odds and ends, in abstentia

My ongoing back injuries have kept me off the saddle (and my sit bones) for the last 7 weeks, so I've curtailed my blogging--it's hard to write laying down. And even harder to think about cycling when it's just physically impossible.

However, I've made substantial improvements during the last two weeks, thanks, in part, to the excellent care of Dr. Mark Wurth, DC. Before each adjustment, he uses interferential stem therapy to loosen the muscles and tissues surrounding my bulging discs, which seems to make the "cracking" more effective. I hope to resume training in another week to ten days. Now if I could just take a break from all the damn snow shoveling, I might actually make a full recovery.

Today I'm sitting in a cool, funky coffee shop in Springfield, Missouri, the hometown of my wife's family. We're here until the middle of the week. Missouri State University's campus is expanding, and nearby downtown Springfield, such as it is, seems to be experiencing a slow renaissance and redevelopment. All of the old warehouse buildings and brick storefronts were boarded up as recenetly as ten years ago, but today I passed several cool looking clubs, a few vintage clothing boutiques, a theatre company, brew pub, and a really, really cool bike shop. The shop's owner is a Springfield native who returned after a decade in Chicago, and last year he sold over 200 fixies and single-speed commuters. I guess watching Cavdendish do this two years ago helped build the bike scene just a bit:

On a personal note, I've decided to accept an offer to race next season with Team Type 1, an Omaha-based regional affiliate of the Continental Pro team. I still plan to race a weekend or two with my Rocknasium brothers in Davis next year, but for the Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri races (12 on the schedule, woohoo!), TT1 offered the best mix of personalities. Many thanks to Pat Cash and Brandon Fenster, two proactive Omaha cyclists who helped me connect with the Omaha race scene. I'm really excited to see the results of Brandon's efforts to expand Bike Master's race team.