This thing needs a revival for sure. Lots going on in the past few weeks:
AHHHHH, (breath of fresh air)
A more thorough update soon but here are a few images in the meantime
Went in for the surgery this morning bright and early and all went smoothly as far as I can tell. The procedure took almost an extra hour as things were pretty messy in there. The doctor gave Katie all the photos they took and they tell a lot. I had completely abraded a good sized chunk of what is supposed to be silky smooth cartilage on the bone surfaces. He drilled some holes in the bone to stimulate new growth in those areas. Bone and cartilage fragments all over the place were removed and the whole mess was tidied up.
Last thing I remember was hearing “take four deep breaths.” I woke up 5 hours later groggy and incoherent. In another hour I was home. I can bear weight on the leg already and slowly taking food in. They have got me in a brace and cryocuff which is a bag that continuously circulates ice water around the knee. Between that and the percocet, things are feeling pretty good!
Post surgical exam on Monday so laying low for the weekend. Pics up as soon as I can scan them.
Mr. Anton (say it Ant-ohn) has been experimenting with building bamboo bicycles. The first iteration was an ugly bastard that got all flexy if you looked at it funny, it proved a concept and taught a lesson in its demise. V_2.0 is keeping it real and is Antons’ daily driver. Seeing the progress he had made got me itching to give it a go and Brendan thought the same, sooo…..
A few off road bamboo bikes were born.
Brendan came down Friday night with whiskey and sympathy for the bum knee. Saturday morning, a meeting of the mad scientists god the ball rolling and before we knew it, we were building bikes.
Easy stuff really: Jig? check, check. Bamboo? check, check. Sisal rope? check, check. Epoxy resin? check, check. Bite it like a shark (or snapper) attitude? check, check, x3.
Mad scientist
We all had to brush up on our boy scout lashing techniques but had a good thing going all day. We left the shop tired and hungry but with two frames curing. Ugly… a little but it is the first step in proof of concept. I’ve got to get one going for myself ASAP.
dinner (said snapper)
Mary and her dad put together this Ghia for her to take back to Cali, I told her she should just leave it here.
Katie wants one!
Here is what Brendan left with. Sounds like he has it close to built up and I’m anxious for a report.
Knee is getting cut open on April 17 - good times!
The visit with the ortho doc yesterday was good. He does want to operate to remove the piece of piece of bone floating around and clean up some miscellaneous bits of cartilage that I damaged as well, that can all be done orthoscopically. I did tear a ligament that holds the kneecap in place and it should also be repaired. So it sounds like I’ll be getting cut open in 3-4 weeks. The doc told my the straight leg brace wasn’t going to help anything in the mean time and recommended walking without assistance when possible and some light pedaling as it will help with flexibility and healing until the surgery. Once they do the surgery it will be 8 or so weeks of recovery and rehab.
It only took a few seconds to toss that straight leg brace in the trash and resume the limp. Riding the XtraSiren feels better than walking and the swelling continues to go down.
Ahhh. Better sounding than I was expecting yesterday morning.
This morning as I was pedaling to school (yup, brokey knee, and pedaling - un momento porfavor) with the ipod jamming. Beautiful temps and the candied smell of orange blossoms paving my way. Today was the day that the stars planets, moons, and the like were all in alignment and an amazing wave of music emminated from the metallic music maker, pumping good mojo straight up the auditory cortex. I don’t use playlists but rather go for the ambiguity of shuffling 30 gigs of tunes.
This mornings ride consisted of the following:
Beck - Rental Car from Guerro
Moby - In my Heart from 18
The Flaming Lips - Are you a Hypnotist from Yoshimi battles the pink robots
LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great from Sound of Silver
Bernard Herrmann - Twisted Nerve from Kill Bill (infectious whistling)
Radiohead - Hunting Bears from Amnesiac
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Pin from Fever to Tell
I woke up this morning feeling better than the previous two. The knee was stiff but seems to be making progress. Moving around was slow but steady, I even rode my bike to school (1 leg). MRI was uneventful and almost relaxing. Classical music playing in my ears, dim lighting, a gentle hum, nappy, nap.
Got a bit of swelling on that right one eh?
Apparently there is a piece of bone in there that we cant see. 1cm or so plus a bit of additional debris.
The referral doctor just called and said I managed to break off a chunk of bone under my knee cap and it is just floating around so it sounds like there are a few knives in my future.
Ortho surgeon visit tomorrow morning
SHIT.
Pedaled out to TMP on Saturday night. Climbing up Hidden canyon on a pleasantly cool evening watching the light dwindle was outstanding. The moves weren’t quite happening but such is life sometimes.
The way down started off well, moving through the rock gardens, floating over everything, chasing the light. The first steep switchback gave me pause and I stepped off onto a rock that quickly gave way. Momentum had the best of me and things turned pear shaped in a hurry. Three pops in the knee on the way down and a flood of pain, bad news. After several minutes of pulling my head back together and I was limping out. Katie came to pick me up at the hotel.
The right knee is swollen like a grapefruit, full of fluid severely limiting movement. Saw a doc today, X-ray looks good, no broken bones but tomorrows MRI will hopefully tell the whole story, who knows?
Mom and Dad came to town for a quick visit. We got out to Milagrosa canyon to do some hiking and climbing. 75-80 degrees and clear.
Foliage a plenty
Emily is into climbing these days
Canyon pools
upper pool
Rode with Chuck and the Critter from Fenix. It was Chris’ birthday last weekend and he decided to spend in Tucson. We pieced together a great ride from town, up A mountain, then down the the 36th st. entrance (new to the fenicians). Move around the main loop then up Golden gate. Rode clean up to the saddle then down the lower golden gate techness. Up the road an back in at Camino de Oeste for a stroll through the wildflowers to the stone house then back out on Mariott trail (thanks to whoever spent time pulling boulders out of the trail in the name of making it “easier” for those who ride from the hotel WTF???)
A stop at La Herradura on the way back for a post ride burrito and back home. Good to see you Chuck and Chris, come back soon!
Who is this guy?
Golden Gate Goodness
Cheers
Lots of work on the CNC router lately, here are a few of the projects I’ve been working on down in the shops.
This is an MDF negative for a rubber mold which will in turn be a negative small acrylic parts. This is for Ben’s thesis work
This is a prototype for a display at the science center. The surface of Mars
Machine foam works really well. More on this later.
Finally, some of my work.
More to come
