Back in Hanover

Blog readers-

As usual, I must apologize for my lack of attentiveness to the blog. I have been thinking about it and taking lots of pictures to put up, but life has been pretty crazy lately. As you may know, I went home for about a week. The trip was a whirlwind and that contributed to my truant blogging. So, here's the rundown.

Tuesday, 7/21: After a wonderful goodbye lunch for our intern Kyla, it was time for me to say goodbye too. I hustled it down to Manchester and had a safe, event-free trip home on Southwest through Baltimore. I was beat from lots of work and teaching Kaplan the night before, so it was great to just sleep on the plane. I was also suffering from a bit of overtraining syndrome. I was tired all of the time, my heart would race when I would lay down, I was achey, and I was getting outsprinted by guys with whom I should have been. Plus, Southwest just gets it done. I love it. It was great to get home, see Mom, Gary, and Annie, and just zonk out.




Wednesday, 7/22: The requisite errand day at home. Haircut in the morning. Pho noodles with Kristen for lunch. Teeth cleaning. Acupuncture. REI run. Packed and picked up by Dad. Karyn's brother and sister-in-law were in town for dinner. Karyn made an incredible summer meal. Of course it was great to see Dad, Karyn, and Sophie!

Thurs, 7/23: Despite ominous skies and a late start after chorizo and eggs, Dad and I headed for Buff Creek where we rode for several hours. It was a great time, and the weather ended up holding just fine. Dad thought that BC was amazing and beautiful, and he even got to ride some trail that was lovingly built by Steve, me, and several hundred other people. Kristen and Suzie, Karyn's friend, came up for a wonderful dinner on the deck.










Fri, 7/24: Still up at Dad's house, I woke up with an insane pinch in my lower left back. That stupid 26 inch bike did me in. Ride plans were cancelled, and dad carted me off to the chiropractor. The craziest part of the whole experience was when he did xrays. He came in the room and said, "So, had some abdominal surgery?" and flipped on the backlight. I must have almost 40 clamps inside me. Crazy. I can't believe that I haven't set off the metal detector at the airport. No immediate difference in the back, but wasn't expecting miracles. Spent the rest of the day getting the Karate Monkey setup for me to ride with Steve the next day. Dad carted me back to Denver for the night. Mom, Gary, and I went over to Auntie's house for dinner with Auntie, Uncle John, Eli, and Emma. Emma is turning into a little person already, and Eli is firmly into the "mine!" and "no!" thing.

Sat, 7/25: I was up before dawn, and headed to the high country, miraculously free of back pain. Steve and I met in Pine Junction, consolidated to one car, and continued on down 285. Hugs were shared and ride plans were solidified. It was Como to Breck and back. It was the ride that he and I shared not long after we first met almost two years ago now. Its hard to believe. I can't imagine my life without Steve now.

We crested Kenosha and sped across the beautiful park. Pulling into Como is always breathtaking and exciting. We suited up and were off. It became apparent very rapidly that I was happy to have gears AND a 29er. I was already feeling the altitude. The gears made keeping up with Steve doable, though. We climbed the Gold Dust trail. We climbed and simultaneously railed the ever-so-banked-in-all-directions Flume Trail. We busted out above treeline. And we summited Boreas Pass. The trails down to Breck were far better than I remembered, partially because Breck has invested huge time and money to make them so. Very, very cool. After a rest in Breck, I was feeling fatigued and worried about our big climb back. We opted for the Pennsylvania Creek pass route, which is mostly on steep 4wd road. Though the climb was long and steep, we settled in and kept a nice rhythm. Again, passing treeline was almost magical for me.

We began to descend. It began to drizzle. And then I crashed...hard. I wasn't going fast, and Steve had warned me that the road was sketchy, loose, rutted out, and very, very steep. Still, I got on a bad line, tried to recover, had the front wash out, and was thrown from the bike into a ditch. I'm not sure exactly how I landed, but my right hand and my head took the brunt of the impact. My ring finger was decimated, and my helmet was scarred from rocks. I had silty soil in every orifice. Still, I was alive, and I was fine. I was able to ride out with some pain in my hand. I opted to skip the last section of trail in favor of the dirt road to save my hand the bashing of the rigid fork. Ultimately, it was a smart choice because we pulled up to the car, and it started to rain. What an epic ride Steve. Thank you.

Slideshow from Steve's album and my album:



I arrived home to Mom's house to meet Kolene and family who had just returned from their own epic Grand Canyon adventure. We had a wonderful dinner, but everyone had a pretty early bedtime. I was smoked, and they had to get up around 5 to get Mike to the airport. It was very cool to have Kolene see my life in Denver, though.

Sun, 7/26: I awoke from the insane swelling sensation in my hand. Going into the bathroom, I found that I did not recognize my own appendage. I couldn't see three of my knuckles, and a sizeable bruise was beginning to develop in my palm. Though there was no point tenderness, and there wasn't a lot of pain, the swelling sensation was very uncomfortable.




Ride plans with Kate and Spencer were cancelled, and epic cooking with Dad was laid solely on his shoulders. Still, I saw Kate and Spencer at their beautiful new condo. And of course, I met Churro, their new puppy. Cute is an understatement, but so is feisty. I'm so jealous of Kate and Spencer's lives!

Stuart and Samantha came up to Dad's house for dinner, where we had an incredible feast. It was so great to see them. Samantha is getting very, very close. Oh man...baby Stuart. I can't believe it. I headed home to Denver, as I couldn't stand packing again with my bum hand.

Mon, 7/27: Mom and I met Melissa, Eli, and Emma at the pool in Lone Tree. We had a great time swimming with Eli and in the beautiful Colorado sun. Afterwards, Mom and I ran a ton of errands, and she got me the major hookup on some new shorts and shirts. Aren't moms awesome? Mom had an event that night, so Gary and I feasted at El Parrel and splurged on Dairy Queen afterwards.

Tues, 7/28: Jean and I went hiking at Alderfer/Three Sisters in Evergreen. Though it was overcast, it was the perfect temperature to hike, and the cloudiness made it seem very quiet and tranquil. Afterwards, we hit up the infamous pizza lunch buffet at Beau Jo's. It was good to see Jean and wrap up a few more loose ends in my life. Still, a few moments of rehashing old issues is inevitable with any ex.

On the way home, I dropped dad's bike with him and said my final goodbye to him. The afternoon and evening was spent packing. For dinner we went to New Orient and had a Vietnamese feast. It is never easy to leave home, though. My nerves were running a little high.

Wednesday 7/29: The earliest morning yet. I was up at 4:20 to head to the airport. Again, Southwest performed without incidence. I was able to sleep quite a bit too, a very good thing considering that I had to teach a Kaplan class that night. Traveling with my bum hand was major drag, though. Arriving in Manchester, it was wonderful to hop in my own car and have control over my own destiny once again. I had just enough time to make a comprehensive grocery run and come back to dinner made by Kolene. And then I was off to teach Kaplan! Wow...tiring. Rain starts.

Thurs 7/30: Back to work. Sue examines hand, orders xrays, no breaks. Helped a new classmate move in. Ran into Leo there...great... Grilled out with Kolene. Still no riding. Rain.

Friday 7/31: Work again. Anna moved out. Kaplan again! Yeesh. I'm beat. Rain.

Saturday 8/1: Karl moves in! And I meet his girlfriend, Sadie. They are the best!!! The similarities and compatibilities between all of us are just uncanny. I have never, ever been so excited to live with someone. Karl is the man. And Sadie is the woman. After helping them a bit with moving and showing them around, I went for my first ride since the injury. It was a beautiful day. Maybe I was concentrating too hard on my new Edge 705 computer, but I sure felt like sh*t. Slow, weak, painful. Hopefully these couple weeks of rest will pay off in the long run, but right now I'm once again disappointed in my fitness level. Injuries and little riding notwithstanding, it is very difficult to maintain the same muscle mass when I go home to altitude in Colorado and am limited by my cardiovascular system.

Karl, Sadie, and I went to see Funny People. I recommend it, though it is not your typical film.

Sun 8/2: Racing the rain, I went for a MTB ride with the new wheelset. I have *never* seen the trails so wet as they are now. I was riding through mud and standing water the entire time. Hand felt pretty good. Still felt very slow, but it was good to wring the legs out from Saturday.




Spent the afternoon wrenching on the bikes, baking Zuchinni and Banana Bread with Kolene, and just tidying up.

Comments: Phew...that's it. What an update. I'm still not feeling totally settled in Hanover yet. Like I said, it was not easy to leave home. I even had apprehension about going home and bringing up those kinds of feelings. It is also very, very weird to have next years med school class start to arrive. I'm very happy that I can be there to help Karl get started and settled, but I'm also nervous about starting myself and trying to maintain the level of integration and separation for which I'm hoping with my new class.

Needless to say...my home and personal life will be FAR more sorted this time around. I can only hope that that will make things much, much easier. And I hope that it makes things easier for Karl too.