Chiro "magic"

Things are a crackin'! This guy is pretty cool. He is the resident Doc/ paramedic for the Rat City Roller girls so he's GOT to get points for that. Roller Derby has a special place in my heart as one of the Lil' Derby 100 at Marymoore last year. Or Something like that....

Photo evidence, hopefully I will not get reamed by the other ladies in the picture, but if you know these gals you'll know they are not shy ;)

Anyhow, the chiro seems to be making some progress, things all over my back are moving. Guess that is what they are supposed to do. I am sore from all the manipulations 3X with him and 1X at PT has left me tender, but I can already feel more flexibility in my back and the deep pain while sleeping has lessened. Good good good! I will see how I feel after the team ride tomorrow. Here's hoping for more goodness!

new approach

We had the Meet the Team Ride yesterday. All went well, the weather was favorable and the newbies were pretty cool. Definitely some good additions to the women's team is possible. This is the second team ride I have been on since that spring. The good news is that the effort was easy the bad new is that by the time we reached Coulomb Park my back was not feeling good. I consciously worked on keeping my abs engaged and not hinging on the part of my back that is still injured. It helped but today I feel like I was body slammed. Not encouraging for winter riding when it is cold and I am on my tank of a rain bike.

Tomorrow I go to a new Doc. This is a Chiro, never been to one, in fact I have actively avoided them. My PT says this guy is different, he primarily sees athletes and doesn't sign you up for lifetime "adjustments", 2 or 3 times is all he will see me. If that doesn't help then I am off to either a spinal doc or another doc for injections in the scar tissue.

I just want to get this behind me. I have been diligent about going to the gym and working on core strength, I have been commuting and keeping my fitness from slipping any further. I am motivated to get strong and to be ready to really race next season but I can't do it if I wake up after a MTTR in pain like today. Yesterday's ride is far from what the winter has in store for training.

In other news, the IMA at the UW finally got spin bikes! I am sure I am not the only one that kept asking for them for the last couple of years. I start spin classes in Oct twice a week during my lunch hour. Only $50 for the entire series, coolness. Tried to get into the Cycle U classes but I can't swing the cash or times. Hopefully I will get to do some of the indoor TT's there, they are a great reality check for fitness.

For now I am keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow is a step towards recovery.

The roof, the roof...

I just can't help myself I guess. I have already found a new house project. This one is less intense but does give me the opportunity to once again use my newly found skill set.

It all started with replacing the roof on my garage. This was a much needed project that I paid to have done, the roof was very old if not original 1925, not sure> It leaked like crazy and made the garage less than usable once the rain would start. Plan now is to use it as my trainer room.

While the roof was off I took the opportunity to replace a switch in the garage attic that hadn't been working right. I turned of the garage panel like a good little electrician an began the quick replacement. Once I got into the metal box I knew that it was a good thing I was taking care of this, the side of the switch was melted and there were burn marks in the box. ( All I could hear in my head was the roof! the roof! the roof is on FIRE!) Does that date me?? Anyhoo... I started to disconnect the switch the hot side disintegrated and broke off as soon as I lifted it out. The guy (THC Dude as I *affectionately* call him) who wired it used electrical tape and no wing nuts putting all of the neutral and grounds together, bad idea... really. The black hot wire was stripped way too much and had made contact with the ground and neutral through the tape and over time had burned through. This is one of the leading causes of house fires!! (again, the roof!the roof! the roof is on FIRE!) I reached in to strip off the corroded hot wire and got zapped! "No way!" I thought "the power is totally off to the garage!" Guess not if I am getting shocked, turns out somewhere this THC Dude buried wires from the house to the garage. No idea where they are but my guess is that they are just under the grass somewhere, great fun...

Now I am trapped by my own inability to let a project sit and wait, I need to fix this wiring. OCD? no not quite, I just don't like fix it things looming over me I like to complete them so I can do something else. Like clean up the entire garage and turn it into a super cool winter workout and training room.

The new roof is great, only problem is the guys didn't have time to put the gutters back on this will create a new flooding problem in the garage. Mr. Roofer Boss Guy (RBG) called to schedule the gutter install and while I had him on the phone I wanted to let him know about a little "present" that his guys left behind. After they left I found an almost full beer bottle on my garage floor, now it was a nice micro brew bottle same kind that I had recently purchased. I didn't drink one in my garage, and I don't leave them 1/2 full. Hmmm, what could this be? my first though was correct, pee in my bottle that was left in the recycling. Nice, real nice, I love disposing of others bodily fluids. I was very nice when I told Mr. RBG about what happened, the guys were polite and cleaned up everything else but it wasn't cool and was kinda gross (ya think?) to have to get rid of their pee. Mr. RBG was apologetic (he said he felt like a poopy diaper) and would get to the bottom of it. I suppose no pun was intended and I don't know where the bottom really is, I am still waiting to hear back. Sure would like to get the gutters that are sitting in my yard actually attached to my garage...