Recovery

Just went to Bloomington Bone and Joint for another appointment with the doctor and therapist and they declared my elbow healed, with full motion and no restrictions! I'm extremely ecstatic as this was supposed to be a 6 week process, and I've done it in 3.

deCycles 2009 seems to have gone really well - Patti/Signe, Stacey, and Andrew got back on Sunday. The prevailing sentiment is that the trip brings you to overwhelming highs and lows, but it's a completely different mental state - one of those "you have to experience it" things. They all seem to have grown through the experience, especially in "get-up-and-go"-ness.

Of course I'm bummed that I couldn't finish the trip, and it sucks that I'm in every article as "one of the two who couldn't make it". I still made something out of the past two weeks though:

• Put in over 30 hours, which turns into a lot of money.
• Earnestly started on the InPhO paper.
  
• Enjoyed some time reflecting and set two (reasonably) ambitious goals for the next year:
  1. Establish an emergency fund of $1,000 and leave debt behind by January.
  2. Publish/present at least 3 times by next May.

Also, I have to get back on the bike and get really serious about training. Sure, I put in 650 miles before deCycles, but they were sporadic - 150 miles one week, 0 the next two. In order for it to become a lifestyle, I need to be consistent. There's still 3 1/2 months before winter and next semester has a lot of free time for group rides. I'm thinking short 20-25 mile rides on MTWR (2 hours tops) and then longer 50+ mile rides over the weekend (mornings at 9). Let me know if you're interested! Company for the weekend rides would be especially awesome :)

This year's deCycles is going to nag at me for a long time. There's not much of a silver lining, but dwelling on "might-have-beens" isn't gonna do anything. There's still the Hilly Hundred, a return trip to Wisconsin (potential route - Bike 4 Trails, Great River Road, Wisconsin River Valley, Madison) and maybe deCycles 2010. Things happen, so I'll take solace in only being down for 3 weeks.