davealden.com: Getting Caught Up

Where have you been? Me? Where have I been? Oh, well, let me tell you...

I've been here, doing nothing too exciting. With my last blog entry, I had just come back from the Old School BMX Reunion in California. I had an AWESOME time, but I came back to an intense work schedule, and to time to heal. I had picked up a broken rib while out in CA (who knew they were contagious?), and it took a few weeks to really be back to some level of normalcy.

I took a couple of weeks off from the BMX bike, but I could still ride on the road and trails, although, for a while, climbing, on the mountain bike, was still pretty painful and I'd sometimes just climb with only one hand on the handlebar just to avoid the stress on the left side of my body. One thing that definitely helped get me back to riding quicker than normal was the Smith & Nephew EXOGEN bone growth stimulator. I love technology. MORE>>>

Despite my energetic osteoclasts, I wasn't feeling well enough to race in one of my favorite mountain bike races, the Weeping Willow. I still managed to go and hang out, take plenty of pics, and help with a medical evacuation.

Anyway, in terms of the rib, that's all in the past now.

Pollen in a puddle... Very Van Gogh, huh?

May wrapped up with some MAJOR POLLEN and then me working the holiday weekend. Before I knew it, it was June.

The moonstone month came and went pretty quickly too. And as I sit here on the last day of the month, I'm trying to remember what went down. Incidentally, according to WikiPedia (so you know it's true), June ends on the same day of the week as March every year.

I've been trying to ride as much as I can, which is never enough, especially when I have to choose between my road bike, my mountain bike and my BMX bike. And even then... where do I go? So, I continue to be a "Jack-of-All-Trades," and mix it up between local road rides, mountain bike rides on familiar trails and a day-trip up to North Conway, exploring some new local trails, and flatland BMX at my local spot. I've been on the SS mountain bike, the geared mountain bike, the road bike, the cyclocross bike, the flatland bike, and the jumping/ramp bike. The only problem with my Jack-Of-All-Trades approach is that, as you know, you become the master at none. Going from 20" wheels to 29" wheels is always interesting, especially when my 29'er MTB is twice the size and half the weight of my BMX bike.

Here are some pics from one of my recent rides:

Also in June, I reached what I would expect to be middle-age. I think living 'til 86 would be a fair goal, and if that's the case, at age 43, I'm at my halfway point. I don't know if I'll make it much more than that, and I don't know if I'd want to. I take care of MANY patients in that age range, and I'm a firm believer in quality of life over quantity of life. Although, the oldest living human ever apparently rode her bike until the age of 100. She also smoked cigarettes, ate chocolate and "poured" olive oil on her food. For now, I'll be content to continue my struggle against gravity on my little kid's bike and proudly wear my "Old Guys Who Ride" t-shirt.

Here's a quick, yet lame, video (or, as they're called now, an "edit") I made on my birthing day:

So, other than working, and riding as much as I can (which again, is not enough), Jean and I have been getting the yard in shape. We've planted hydrangeas, azaleas, cut back the forsythias, cut back the grape vines, did TONS of weeding and have been harvesting fresh raspberries. Gotta love edible stuff right from your yard. Long term plans include more veggies, and we've got some fig trees doing their thing too.

Hopefully July will bring some exciting stuff to talk about... Maybe some travel? We'll see. I don't have any races scheduled until later this summer, and then into cyclocross season. That's a good thing, because unless rolling around in circles in a parking lot counts, my training for the 2012 racing season amounts to nada mucho.

I'll leave you with some random pics from the past few weeks. Yeah, aside from not riding nearly enough, I have sorely neglected my camera. I LOVE taking pics, but alas, that's just one more thing to add to the list that I need to get back to doing.

Oh, and for no real good reason that I can come up with, I've been to a couple of concerts lately, and these are NOT concerts that I would have chosen on my own. Neil Diamond one night, and then a few days later, Chris Isaak. So yeah, not really my cup of tea so to speak, but I will give props to both entertainers.

First off, Neil Diamond is 71yrs old, and he's still out there. His show was definitely geared toward to older crowd, but hey, he's been making music for 50yrs. That's a hell of a career. He sold out the TD Garden (about 20,000 seats), and he's got a 41yr old wife. Respect to the man who is forever in blue jeans. The hour it took to get out of the parking garage SUCKED however.
Next, I went to see Chris Isaak. Again, I've never been a "fan," and even after the concert I still couldn't name one of his songs, but he put on a great show. He was entertaining and his opening act, Chelsea Berry, was very good too.

Taking pics at each of these concerts was certainly a challenge. All were taken with my hand held compact Canon G10. For Neil Diamond, I was waaaaaaaay up in the balcony (next to the last row), and for Chris Isaak, I was closer, but the people's heads in front of me were always in the way...