Big news!: rode the Spot today on desert road @ JEM TH. Down & back up pedaling easily and going very slowly over any rough stuff. 1 hour 45 mins, 12 miles. Long way to get back up. Happy to ride w/ some physical effort. I have lost about 3 pounds of muscle mass and my cardio is shot. I kept my heart rate down and didn’t pee blood.

Yesterday I replaced my Turner pivot bushings w/ ones made by PUSH that were given to me but I never got around to installing them. I did that yesterday as well as washed the bike. The suspension was soo smooth pedaling in the parking lot I needed to find out today if I put the bike back together correctly. Very gingerly i rode out the desert road and slowing down for all the dips to minimize any shock. And on the uphills I kept my hr way low. I was pleased with how I disciplined myself and how my body felt. Today is 4 weeks & a day since fall.

I still have pain in my left front below the rib cage probably from the hematoma.  Hydrocodone dulls that. I have a pretty severe cold hampering me.

Tomorrow is ST George for van service.

I ordered a solar charger for the rig battery that will arrive this week. I will set it in sun and plug it into the cigarette lighter to back charge the battery while listening to the sound system.

Zags played a big body hit game last night against Cincinnati and forced a come from behind overtime and won in OT. GU is for real w/ 10 freshmen w/ 1 starting. Watched @ Players again, getting to be friendly w/ a partner, a manager, and several servers. New place. Beer choices suck but that is Utah common.

Yesterday on my ride of the trails I found a tucked away spot behind 2 buildings blocking main road traffic and noise w/ wheels almost on the trail. 22 degrees @ get up.

Today plan was to road ride a bit further today trying to ride to Washington city, eat T-day dinner @  Players, and camp back @ JEM TH.

Wasn’t able to ride trails to Washington, ended up on streets. Washington has a trails system also, perhaps plans are to join the systems. Washington county also. My bike computer is also a heart rate monitor which I pay attention to when the sun doesn’t block out the readings. I noticed on the return route way high hr; I slowed and it dropped probably as fast as it rose. I reviewed the results downloaded into my laptop and saw pulse variations. My effort didn’t justify the highs. Suspect & hope that errant readings were caused by no sweat to keep the chest strap pickups picking up heart rate. Hope so. Mileage at erratic was 12 miles.

My mother was born in Washington Courthouse, Ohio, Dad’s foundry is in New Washington, Ohio, I lived in Washington state for 28 years. I am currently staying in Washington county, Utah. Feels like home.

Changed clothes and walked 2 blocks to Players. The partner & managers recognized me as did several servers. Thanksgiving dinner cooked from scratch and well done. I served myself a normal serving on a huge platter, I chose not to pig out. It was a buffet so I was protected for another round should my serving disappear.  Several staff people visited w/ me and we engaged in conversation. One server, young & attractive, whom I met nights earlier and we could say hi to each other during later visits shared that she is marrying into money from her partners side. She had 4 previous engagements w/ men that she laughs at upon reflection. And my server is 38 has 5 kids and we were engaged in this lesbian subject conversation. I took a small second helping but I left a bit of food. Bad, my eyes were too big, I could have stuffed it in.

Nice day. Drove back to JEM th, temp 58, calm, bright sun. I sat in m y chair outside reading Wendell Berry.  A review on the back cover says, “Berry is at his best when his characters’ competent, self-sufficient lives are thrust against the brutal forces of modernity.” The past what we remember and perhaps the choices we made to get here today.  Great writing but I get the blues reading it. I measure myself against his characters and think of what i could have been but would I have realized it. The choice is gone. I tell people I would like to have been a fire lookout in my younger day. Age is no a disqualifier. I can still be a lookout. Do I really want to be one? How many Berry character books will I read?

Sitting outside @ TH a car pulls in w/ 4 young people, 3 guys & a girl w/ mtn bikes from Bozeman escaping the skiing snow for one last bike fling. A brief chat before  they headed out on out & back JEM trail. Its around 4. Another rig w/ 2 guys pull up & take off one way shuttle. Shuttle guys who are older return first. Young people arrive. The woman, Annita pronounced in Dutch, is first. I mention Wendell Berry and she says she has read several of his. First person to share reading him. Guy offers me a beer, picked rainier. We stood around in the darkening skies chatting & drinking cold beer in getting colder night. Satisfying safety meeting. Pete spent summer near Twisp, WA and we rode some of the same rides this summer. Cool.

And i am here in the dark quiet again. Moon is just past half. Clear & chilly and calm.

Tomorrow I plan on cleaning up the Spot and replacing the bushings w/ the better ones from PUSH. But then i have been telling myself that for some time that i will do it.

Can you remember typing w/ a manual typewriter and using correction tape of whiteout to correct mistypes? All my college papers were done that way. If I were still doing it that way i would be high from the correction fluid. No, just cramped hands from peeling the tape off.

Learned tonight why the banjo was invented: Certain crop farmers hands would become so cramped and knarled from hand cultivating that they could not spread their hands to play the strings.

Dirtbag camped in motel parking lot after watching Zags played well to beat Wisconsin.

AM appointment w/ urologist. Asked a bunch of questions and received knowledgeable answers. The body is a complicated piece of machinery. The laceration to my kidney sent out feedback, one of them being adjusting blood pressure. The bp med I am on is a beta blocker. Per today’s visit i should not be on it but writing a script for correct med is not in purview of urologist.  I have an appointment w/ a primary care dr this Wed that is approved by urologist. Beta blocker is affecting my heart rate. Dizziness could have been caused by low bp or a glycemic crash & not from kidney. Possible scenario is that the 10/8 fall in Spokane initially injured the kidney because I fell on my chest. The 10/31 fall sent the blood bleeding thru the weakened section of the kidney. The resulting hematoma is displacing space in my abdomen which is the source of my pain. The pain will diminish when the hematoma is absorbed in time. I am happier about my understanding of my injury & healing.

I am released to exercise just into aerobic level and only smooth surfaces to eliminate jarring, and I must get off my bike or whatever under controlled landings. The concern is the kidney is healing and is still susceptible to bleeding should I crash hard.

I’m Happy that I can get back exercising albeit on my road bike riding w/ little exertion. I can ride my Spot should I find smooth trails.  Dec 13 I can start riding rougher trails at the end of 6 weeks of healing. I will pee blood &/or experience localized pain if I overexert. Increased stress in body can break open the wound causing bleeding. I am using my heart rate monitor to keep  my heart rate down.

Today i rode for just over an hour on ST George paved trails which are nice, much of it along the Virgin River. Unfortunately, like the Spokane River, it is the recipient of the sewage affluent which has an undesirable “nose”.  Tomorrow I will ride a bit longer & further.

I have lost several pounds which was muscle mass.

Tonight Zags play Cincinnati for the Maui championship. Back @ Players sport bar where the beer lacks diversity and food must be purchased. Spoke w/ manager last night and learned that he is from MT and much of his family is in the Inland NW.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Mark, i will send along a picture soon before my beard gets scraggly. And, Randy, let your hair grow what there is of it.