Monday, June 30, 2008

Daily Rituals

    since i haven't been working for 5 weeks now, i have a ton of time internet surfing AND most of it is spent on looking for bike stuff or deals.

    one of my new favorite sites to check daily is ChainLove. it has some pretty good bike deals daily, from bike sox's to winter gear. lately i have been seeing a lot of gurls stuff on there.

    my other favorite site to watch is Steep and Cheap. at Steep and Cheap, they sell premium, core outdoor gear and clothing at prices that are downright criminal. they sell one screamin' deal at a time until it's gone. the deals are fat (up to 80% off and no less than 50% off), so they sell out fast. you have to act fast or you'll miss it, but don't stress-as soon as one deal sells out, they kick off another.

    today, i saw this bumper stick on a car it said, save the ta-ta's. sock guy is selling the sock but here's the official ta-ta site... save the ta-ta's.


cancer sucks.
~dirty bert

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

House Arrest!

    so you'd think after 4 weeks of being home, i'd make at least 1 post on this blog. 2 weeks ago, i felt like i was on house arrest, instead of having that bracelet on my ankle, i have a brace around my back and chest.

    you see almost 5 weeks ago, on May 31st, i fell mountain biking, a freak accident is what i like to call it. a friend and i were riding chimney rock and decided to do 1 more trail. i usually don't ride that trail because its physical with the roots, rocks and ruts. so as i was climbing this hill, i lost my steam (i think) and wanted to unclip, with my right foot but i didn't do it in enough time. so instead of falling to the sides, like we most do, who ride with clipless, i fell backwards, with great speed and force. i landed, back first into a huge fallen tree on the ground.

    i remember screaming in pain, a wave of nausea, sweeping my body and i didn't want to move because the pain was that bad. my friend wasn't to far behind me, but didn't see me fall, because the fallen tree was that big and was laying in the apex of the turn. i had fallen backwards and smashed my lower back into the tree. i had a camelback on and THANK GOD i did because it cushioned my fall and back. but where the camelback didn't cover, my lower back, is where the pain was.

    after maybe a half and hour i was on my feet, in some excruciating pain and i used the bike as a crutch to walk out of the forest. i honestly thought i broke or bruised some ribs and maybe even my kidney because the pain had gone to my groin. i think it took us about 45 minutes to walk out of the woods and back to the car, where my friend put the bikes back on the car and i painfully got back into the car to drive home. yes, i drove home. 45 minutes later, i dropped him off and called another friend to see if he'd drive me to the hospital but first meet me at my house.

    at the hospital, i waited an 1 hr and 15 minutes to get an x-ray, in all that time i stood up because it was to painful to sit down. i got a CT scan and minutes later, my wife and i found out i broke 5 vertebrate's in my lower back and had internal bleeding. SUPER, FANTASTIC, AWESOME, BRAVO, GOOD JOB!!

    well this whole time, since i was laying on the ground to now, all i could think is, my wife is going to KILL ME! recently my wife and i were told, that we were going to be blessed with TWINS in december. yes, wonderful news but she'd didn't need this stress.

    ok, so to wrap this long winded story, i spent a week in the hospital where i was fitted with a back brace. i was told it would take 6 weeks for my bones to heal and this monday will be my 5th week. i also have to wear this huge back brace for 6 weeks and i only take it off to shower. i can't ride a bike, drive a car or lift anything heavy for 2 months and i'm out of work till september with my short term disability. i'm getting an x-ray this tuesday and hopefully a follow up appointment with my neurosurgeon, the following week. i'm keeping my finger's crossed, so that the doctor will tell me, i'm healed and i can remove the brace, no surgery is needed and i can return to work and be able to drive again. we shall see!

happy trails and
please ride for me!
~dirty bert