Sooner Than Later, I Promise!

My cycling buddy from Texas (who I have no clue who he is) wants to know, what's up, what have I been doing, have I been racing, results, what brand of under garments do I wear? (no, I added that, he didn't want to know my race results) Well, I am not a complainer, but I am running into a time crunch. Sorry. Just being honest. I was out of town last week on business, 6 days off the bike, got back, "raced" my bike 3x, actually 1.5 x, but that's for a different day, back to the office, back to training with my buddies; The Badger, Dr. Larry & Dr. Reid, then on my own for some SRM power fest slugging tonight, blah, blah, blah.

I know, like you care? You just want another awesome blob posting, like all of my other ones, so you can justify being on the Internet to your boss, or spouse. As long as you are on Steve's Blob, all is forgiven, right? Just remember to drink the "Steve's Blob Kool-Aid" and all will be well.

I will have a decent update as soon as I get more than 5 minutes to put it up. I don't want Edgar, president of my fan club to get complaint e-mails & letters for no new blob entries. Wait, that is weird, as Edgar is my alter ego, oh well, erase that.

I Hope I Never See You Again!

Final trip. Seemed to be excited, but knew it had to end. I pretty much knew the outcome, just needed closure, and to say my goodbyes in person. We had spent over 3 years together, and formed some weird relationship. The kind of relationship only a doctor & patient can have. What kind is this you ask? Purely medical.

About 6 months after my accident, I was in a rut, healing wise, as in there was no healing on the left tibia. My ortho doc, Dr. Maxey in Peoria, IL. said he could do no more for me, and that I needed to see a specialist, and he knew the exact one. Two weeks later, I met with Dr. J. Tracy Watson from St. Louis University Hospital and his professional staff. During the first 5 minutes of our initial meeting, we compared surgical scars, although he knew I had him beat. World renown credentials aside, he's pretty cool as a person also.

Over the next 3 years, he performed two bone grafts on my tibia, took care of me, dealt with all of my sometimes crazy e-mails, blog entries, questions, bad jokes, being impatient & sometimes just a pain in the butt. We shared some funny stories, laughed together, and I believe brightened his day on a couple of occasions, but it all has to end. I knew we had to break up, and it would be really easy.

Had my final appointment today. Got to have the final x-rays done, and say my goodbyes. It is going to be really weird not having some doctors appointment on my calendar in the future, as it has been full for the past 3 1/2 years. I am going to miss all of them, although when I left, I told everyone that I hope I NEVER see you again, professionally that is.


Finally! A picture of Dr. Watson & myself without me wearing a hospital gown, having a IV sticking out of my arm, on narcotics, in a hospital in some capacity etc. Feeling pretty good about it!

Mia, Dr. Watson's assistant. I will miss her. She was one of the nicest people associated with Dr. Watson. Always a pretty smile, joked with G & I every time we were there, and always showed care & concern for me. Good luck to you Mia, you were a pleasure to know for the past 3+ years!

X-Ray! What can I say. I was probably the biggest pain in the butt to them, but they laughed me off, and we had fun together. I would always have to read my x-rays before they were sent to the patient room. They tried to stop me at first, but then gave up, and we would joke about it every time. The ladies were awesome, and always made me smile!

SLU, where I will NOT be going back to, by choice that is! Like I said, I hope I NEVER see any of you again, professionally that is!

Final x-rays, which were taken today. A small going away gift from Dr. Watson & St. Louis University Hospital!

I Am Tougher Than YOU!

I can even prove it!

(My friend from Texas, who I have never met or spoken to wrote me with the following after this was posted: "Steve, sounds like the title to your Blob should be as follows, I am dumber than you, and I HAVE proved it" oh well, half-empty or half-full is how I see it) Read on.

Last night, on the regular Tuesday night death march/training ride, we started out with 25 mph winds, and grey skies. Storm? Nah! We were joking about how only 7 of us showed up for the ride, about 10 short of the usual. Man, they were going to miss a great ride, too bad for them, huh?

Of course, at the FARTHEST point on the course, the wind stopped, and the sky opened up, like a gigantic faucet. Pounding rain on us like a mini-Katrina.

We went on. I could barely see at this point, rain was pounding my face so hard. Through the hills, "won" the hill sprint (I don't think anyone contested to be honest) and I look down, my quads are turning purple. I guess when the temp. drops 20 degrees, and raining, that happens.

Then came the hail. Peas size at this point, but collecting on the road. We had to pull off and take cover. 5 minutes later, it all stopped. We trekked on. 3 miles later, another massive hail storm, now marble sized, and it hurt. Pull off to take cover again. The hail stopped, and we trudged on, in the pouring rain.

My legs were so stiff, that they would barely turn over. Got done, about a mile out of town, and of course, got a front flat tire, just to add insult to injury. Rode the flat in, and once back to my car, realized I had a rear flat also!

The worst training ride beats the best day in a wheelchair, any day.

Yippie, Hippie!

My neighbor, Mitchell (he's 10 I think) came taring over to my house on Saturday to show me the newest addition to their family. Hippie The Turtle. I of course had to go over to meet Hippie, and introduce myself. We shared a few stories about our travels in life. I brought him up to speed about my accident/recovery. It seems he had an accident as well, a while back, when he got T-Boned by a carp while he was entering the water. Broke his shell, and was laid up for about 6 weeks. OUCH!

I told him I was back racing the bike, working hard and all of that jazz. He is having fun, enjoying the weather now that hibernation season is over. We went for a stroll through the yard, as he is training for a big race coming up. The competition is a Hare, so he needs to put in long hours on the track.

We said our goodbyes, and wished each other well.

Monsters of the Midway this Saturday! Masters 1,2,3 & Cat 3's in the afternoon. Let me think, 4 corners & perfectly flat. If this is NOT a course for The Turtle himself, please let me know what is!

Crazy For Being A Fool!

I did it again. Raced yesterday, not once, but twice. Vernon Hills Grand Prix Criterium. Did the Masters Category 1,2,3 race & the Cat 3 race right afterward.

Fast, furious & tough. 60+ guys on the line, including my buddy Robert, as seen here, relaxing on the line before the start. The Masters, ie: "old guys" are probably the fastest category on the roster, w/ exception of the Pro, 1, 2, which happens to be almost all masters riders anyway?

Robert & I did the race, 20 man break off the front, Robert bridged, we caught the break with a half lap to go, and I finished a very respectable 18th place, with Robert giving me about a full lap lead out. He's tough, like an alligator skin suitcase.

Here's Robert leading me into the slight uphill, 400 meter, into the wind finishing stretch. I now know why they used to call us the "Dynamic Duo" back in the days. Sacrifice for a friend or teammate is never questioned.

Here's The Turtle, at the start/finish, right before the gun went off, paying attention to the officials instructions. The main thing I keyed in on was that they were not going to pull lapped riders, which I thought was cool, because I thought I may be one of them, but was not. After looking at this photo, I kind of look like 161 lbs. of turtle stuffed into a 140 lb. shell.

The 3's race went fine, just slightly slower than the masters race. 60 miles for the day, and almost 2 hours of racing in. Now that's training!

Just Thought This Was Funny!

This is what my dog, Sam would look like if I shrunk her down to a mini-dog!