Two Weeks To Go!

Our anticipated departure date is just 2 weeks from today.  My how time flies when you're busy!

In my last post I told of breaking my elbow in November.  The elbow is doing pretty well, although I don't know if I'll ever have the full range of motion again.  Overall, breaking an elbow is a very bad thing, but there was a small upside to the event.

After the surgery, I was told that I was not cleared to ride until further notice.  What's a boy to do?  I started hanging out at Bike-N-Bean a lot.  And by a lot, I mean basically every day.  About a week after surgery, I began wearing a flexible brace instead of a cast, to help minimize the loss of motion.  I could use my arm enough to be able to work on bikes.  My hanging out wasn't simply a means of killing time; I became the volunteer mechanic because I'm pretty competent with tools and using my hands.  Because I was helping out so much, I became eligible for some pretty substantial discounts on new parts, and also had a bunch of used parts donated for the Saga.  I also have a shop that I can work in to do maintenance on our bikes, plus I've learned a few things about mountain bikes to boot.  Plus I've made a bunch of new friends.  I'd still rather have my elbow the way it used to be, but at least there has been some benefit.