Comming down is the hardest thing

I'm not a doctor or anything, but I'm pretty sure I was flying. However, I may have been flapping too hard and now my wrists a injured.

I left you all last time with an unknown. Sorry to leave you hanging for so long. But hey, at least it was only about a week rather than MONTHS like so many of our favorite shows. That's right. You know why I wouldn't leave you hanging for so long? LOVE.

You and I have a bond, a special bond. A bond which cannot be categorized or labeled, nor would we want it to be. For we are but elements of a single being. The oneness of everything, you, me, Shep the Wonder Sloth, all of our experiences, the collective knowledge of life as we know it...

Uh... Well, I guess what I really mean to say is... YOU COMPLETE ME.

After my last entry, my dad drove up to Chico to pick me up. This also allowed me to bring the boat down to Modesto for storage. Modesto, very close to the center of the armpit of California. Yes, its quite warm and when moist, many things grow very well. Fortunately, we can eat many of the things which grow in California's armpit. Now, aren't your armpits jealous?

Once I decided to rest for three weeks I pretty quickly decided I would go crazy if just sat around Modesto for two or more weeks. When began to think about where else I might go, all I wanted to do was see my Seattle friends. It feels like I have been gone for much longer than a month. Almost as if a new Jesse was born on the road to deal with a new chapter, leaving behind old ways and patterns of thought. Or maybe the road just makes you a little nuts...

So, after some consultation with my spirit guide, there are some who know him as LB, Seattle it was. It was good to see my parents and gaining back the ten pounds I lost on the road. It was challending dealing with the lack of social outlets while coming down off the high of the tour. It was GLORIOUS to return to Seattle. :-)

My wrists are feeling a lot better. Still too sore to think about starting the tour again, but much better than when I stopped. I'm fairly confident that I'll be ready to ride again in when I get back to California.

Meanwhile, I'm recharging my body and spirit up here in Seattle with good food, amazing friends and Ultimate. This weekend I had large helpings of all three. Well, only half a game of Ultimate before I rolled my ankle and had to stop. Just being on the sideline is great in my book. :-)

Currently, my plans are to be in Seattle until the end of the month. This will allow me to see Adam and Hanna both have their first Kickboxing fights on the 26th! A friend is driving down to SF at the end of the month and I will probably catch a ride with her. Hopefully that works out!

My spirits are high and I'm excited about life, both present and future.

Still... THERE ARE MORE PICS!

Lizard that interrupted my long blog

The TRUE summit of the 299 pass.

32 pushDOWNS 

Nice view of the Redding area from Hilltop Drive

Just a couple of the beautiful horses I saw on the way to Red Bluff

Really neat section of road north of Red Bluff

Longhorns!

Don't know what this guy was doing, but I knew I had to photograph it. Yawning?

I like these trees.

A pain in the wrist (and a video)

The last 25 miles or so of my ride into Chico last Wednesday were plagued by pain in my left wrist. I really didn't want to stop short so I did what I could to put less stress on it and stretch it as I went. Thursday  it was feeling quite a bit better, so I didn't think much of it. By the time I was heading out again, it would surely be all healed up. Unfortunately, when I woke up Friday, it was hurting quite a bit more.

Since then I have stayed off my bicycle as much as I can and when I have ridden it, I try to keep all pressure off my wrists. Yes, the right one started hurting as well. :-( My hope has been that by Tuesday, my planned time for departure, I would be all hunky doery. Four days of rest, right?

Today, they really aren't feeling noticeably better than yesterday. It's still painful to put weight on them and when I wake up in the morning they are very stiff and sore. From my reading yesterday, the closest thing I could find to expert advice suggested 2-3 weeks of rest and then a strengthening routine to prevent future problems.

Riding through it will surely just cause the whole thing to be worse, maybe even permanent, and I suppose I do have the time... I'm trying to consider myself lucky that it happened once I was already here in the valley where I have so many friends and family.

On a more positive note, I got to go out on Lake Oroville in my boat yesterday! It was pretty darn great. My wake boarding skills are quite rusty. My friend Jen took some pictures, which I will try to get copies of and post up here. I also have more pictures from the last couple days of riding that I need to post.

Lastly, I have uploaded one of my video blogs to Youtube! I made it when I found an old bridge along side of 299. Let's see if I can insert this below... Enjoy!

Made it to Chico

Rode from Redding to Chico in one day. It was mostly flat, often slightly downhill, especialy after RedBluff. Today I have been relaxing and eating.

I weighed myself to find I have droped afew pounds since Seattle. So, one of my goals over the next few days in chico will be to gain those back!!!

Just had lunch in Bidwell Park, soaking my feet in the stream, while eating my favorite carne asada tacos in the whole world from Crazy Taco.

If you ever find yourself in Chico, just head over to Dukes Liquor on Park Ave and get some tacos from the litteral hole in the wall that is Crazy Taco. Carne asada, with cheese, squirt some line juice on there, take a bite of the jalepeno then the taco and ENJOY some amazing in your mouth.

Guess what! Yet MORE PICS!!!!

Elk chillin' in the meadow at the Redwoods.

Yay! I made it to the summit!

Ok, another hour or so later, and here's the REAL summit.

Oh California, you are so beautiful.

Hiked down to Boise Creek in the morning. Spotted a large rock I wanted to be on. This is the view from the rock

Had to get a self pic from the rock of course. Now how to get down...

Left over firewood from the weekend. Lucky me!

Laundry Folks

September 24th 7:50 PM

Waiting for my laundry to dry. Had a great big dinner at a Chinese restaurant and then just felt like getting a hotel and relaxing. Made the wifi and the shower issue easier. The laundry place is just 1/ mile down the street too. So yeah. Also, there's a pool I intend to take a dip in when I get back tot he hotel. :-)

This guy here, Chris, is a bullshitter. I think he was inspired by my bicycle so he started talking up his Magna FULL SUSPENSION mountain bike. I was pretty sure it was the Wallmart brand, but here he goes talking about how he spent $1,500 on it and it was stolen but he just got lucky and the cops found it. Just to confirm, I did a search to find that it is in fact a walmart brand and it sold for around $200.

I eventually said that I hadn't ever seen them sold outside of Walmart(he said he bought it in Redding at Village Cycle) and Walmart only charges 200-300 dollars. “Oh yeah, a friend of mine said maybe I got ripped off, but what could I do? I couldn't take it back...”

He was talking about football so I asked him if he was a fan. “Oh yeah, it's how I make most of my money.”

“Oh, is that how you paid for the bike?” I asked.

“Yeah, well, that and SSI.”

Hrm, my laundry is done.

What gives, Serfas?

Fourth punctre flat on the tour. So, Serfas, just which flats is the Flat Protection System on these tires suposed to be protecting me from?