Wreck 2010

Because I am a weight weenie and I am emulating one of the set ups that Lance used on a bike in the TDF, I use a downtube shifter for my front chainring. I also don't shift the front chainring very much (hardly at all) so it seems a little silly to devote the weight and sophistication of a fancy Campy Ultra shifter to its use. I have noticed sometimes the chain will drop to the smaller chainring on its own. I think what happens is on occasion when I take a drink from the water bottle, I will slightly nudge the shifter and over time it is in a position to shift on its own.

Saturday I went for a ride and this is what I remember and have pieced together from the evidence: As  I approached Winchester on Ninth East the light was red and then turned green before I had to stop. I charged away from the light pedaling out of the saddle. The next thing I know, I am dreaming and wake up in the bike lane portion of the street in front of the Red Cross building. There were at least three people around me, and I suggested that we get out of the road. They told me I wasn't moving anywhere. I was in and out for a while. I remember EMT's in the ambulance asking me things. I was able to rattle off my SSN (not sure I should have done that.) But, I had trouble remembering what the date was. I finally figured it out.

They took me to IMC Emergency and set me up in a room. I called Jensen at home. She said mommy and Ailsa were on their way over to the hospital. Then they hauled me off to xray where they took a lot of pictures. By the end of that I was pretty consistently staying coherent and I was pretty sure nothing was broken, so I was a little anxious to get out of there. The concussion wasn't as bad as in 2002. They cleaned up my wounds, gave me some percocet after offering a couple of times. They put two little stitches in my eyebrow (Laney took them out last night) after I waived off the shot of lidocaine.

This was the shape of the bike: Chain was off. Handle bars and stem turned 90 degrees clockwise on the fork. Small patch of tread on the front tire peeling off. Small wobble in the front wheel coinciding with said patch of tread. Front of brake levers scratched up. Other than the head wounds as shown in the pictures. I separated my AC joint on the left shoulder and had a nasty scrape on the top and back of it. Also a bruise on my left elbow. Nothing much else. No hands scraped as if trying to catch myself.

This is what we have pieced together: as I was pedaling hard away from the intersection, my chain dropped off the crank. I had taken a drink right before I think. Anyway if the derailleur was slightly off and if I pushed hard I could torque the frame enough to bounce it off the chainrings. After that I came down on the handlebars and since the bike was rocking back and forth the front wheel went sideways (the tread peeling off the tire) and/or I grabbed a bunch of brake levers and the wheel went sideways. Regardless of the order, at that point I wasn't going to make much more forward progress and I went over the bars, landed on my head first, rolled onto my shoulder and the bike probably came down on top of me.

I could have easily hit my head hard enough (even with a helmet on) to kill myself. In which case, in retrospect I would have simply awakened on the other side, slapped myself on the forehead and said, “I must have done something stupid.” No pain, no anxious anticipation of the end.

The injuries settled in over time. Right now is 5 days after the fact and my shoulder hurts a lot. So, though nothing broken, I do feel like I got worked over by a couple of thugs.

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

Letter of Thanks to the Editor @ Deseret News

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San Clemente 2010

Since we didn't get to go to San Clemente last year, we were really looking forward to going this last August, especially since Ailsa would be with us. We had taken a day or two at the end of our River vacation last year to visit with Wade and Kimberly in Orange County and we spent about 2 hours at San Clemente during that time. And then when Lenore and I were in Orange in January for Meredith's wedding we stopped by for less than an hour. These short stints may have only made us want our normal vacation even more.

Sometimes in Southern California it occurs that the weather in June is not that great for the beach. Sean told us that January was hotter this year than June was. And “June Gloom” this year carried all the way through July as well. We were lucky that the weather was probably about as good as ever during our two weeks this year. The big difference was that the water temperature was quite a bit lower than normal. All during our stay I don't think it got above 63-65. It can often be in the low 70's. However, I have to say the last couple of days when I went in the water. it was very refreshing.

My cycling didn't do that well last year, partly due to some health issues. I've done quite a bit better this year. I've tried a couple of times to accomplish a ride that will make it into my top 10 speed list. I have failed on about 4 tries. I have made a couple of 45 mile rides in the high 20.0's for speed. Which I feel pretty good about, considering how difficult it was for me to do the 60 mile 20MPH ride I did in 2006.

On our way to San Clemente we stopped in Saint George on Friday night to rest with my parents. On that same day, I think, I got the idea of getting up early Saturday morning and trying once again for a ride higher than 21.32 MPH on the River trail. I had trouble getting to sleep that night and probably only got about 3 hours sleep. Anyway, I had a good ride. But, missed the mark by .5 MPH. Despite all this, I really didn't have much trouble staying awake for the remaining 6+ hour drive to the beach. I say plus because it should have only been about 6 hours. We ran into traffic on the 5 and it was very frustrating.

The first couple of days in the apartment were VERY cramped with the number of people. It ended up that most everyone came at the beginning instead of the second week this year. We managed.

I think we only got in two maybe three different days of surfing. Between this and that, it didn't seem to easily fit in with our wants and schedule. Anyway, I did have fun at it. But, just barely. Sean has a foam board from Costco that he let us use that really was fairly nice. Good for people to learn on. There were shark sightings in the San Onofre area and several stingray stings in the T-street and Pier areas. So, some of the children were tentative about going in the water.

I had both my bike and the tandem there and managed to get in 7 rides in the first 8 days until I messed up my back carrying stuff and big surfboards around and on the beach.

One evening during the first week we saw a recumbent bicycle contraption parked across the street. He was pulling a trailer and had something like a bowery frame above the bike with lights on it. At first glance Lenore thought it was a UFO. The next day on our tandem bike ride with Ameer (must have been Friday, 13 August) We ran into this guy as we were returning, at the place where the trail meets the freeway (right here). He was stopped and looked like he needed help. He was asking about the trail. He had an accent that sounded German to me. So I offered to try to speak German. He said he was French and had come down from Canada. I asked if he spoke Quebecquois. He didn't seem to like that suggestion. So, I gave up and let him try to speak English. He gave me his card. Turns out he was from France, thus the repulsion at the Quebecqouis. He was in the middle of a trip from Canada to South America. His website is here. We exchanged some pleasantries and admired his bike and went on our way.

After the back incident I was laid up for about 2 days and was lucky to get back down to the beach and in the water. I didn't do any bodysurfing. It felt like my back might not like it.

We left Friday evening about 8:30pm to drive to Saint George, partly because of Ailsa's Homecoming on the Sunday after we returned. We felt it would be best to be able to spiff up the yard and make some other preparations. That worked out well. It took a lot of stress off. But, we ran into very frustrating traffic into Las Vegas at 2 in the morning. Between that and the pain meds and muscle relaxants, I was quite the zombie driver for the last hour into Saint George.

Recent Trip to Saint George

Jensen's early birthday present.

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Lenore's new do.



A very hot day on a hike to the Saint George Temple Quarry.

Youth Conference

Lenore on the zip line.

Memorial Day 2010

It ended up to be an okay weekend.

Friday night, Lenore and I went to see Bounty Hunter at the dollar theater. It was just okay. And it's a good thing we got there when we did we got the last two contiguous seats in the third row. The theater filled up. It really was amazing how much I did not laugh during this movie. We picked up Big Daddy's pizza on the way home.

I rode Saturday morning (under constant threat of worsening weather) for 40 miles. I only felt two raindrops. The weathermen seemed to think the weather was going to be worse. We did some work around the house and Lenore and I went out in the evening with Steve and Michelle Young. We went to see Iron Man 2 (which again was okay, not nearly the ride that the first one was) and then ate at the Five Guys hamburger place afterward. It was just slightly better than okay.

Monday morning I drove  down to the Legacy parkway trail to do a 50 mile ride. There were quite a few people on the trail. I didn't have too much trouble with traffic except two yahoos came at me two abreast inside the long tunnel. I don't know what the one rider expected me to do. I yelled at them. I saw a guy on a very low riding handcycle that at first I thought I was going to be able to catch. He seemed to be a little bit more apt to maneuver through that traffic quickly than I was. Then at my first turn around I had a flat tire. So, I rode gingerly back to the Farmington Train station and sat down on a bench and fixed the tire. No more problems after that.

There were a couple of times where I had pretty good speed for extended periods because of favorable winds. But, I was expecting that wind again for the last 5 miles and it didn't materialize. I think the overall impact of the wind was negative. Still I managed to maintain slightly over 19mph and I felt pretty good doing it.

When I got home I did some more yard work with Jensen. Lenore had already spent a couple of hours in the yard. Then I helped Geri put in her window air conditioners. Then it was off to aunt Bless' for the "pool" party.

The whole day was cloudy with nice enough temperatures. We got a small window of sunshine while at the pool. Good thing because the water temperature was only about 58. I went in and Ameer and Laney..... on air matresses. I did get to enjoy the Sun a little. But, we need to get that water warmed up.

Places in my Mission

Google maps and Street View are amazing.

First apartment in Torino.


First apartment in Genova. It's been extensively updated.


Second apartment in Genova.


Apartment in Milan.


Second apartment in Torino.


First apartment in Cremona.


Second apartment in Cremona.

Something to Say

After reading the Articles of Confederation a week or two ago, one idea that comes to me is why are our Senators and Congressmen paid uniformly through a body of the Federal Government? Utah Senators and Congressmen should be paid by their state and their benefits set and regulated perhaps by their State Legislature. Same thing with the State Legislators. Perhaps it would be best if their pay and benefits were established by and paid out from their own districts. So each level's benefits were set by and came from the level it serves. This way they might feel somewhat more beholden to their constituents and somewhat less to the Federal. It almost seems like a conflict of the idea of Balance of Power to have them set their own pay and be paid by a central (federal?) body.

Diktat

I don't like it when Lenore tries to limit my sodium intake. Why should I like it when the FDA steps into her place. Now, if the Government had some sort of interest in my health..... Oh Wait!

Creamy Boy