoors. Just trying to prep the legs for that, rather than focusing on gaining specific fitness.

Tonight's meal...Spicy Red Pepper Pasta inspired by VeganYumYum.com. In this pot fettuccini:



In my way-too-big wok: broccoli, sun dried red tomatos, red pepper and some olive oil:



Cook both and combine. Add some lemon juice and zest:



Super simple. Super quick. Super tasty.