Don't Confuse Comfort with Happiness

"I don't think we should tell anyone we work in bike shops."
"Yah definitely not." 

Ninety minutes earlier I had met the Shop Mechanic at his shop so we could carpool to Lookout Mountain and he could pick up a demo bike. In the parking lot as he was sifting through his bike box he asked me if I had things for a flat.
"...Uh...well...I have a tube, but things are a little disheveled from the move (more on that later) so no flat kit, you have stuff right?"
"I have a hand pump. But I don't want to bring it because of the extra weight."
"We'll probably be okay, I have a floor pump and tube and it's not like we're going on a long ride away from civilization and we've never had a flat when we've ridden together." Famous last words.
He drove, and it didn't help that I knew where we were going and he didn't. I forgot to tell him where to turn and only realized it after we had gone a few miles out of the way. We got to Lookout Mountain and started getting ready. Unfortunately his erratic driving and the

This is what his driving felt like

coffee I had that morning proved to be a lethal combination. Because my stomach isn't exactly made of steel or really any robust material I threw up, twice. He asked if I still wanted to ride, "oh yah I should be fine just getting it out of my system". I wasn't flu sick just needed to get my land legs back. I started checking over my bike and inflated the front tire and started to do the rear except when I unscrewed the valved half of it popped off and all the air escaped. Whomp, whomp. Well good thing I had an extra tube and pump in the car. I took the wheel off but without any tire levers I couldn't get the tire off, especailly because the tires I have are notorious for being a pain even with levers. I gave it to the mechanic to have his way with it. He was able to change it out no problem and it seemed to work well until we started putting air in and getting air out through the a hole that was in the new tube. "Well this is great, now we get to pay full price for a tube, maybe the shop will let us use their tire levers but let's not tell them we work at a shop." The shop we went to was pretty chill and I was able to get a tube and change it out there and grab some chews to have something in my stomach so it worked out well. 

Two hours after meeting we were finally on our bikes. Luckily the rest of the ride went smoothly, other than the fact that he beat me up the hill and then relished in the fact as I was throwing up at the top again. He told me its a good thing I was riding with him with how much throwing up I was doing because someone else might think I'm actually out of shape.    

I've actually made the move back to Boulder, I took a position at a shop here. It's weird to think that last year at this time I wasn't even considering moving to Denver and now I'm already back. It's been nice, to be on my bike and riding from my front door instead of having to drive somewhere. People at work do lunchtime rides which is super awesome.

Lunchtime ride, anyone?

It's definitely a transition though, I really liked my house in Denver and my roommate, we lived really well together, and we still have 2 more season of Family Guy to watch so there's that. I did contemplate commuting but that's 2 hours in the car everyday, which just didn't make sense. I'm excited to finally not have a commute though and super pumped about getting  another bike to commute on! And I didn't find my roommate on craigslist so my chances of getting murdered decrease significantly, right?  

I've pretty much just been on my road bike for March. One thing that was nice when I went

Only in South Dakota...

to South Dakota is that because I wasn't planning on going I had my road bike with me to do a ride later that day. I actually got 3 rides in when I was up there and it was the first time I was outside on a road bike since before the crash. I didn't have my helmet with me but found one of my brothers which I road with and then asked him if he had taken any crashes with it, "Probably it's around 8 year old." Great. The rides up there definitely rival some of the road rides here, plus it's so much less populated that I only saw  a few cars when I was out riding.  Boulder does have quiet a few more people to ride with and the scenery definitely doesn't hurt either.

Best kept secret 

I did see my brain therapist too. Which the first test she had me do was basically a sobriety test which I informed her I failed in high school when the state trooper came into our classroom and I was the control, completely sober and Paul David wore the beer goggles and did better than me so not a really accurate thing to go off of. I had to say the alphabet and count at the same time, try it, it's as easy as it sounds and other various activities which I can't exactly remember. My biggest thing still is connecting my thoughts with words, which sometimes gets lost in translation. Certainly improving but lots of occasional word vomit, my new roommate can give you lots of examples I'm sure. She said I was lucky to have that as my main symptom as most people get really bad headaches and migraines, which I've never gotten so I am pretty lucky. She said the biggest thing is time and that it will take more time so gave me some exercises and to check back with her in 3 months because none of my symptoms are actually hindering my lifestyle and doesn't feel it's necessary to check in before then. That's good news, the first month with out doctor appointments...so much time for activities!!! 

This weekend I'm heading to Moab, we're celebrating Barb's birthday by doing lots of riding. It should be lots of fun and a nice break after all the chaos that surrounded March.