What the heck is going on?

Yeah, I suck.  My bad. 

Let's see....

Janky Elbow

Janky Elbow continues to be janky, though slightly less so.  I can fully extend it about 60% of the time now, which is sadly an improvement.  I've just sent off an email to my doc to get a referral to an orthopedic doctor with the ultimate goal of physical therapy.  

I was hoping to avoid PT, but it's been 5.5 weeks since I've ridden a motorcycle now and the elbow isn't healed yet.  Time to bring out the big guns.

XT225

I'm still hoping to attend the Chain Gang Altitude Sickness 2.0 ride in September.  It seems a little ambitious right now to be planning a ~600 mile weekend when I haven't even been able to ride around the block lately, but I'm delusional and optimistic.

F650GS

The nice part about taking time off from the bikes is that I get to do a bunch of modifications that would otherwise be a pain in the ass.

So far, I've ordered Rox handlebar risers, which bring the bars slightly up (bad) but much farther back (good).  I haven't done an installation report yet, since we're still tweaking things, but here's the gist so far:

The two downsides to this mod are that I have to order a longer brake line (which I've been steadily forgetting about for the past week) and I have to have the Rick Mayer seat slightly tweaked.  With the bars up a little bit from stock, I need the seat to be higher in order for my shoulder/elbow angle to be OK.  

Given the bike has a low suspension and I wear boots with risers, I should be able to have about 1/2" or 3/4" added to the seat without a problem. Right now I'm sitting on an Airhawk while testing angles in the garage, and it seems OK.

I swear, in my next life I will be 5'6".  

Hockey

Hockey is going really well, as thank goodness Janky Elbow isn't keeping me off the ice.  I'm probably overcompensating a bit for the lack of riding by getting super involved with hockey, but it's keeping me (relatively) sane.

My NCWHL team, the Drunken Pirates, are really a great team and just a joy to play with.  We're in second place in the division but, more importantly, have a ton of fun when we play.  I know I say that every season, but this team really does rule.  We're actually passing and making plays and have little pirate cheers.  

In other NCWHL news, I've join the board of directors as the league Treasurer.  I told you, overcompensation. ;) I'm a bit terrified of it, but that's generally a good indication that I'm doing the right thing.

Team Danger, at Ice Oasis, is sadly out of the playoffs after just one game.  We somehow wound up in first place based on points and penalty minutes (there was a four-way tie for first) but got our asses handed to us by the CPC Waves in the first playoff game.  Oops!  This was a pretty decent season for Team Danger; we had a little bit of a hero complex going ("I alone shall save this game!  Who are these other four players on the ice wearing the same jersey as me? Pish tosh! I alone shall win!") but -- frankly -- I've never been on a coed team that didn't have that going a little bit.

In other Ice Oasis news, I'm going to be joining the Thursday night league as well.  I told you, overcompensation. ;)  Thursday is also a coed league, like Monday nights (Team Danger), but Monday is mixed-level and Thursday is ostensibly done by skill level.  

So next season, I'll have my NCWHL team, Team Danger, and a Thursday night team at Ice Oasis.  Whew.

OK, I think you're all caught up now!  See you again in another month. ;)