My bike & I are doing well :)

LeeBob & I took my Lynskey over to wheelgirl in Berkeley yesterday (Sunday) to get it checked out after my crash.

(FWIW, wheelgirl just moved to the corner of San Pablo Ave & Camelia St. in Berkeley, near REI & Gilman St. )

The Lynskey is in remarkably good shape. We were joking over the fact that I took the brunt of the fall to save my bike (heh, yeah, I meant to do that).

The Lynskey R230 frame has replaceable rear derailleur hanger which is a nice feature since mine will need to be replaced - much better than repairing the entire frame, that's for sure! - and a couple of spokes may need to be replaced on the rear wheel, which will need to be re-trued. And the cable cover on the rear der has to be replaced. The Brooks Team Pro saddle is a bit scuffed up on the right back side but that's mainly just cosmetic, and can be fixed w a good leather polish/protectant.

Apart from that though, not much else! The XTR rear derailleur is a bit scuffed up and Kurt (mechanic extraordinaire) will double-check it once the der hanger is replaced, but apart from that everything else (including the frame, the fork and seatpost) have a clean bill of health.

The bike came through this much better than did I. :D

As for me - I'm resting up, not rushing anything. I still have some double vision which is a real PITA, but that is getting better gradually. I'm under an opthamologist's care, no worries. My right shoulder is still a bit achey but it's on the upswing. My back is healing fine, no problems as far as I can tell. I'm off work for another couple of weeks. My return to biking will be sometime after that, I suppose. :p

I'm still wearing my removable vest-like brace most of the time. I hum the "I Am Ironman" tune to myself when I wear it. (If you saw the movie with Robert Downey Jr. you'd know where I'm coming from :D ) I'm halfway tempted to get a plastic facetted bowl to wear on the front to complete the Ironman look, but so far I have resisted the urge...

I'm getting so envious reading about other peoples' rides though! Especially all of the great rides my TNT Death Ride (ex-)teammates are going on. Oh well, them's the breaks.

And it's still sinking in that my Big Plan for the summer -- riding All Five Passes of the Death Ride -- won't be coming to fruition. I hate to admit that I put so much of my psyche into this one ride!

But hey, there are plenty of other rides. I hope to be ready for the Crater Lake Century in Southern OR in mid-Aug, or at least be able to ride a good part of it. The double century the weekend before my 50th birthday (the Solvang Autumn DC in Oct.) is in the big fat "perhaps" column; I was hoping to shoot for that if I managed the DR. My new motto nowadays is "vee shall see". :^)

Woo hoo, Brian & Roberta!

Heere's Brian, a Death Ride TNT team member and last years' SF area LLS Man of the Year, chatting it up with Roberta Gonzales of Ch. 5, a candidate for this years' SF area LLS Woman of the Year.

More info about the LLS Man & Woman of the Year is here.

And here's more about the SF Bay Area LLS Man & Woman of the Year campaign.

Cheers, you all!

Thank you so much Susan & Fatty!!

A couple of months ago Elden Nelson, aka Fat Cyclist, posted on his blog that his fabulous wife Susan was making wonderful bracelets and those who donated X dollars to his Livestrong fundraiser might get in line to get one.

Well being a big fan of Fatty & of Susan I was totally in on that! They are freakin' lovely bracelets, and my cheers and support go to Susan, as well as my good pal Cyndi, who I posted about a couple of weeks back.

Now of course Susan could only make these when she was up to it, so I more-or-less got it out of my head, hoping that maybe I'd receive one by mid-July in time to wear on the Markleeville Death Ride, which I've been training for with TNT.

Well, as Alanis would say, Isn't it ironic? (dontcha think)

Much to my surprise, my own beautiful, wonderful bracelet arrived in the mail for me this week, while I was still in the hospital recuperating from my crash last Saturday. The crash that's gonna keep me from riding the Death Ride after all. Dammit! :p

and Yay!!! The bracelet is beautiful, and means so much to me.




(hee hee, ignore the road rash, it'll go away soon enough..)

Waaay cooler than a yellow wristband, indeed! Win Susan! Win Cyndi!

I'm going to wear it all the time (within reason of course).

I'll wear it during my recuperation over the next few weeks, on my first tentative pedals back on the bike (probably on the trainer), and my baby steps back on the Road. And I'll of course wear it on my first big event, possibly the Crater Lake Century in mid-August; hopefully I'll be back up to snuff by then. And Susan and Fatty and Cyndi will be there every step of the way. :)

Thanks for motivating me a little bit more. Susan and Fatty totally rock!! And Cyndi too. :)

Hugs, - Jo

I'm off the bike for a while :(

Hi all -

I had a crash in the last few miles of my DR Training Ride last Saturday, so I'll be off the bike for at least another few weeks. I'll elaborate a bit more, later. In the meantime, more info is here:

Thread on bikeforums

Thread on Team Estrogen

Thanks so much for all the well-wishes!

- Jo.