party people in the house - can ya feel me?
yes yes, ya'll, and ya don't quit.
Mucha-licious is back on the blog.
so i've been having PT for my achilles tendon injury for the past couple weeks, and it's been going pretty well, i guess. just a lot of stretching, box steps, massage, etc. no time on the bike until just this last week, and i was able to ride for an hour without any major pain, so that was actually really great improvement. i'll ride a bit more this week and start to up the mileage gradually to get back on track. yeh.
but what have i been doing in the interim? staring longingly at my bikes wishing i could ride them? well, sometimes, yeah.
but i decided to take the plunge and learn how to snowboard.
snowboard? huh? mucha on a snowboard? actually having to use balance, agility, etc? is that the bizarro mucha?
no, in fact my buddy jaan planned this great ski/snowboard trip to his dad's place in idaho over new years, and in the depth of my depression of non-bike-riding, i decided what the hell - this looks cool - i've got to give it a shot. snowboarding doesn't stress the achilles, so it would be something nice to focus on for a while. but you know, it's just never that easy with me. i came to the resolution that i can't just show up to idaho with zero board time on my hands. i've got to show up as a seasoned pro - or at least as someone who knows how to get on and off the lift. yeah, getting off the lift without always falling - that would be sweet. did i mention i only skied once back in high school on a church trip and that while i did own a skateboard as a teenager, i was absolutely no good at it, and really only succeeded in learning about road rash - something that i still learn about in cycling - funny how that is... still haven't surfed in cali yet, either.
bottom line - it's gonna take a little work.
anyhoo, today was my very first day on the slopes. and as crappy as the conditions were, it was pretty awesome. crappy conditions defined: SoCal hasn't gotten any real snow at the mountains yet. But they're open - how can that be? fake snowmakers, of course. i don't know anything about snow, but apparently the fake stuff is just not as desirable as the real flakes. But the crappy conditions continue! Today was blue skies and pretty warm on the mountain - mid to upper 40's? that means the snow kind of gets melty midday, but then periodically freezes over in ice patches. now one thing i *do* know is that boarding on ice is pretty no good. yeah, turning doesn't work as well. the marging to falling is greatly decreased. did i mention i really need as much margin as possible? :-(
day started off at 5:10 AM wakeup and on the road by 5:30. a couple wrong turns later, and i ended up at Mountain High resort (google it) at 7:45 AM. got my lift ticket, rentals and had a lesson from 9-11. practiced going down the bunny slope toe-side a couple times, then heel-side a couple times, then got the special nod from the instructor and learned how to link the turns. total sweetness. starting to do some real snowsport activity here. felt like a real dude. although, remember, this is still just the bunny slope, and i still was just falling over now and then just for the sake of it.
#1 rule of snowboard club : you don't land on your wrists.
#2 rule of snowboard club : YOU DON'T LAND ON YOUR WRISTS!
Was going down bunny central feeling like the king of the world when i caught a particularly nasty edge on my toe to heel transfer. ka-blammo. tailbone was heading straight for the ground at high velocity, so what does my mind think? dude, put out your hands to break your fall. wow - bad mistake. right wrist really took a beating on that one. had to walk it off and rub some snow on it. ouch. got back up and fell back down again. on the same wrist. holy ka-ka-kabinki. time to take a lunch break.
eating lunch and the wrist is slightly pained. must have hyperextended it - hopefully just that. think - hey, why not go to the first aid hut - maybe they have a doc that could just look at it just in case? no doc, and the ski patrollers are like - yeah, you should leave and get it x-rayed just in case. the wheels are turning in my head, and i say, oh, thanks for the advice. go straight to the pro shop and buy a pair of wrist guards (which i really should have simply gotten in the first place). problem solved. wrists are immobile and protected and i can go on to injuring other parts of my body.
was going down another 'green' slope, but this one had all the ridiculous jumps and crap in it and i was avoiding that stuff like the plague, cause please - i may be a little reckless, but i'm not stupid. avoiding a rail or something, and i catch an edge - did i mention i was actually going a little faster here - and i just walloped my tailbone (better than the wrists, right?). that's the kind of hit where you just lie there on your back for a cool minute and kind of arch your back to raise your butt off the ground it hurts so much.
at this point, confidence = negative 50. (even less than the beginning of the day [zero] because at least at the beginning of the day i didn't have a clue what the tailbone pummeling felt like (and i was still worrying in the back of my mind about the wrist). just had visions of breaking my ass. going to work and sittting on pillows, etc "yeah, i broke my ass."
had to take it easy to the bottom of the hill and take a mountain dew break. was kind of thinking of calling it quits, but was like - huh? who? me? no. i'll just go up the bunny side and take a falling leaf toe-side down the hill. just one run. see how it goes. went fine, but i was very timid. did another. then another with just heely. then i got back to linking the turns and i caught a couple edges (usually on the toe to heel switch) but did plenty where i went down the run just fine. it all comes down to your body knowing how to ride the board quite well, thank you very much, but my mind tries to butt in and mess things up "oh, you're going to fast - you should scrub some speed - oh, but you need to transition too - crash" silence the mind and the board follows the body and things go way better. kind of like that zen stuff again.
finish the day at 4PM - a full day on the fake slopes. driving home to SD and my bum wrist is slightly swolen, which makes it a bit painful to move around. having broken a couple bones, i have a decent idea of what it feels like for me to break a bone, and this didn't feel like that, so I'm thinking it's prolly just sprained or hyper-extended. but what if it's a hairline fracture or something like that? so i get back to san diego and stop by the hospital er before i go home just for a quick look see. went to a less busy (but really good) hospital and got prompt service. x-rays passed - just a sprain. ice - compress - yes! only 1 hr 20 min for the total hospital time, which i thought was a-okay for the er.
in summary :
against all odds, mucha has a brilliant day at the slopes.
wheaties, breakfast of champions.
