Rumplestiltskin

The title is still fomenting.

So, Friday is Bike and bean shop ride @ 2:00PM. I show up along w/ a few locals and tourons. I learn that a couple from Olympia on a road trip started back in march last year are along. They have been traveling western states seeking a place to resettle. They like Whistler, he rode well but she can’t peddle uphills. One guy was from Portland. I rode last keeping the above 2 ahead of me. A mistake for my riding was following someone worse than me as my mental picture was schnockered. Both struggled on Hiline then came the tougher transcept. The guy said he was not used to riding a 6″ single track. he didn’t know how to use his front brake. The ride had a longer plan that fell apart after Jimmy sliced a sidewall causing him to ride the road out. I was fried from bad image and rode out also as did the rest of the group. Beer and pizza @ the shop. I didn’t feel well and needed food other than pizza. I drove to Danny’s and fixed my quick chicken sweet potatoes and broccoli dinner that filled us w/ comfort food. Danny shared a bottle of wine.

I was taking 40mg of prednisone for my headache and some vicadin for pain. Fri night i didn’t sleep from the pain. Sat after bfast I called my DR. She said I should go up to Flag to the hospital for treatment, possible IV steroids and testing she couldn’t do in VOC. Shit. I drove up canyon to the hospital emergency room. I packed my computer, cell phone, charging devices, toiletries, and shorts and walked in. I was shortly admitted to a bed in trauma. The ER DR questioned me, I supplied data from my notes. He ordered blood work and a CAT scan w/ contrast requiring an IV. The first tech stuck my right arm but a valve in my vein blocked blood flow. One bed over a young guy was strung out on heroin and moaning. I was moved to an observation location where a male nurse poked the left arm where blood flowed. next was the CAT, I visited that room last spring because of the blood clot. Contrast was squirted into my vein for a good picture. Back in my stall the DR updated me: INR of 3.4, way too high but not causing headache. The 3D model of my brain showed no bleeding from the whack I took to the head on Friday’s ride when I concentrated on the trail and missed the large tree branch above. He said that IV steroids would be not needed and that my high protein test that would indicate a temporal arteritis was just barely high and that I did not fit the demographics of TA. He gave me a script to percocette for the pain that the vicadin won’t knock down and told me to wear a helmet. I asked about physical activity, he said take Sunday off to let my INR level drop, again caution about head injury. He was envious of my life’s adventure. And I walked out into the late afternoon sunshine no further towards discovering the solution to my headache. I drove back down canyon for meds @ Walgreens. I arrived after they closed.

Sat night I watched Last of the Mohicans that was set in upstate New York; however it was shot in the Blue Ridge mtns of NC. I was told that the scene of them hiking under the h2ofall was Bridal Veil  falls in DuPont Sp outside Brevard, NC. I hiked underneath the falls 2 summers ago. The movie stirred the desire to get back east to Appalachia.

Sunday i spent the day @ Deer Pass road reading, Townie, by Andre Dubus lll. Bob Edwards interviewed him that stirred a reading interest. I read all day till midnight as both the book held my attention and i couldn’t sleep. His upbringing was about being preyed upon then becoming someone to fear then to finally writing that brought him out of his violence. I finished it today.

The forecast for today called for winds and probability of rain turning to snow tonight. I needed to ride b4 the weather changed. The winds picked up blowing sand from the dry land. My mouth breathing  didn’t filter out the fine dust. My lungs are wracked. I rode back on Shades where the sand was rippled like sand dunes blowing over bike tracks. i encountered just hikers on the trails that I exchanged greetings and they me. Cordial.

I am liking these softer  PI shoes that coupled w/ my bike’s tuned suspension seems to rocket up the step ups I will commit to. I am getting more confidence. I look @ the step up to plot my trajectory while pedaling towards it. From my plotting distance I can make it; however as I get nearer I lower my vision to the base and chicken out because it appears to be so much higher.

No word from insurance broker about bike coverage.

My VOC DR upped my prednisone to 60mg that makes me jittery and wired so much that I can’t sleep.

Tomorrow is see what the weather brings.