Thanks, MRZ80 for your good wishes.....fast forward from 10/18/2010 the abscess was drained and packed on 10/30/2010 at the regional hospital up the road from us....since nobody knows it exists (new construction) there was no waiting in the ER and a nurse practitioner did the honors. Was able to get back in the saddle 11/05/2010 with some discomfort. This past week was the first week I could ride with no sense of soreness or pressure. However I lost a lot of speed due to the three weeks off the bike. On Saturday the 4th I did 58 miles with a friend on the Suncoast in 4 hrs,45 minutes averaging a little under 12 mph. I'm usually in the 14-15 mph range and my friend left me in the dust. On the way back I had to dismount and walk the bike three times. This I NEVER have to do so something had been taken out of me for sure. Typical time for 55 miles would be three and a half hours. My thighs and butt were very sore even tho the swelling and affected area has been completely back to normal. Saddle is giving me fits. It's an older Avocet all leather touring model. I thought it was a good piece of leather but now I'm wondering if this component might need upgrading. Now we are getting into the cooler weather here in Florida, tonight is expected to be in the mid-thirties. My step grandson is flying into town tomorrow--he is on leave from Afghanistan, he is a U.S. Marine stationed somewhere undisclosed working in intelligence. Glad he is coming down to see family, his grandparents on his mother's side bought him and his sister airfare so they could fly down from Indianapolis where his parents live to see them and us. Merry Christmas to all cyclists on this thread and please thank God for your health and your athletic abilities because they truly are divinely inspired, as was Leonardo DaVinci who was the first to envision and actually design the bicycle. Without becoming too esoteric, it seems to me the bicycle embodies the most perfect form of transportation ever devised, with the transmission of motive power accomplished in the most economical manner from human to machine to road, via one single chain of ingenious link design, enabling man to traverse great distances with relatively minimal energy outlays.