End Pavement

Now granted, the pain that needs managing is much, much less than it has been in the recent past, but I have to say I much prefer a 800-mg Ibuprofen washed down with a Newcastle Brown Ale than popping a Vicodin. Call me funny.

Today was an auspicious day when nothing much out of the ordinary happened, which is to say a lot happened.

Today also marks exactly 8 weeks to the day since my bike accident. I talked it over with my physical therapist last appointment, and he thought it would be fine for me to try a ride. “Most important thing to keep in mind,” he told me with a straight face, “is to not wreck.”

Words to live by.

Flashback

Here’s me a few weeks ago:

I haven’t been on my bike since the evening of February 3rd when I either went endo over the handlebars, or just fell forward onto my shoulder and side, and hit the asphalt at around 20 MPH (32 KPH). Things are a little blurry right about then, but the result was a separated shoulder and broken ribs.

Of course, this was preferable to getting hit by or hitting the car that had suddenly pulled in front of me.

After the wreck, I walked the bike the 2/3rds of a mile to a fire station down the road, where I left it outside. When they got there that night, Denyse and Hans took it apart to get it in our car and thus home.

As a matter of fact, I haven’t even had the heart to do much more than give the bike a cursory glance when I went out to finally retrieve my water bottles some days after the accident, when I was more mobile.

An errand

The first thing I did today was to head down to my local bike shop and buy a new helmet; the old one had a dent in it. I got the latest version of my favorite Giro Atlas II (I have a big noggin, AKA a thick skull ;) Decided on the black/gunmetal-gray as a change of pace from my old white one. It has an awesome dial on the back that lets me adjust the size of the internal head strap on the go.

I’m not ashamed to admit to shedding a few tears as I left the store. This was a meaningful moment for me.

Later, after getting cautionary well-wishes from Denyse and Hans, plus a quizzical look from the poodle, I pulled my bike out of the garage and inspected it. Everything looked pretty good — just had to reattach the front tire and connect the brake cable. A few adjustments later, and it seemed to be in fine shape, although I’ll probably want to tune it up soon.

The only real damage apart from some scratched paint was the front reflector had been broken off and was missing. The cold-forged aluminum frame and the rest of the HardRock had come through the trauma much better than I had.

Where to?

I was nervously excited heading out on the road, apprehensive. Not scared, per se, but hyperaware of approaching cars from both directions. Taking it slow, I meandered through a few streets in the neighborhood, tacking back and forth by block, tending upwards.

There had been only a vague idea as to possible routes, but once I was out there, I realized quickly I would only be happy going one place: the scene of the accident.

The rest of the story in the next post: “Eight weeks: uphill”

My friend and fellow hiker Alex writes the Ravens in Hollywood blog. He was quite concerned about the wildlife that were threatened in yesterday’s fire, not that far from his house.

He sent me an awesome picture he managed to capture recently (before the fire) that has become his new masthead banner.

(Click to see in context and full size.)

Flickr has a ton of shots of the fire from various folks. Unfortunately, with the apparently even-worsening drought situation, we’ll be seeing a lot more of this kind of thing.

Let’s hope all the wildlife in Hollywood (not to mention the numerous hairless primates) are okay.

Not ending pavement, but ending the car — a step in the right direction, so to speak. ;) The Good Human decides to go carless in Los Angeles.

9 days ago, my wife and I sold one of our cars…which left me carless. We had been contemplating this change for a few months, and after many discussions about the consequences, we decided that it was totally worth it to go down to having only one car….

Fritz over at Cycle-Licious posted a story earlier titled, simply, “Irony” about an encounter with a Chevy Suburban while on his bike.

It’s good I wasn’t drinking anything while reading, or it would have been snorted all over my computer. :)

Messenger Race, NYC

Commercials for Planet Earth on the Discovery Channel have been thick and furious for a while now, which is just fine thanks to the amazing footage and music. I’m fascinated already, and I’ve only seen commercials.

It’s an 11-part mini-series (though with 11 parts, it seems perilously close to a full-blown series ;) that starts tonight with the first three hour-long episodes.

• Planet Earth: Pole to Pole
• Planet Earth: Mountains
• Planet Earth: Deep Ocean

This is the best excuse for HD I’ve seen so far. :) Can’t wait!

More than five years in the making, PLANET EARTH redefines blue-chip natural history filmmaking and continues the Discovery Channel mission to provide the highest quality programming in the world. The 11-part series will amaze viewers with never-before-seen animal behaviors, startling views of locations captured by cameras for the first time, and unprecedented high-definition production techniques. Award-winning actress and conservationist Sigourney Weaver is the series’ narrator.

PLANET EARTH airs on consecutive Sundays from March 25 through April 22, 2007, on Discovery Channel and in high definition on Discovery HD Theater.