A Plan

Cool composite image from today's
computed tomography (CT) scan.
Navicular fracture circled in red.

Today I went to the Exton Mall for my CT scan. Main Line Health has just opened a snazzy facility right in between Victoria's Secret and Radio Shack. It is a little weird and a lot genius. Check in, grab a latte at Saxby's coffee, get your CT scan, and grab a pair of socks at Macy's on your way back to the car.

The CT scan confirmed a break all the way through but non-displaced which is good, but still looks like I'll get that titanium I've always wanted. I was thinking ti bike frame but will have to settle for a ti surgical screw. I will get my titanium on Monday followed by 6-8 weeks immobilized in a splint then (hopefully) saddle up and begin training for The Tour duh on May 10.

At least now I have a plan.

Chris

"Safe biking is no accident"
     -- unknown

Torture

Business Plan took up the entire
back of the beer menu. So YES
Bryan we did pick up a pencil!

Yesterday I tortured myself by:

• Buying a new Reba fork from Merlin Cycles dot com for $276. That's a really  great price for a fork that I can't install on a bike that I can't ride.
• Meeting some fellow bike riders at Victory so we could start developing our business plan for "The Tour duh"

At the same time, I saved myself some pain (and a lot of one fingered typing) by stealing Mark's email summary for my blog post. I think he wrote it in the form of a list to make it easier for us to grasp (short attention spans):

1. Corinne will be our waitress moving forward.
2. MR now knows what FW means...again.
3. The "happening" beer is Dirt Wolf.
4. Next time go with the salesman, we are MTB racers.
5. Free alcohol from the table next to you is good.
6. Our enthusiasm for all things Cranston related is very much alive and can bring everyone off topic instantly. Special thanks to Chris R for this.
7. We are a tall group...well most of us.



Guest Blogger and future
Baja 1000 winner

8. Oh, we did agree on the date. The Tour Duh is slated for May 10 @ 9am. This means FW around 7:30 am.

Cinco

"You guys are so funny. I thought you were short."
     -- our favorite waitress

Clairvoyant

This is the third time I have posted an x-ray
on this blog. I think three is plenty. 

For the record, yesterday afternoon I made the following predictions about the impending Friday Happy Hour Ride and what might happen when we enter a drinking establishment clad in muddy sweaty bicycle clothes:.

1. At Chelsy's it is awkward initially but by the time we leave everyone is asking when we'll be back (this is based on first hand experience).
2. At Crossroads it is antagonistic and it ends very badly. We leave violently out the side door, one person goes to the hospital in an ambulance with sirens blaring.
3. At Station Taproom a couple hipster beer snobs put down their calamari long enough to roll their eyes behind their nerd geek retro eyeglasses but that's about it. Nobody notices when we leave.

The awesome thing is that all of these places are within a half mile of each other, we can make a game time decision on which experience we want to blog about tomorrow.

Looking back I'd say Clairvoyant is not too strong a word to describe these predictions. Let's examine them one at a time to see if you agree:

Prediction #3 - pretty much spot on except instead of fried calamari it was hand cut fries seasoned with black truffle infused sea salt. But the nerd references were pretty spot on and I have to say the craft beers were excellent.

Prediction #1 - again pretty much spot on except we were a little disappointed that some of the original artwork is now obscured by an obnoxious duck hunt video game. 

Prediction #2. No we did not stop at Crossroads which is probably a good thing but the remainder of the night did have some uncanny parallels to the "goes to the hospital" part of this prediction. It started with a track stand held 1-2 seconds too long and devolved into one of those classic "I'm falling over and I'm clipped in and it's really gonna hurt" situations. And yes it did hurt but honestly it seemed like one of those "I'm gonna feel that in the morning" hurts. Not one of those "go to the local clinic in the morning to learn you've fractured your navicular (wrist) and ulna (forearm)" hurts. 

We somehow finished our 5 mile ride home complete with the traditional derby race to the base of the dam (I think Mike and I tied).

It's not easy being Clairvoyant.

Chris

“You do something stupid, you gotta act like it didn't hurt"

     -- unknown

I am not so I won't

If I were superstitious I would keep this to myself for fear of jinxing it.

But I am not so I won't.

With a touch of rain, a lot of cold, and a little luck the east coast could have some out-of-this-world riding on Monday night (see infographic). We're talking east coast slick rock. Grip like velcro. Mountain biking unconstrained by trails. The last time we had this kind of riding was in 2007 and it was just awesome. Anyone who experienced those rides in '07 knows what I am talking about.

So yeah, a lot of stars need to align for this to happen, but they seem to be moving in generally the right direction and if they do align YOU WILL NOT WANT TO MISS IT so be sure your lights are charged and your long undies are ironed because you may need them Monday night.

Chris