I can "see" my plate, revchuck. That's really the only disconcerting thing I have to deal with. Things will be much better after the install.

Dear sky - Enough already with the cold white stuff. Please bring back the warm yellow ball.

Thanks for listening.

LAJ - Thanks, I'm looking forward to getting this behind me.

vlygrl - I feel for you. 71 degrees here and I can't ride. We'll have our time soon.

It's the beginning of April and it already seems like people are burning out. :notamused:

On a different bull topic, having a fleet of bikes is starting to wear me out. I have to:

• Put new 165 mm cranks on my TT bike and make the position match the TT position on my track bike because I seem to feel much better and ride faster on my track TT bike than on my road TT bike.
• Put new bars and stems on my race bike and training bike because the Deda Newton Shallow bars that I bought last year really are not working out -- the drop radius is too tight and it makes my hands hurt. Now I'm going to try some Zipp Service Course SL-88 bars (more drop, shallower ramp, more reach) which, because of the greater reach, require a 1 cm shorter stem. Hopefully these will work out.
• Put new bottom bracket into race bike because somewhere between me and the shop that eventually installed the old bottom bracket, the bearings got messed up.
• Put new derailleur pulleys on race bike and move old pulleys to TT bike because ceramic bearing pulleys are cool.
• Build new track bike because I thought the old frame had a crack. I marked the ends of the supposed crack over a year ago and nothing has changed. Thing is I bought a new frame over a year ago and it's time to make the switch and sell the old bike because apparently its still functional.
• Take pictures of all of these bikes when I'm done.

I think I need to hire a personal mechanic. :p

Cleave - #firstworldproblems :lol:

Sounds familiar Cleave. Spent the day doing wheel stuff. Finished building a new set of training wheels; most of the inventory is wide stuff and I hate messing with brakes. Wheels took a bit longer than expected because of a mis-calc on spoke length. Finished the front last week and rode it several times before the cold laid me down. Finished the rear between coughing spasms this week.

Replaced some tires, cleaned up some wheels to sell. Repaired and trued the wheel I leant out to a guy at San Dimas that came back with loose spoke.

Tubeless on everything.

if i were getting surgery now (and having had the plate put in a month ago), i'd look at getting a pin instead (or surgical nail, which sounds so much more brutal). i've read some interesting things.

watch out for ibuprofen--it can interfere with bone growth. something you may want to avoid at this early stage.

a buddy broke his collarbone 1 week after i did mine (skiing accident); he just had to go back under the knife due to an infection. definitely something to be super careful about.

Rode with Mrs. Ex yesterday. Still mungy but went easy. No race today, instead I will make some omlettes and watch Flanders.

Or maybe pancakes.

Ex, sounds like a great plan.

Check that:

Breakfast burrito.

Flanders was an odd race. My network broadcast cut out Cancellerra getting away with Belkin boy. Omega can't be happy.

Sparticus!

I was a bit wistful watching the last 5 km of that race. It's been a while since I have gotten to play the tactical game for the win. I love that high speed chess. This year has been nothing but sprint finishes.

Went to Santa Barbara and stayed overnight so that my wife could shop at the Coach outlet store for a belated birthday present from me. :o My wife's version of shopping is much different that most other women. We were in and out of there in less than 30 minutes. Also keep in mind that my wife has one purse: the first one she ever owned, which she bought about 5 years ago. Went to a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives place that was just a few blocks away. It was really good and seemed pretty healthy (unlike some of the places featured on that show).

During the drive back on Sunday morning, my wife dropped me and my commuter bike off in West LA so that I could ride around at CicLAvia. Always fun to see the crowd and sometimes a bit scary but I only saw the aftermath of one (minor) crash. Taking the Blue Line home from LA to Long Beach is always an interesting study in humanity.

Ended the day watching Rush on Blu-ray. Those guys were my heroes when I was growing up. There was such a dearth on F1 reporting in the 1970s and I was such a naive kid, I didn't realize the intensity of depth of the rivalry between Hunt and Lauda. Yes, I'm taking into account that this was a movie and not a documentary, but I'm making an educated guess that there's more truth than fiction in it.

Had a couple (both teammates) over for dinner. He is the fitter at Faster (handles the wind tunnel fittings for UHC) and she does marketing and is an artist. Both are faster than I am, but I fed them anyway. As the evening ended, the dog was going crazy outside. Turns out there was a skunk in the yard. You can guess the net result of that. First skunk we've seen here, and we are trying (unsuccessfully) to hermetically seal the house, with the dog outside.

Damn Chuck! I take a few days asway for BF then read about your crash. Heal up well buddy.

Finally got to see it. I'd call it "ballsy patience". Or a work of art.

I go with art.

Taxes be done.

Got the plate installed in my collarbone yesterday. I was pretty much pain-free prior to the operation, but my shoulder effin' hurts now. I feel no shame taking the Percocet. I couldn't keep anything down until about 2 AM, when I managed to get the anti-nausea pill to work; now everything's copacetic. I had a really hard time waking up from the anesthetic, felt like I could've slept all day...actually, I pretty much did anyway. I'm hoping this soreness settles down soon.

I ordered new name plates for two sets of shifters - the Ultegra 6600s on my Cannondale and the DA 7800s on my Allez. I think I can handle the installation on them, just wish I could do the maintenance I need to do on my bikes.

The dura ace ones are easy. Remove the little screw, tilt the cover towards you and wiggle it out. Don't know about the Ultegra.

Hang in there. It's a major injury. You get no points for refusing to heal comfortably.

The bone pain from that sorta surgery is crazy hard. I was shocked at how much it hurt. Both the collar bone and my elbow. Plus they're manipulating muscle to work in there. The good news is the recovery is much faster and the pain dissipates much quicker because the bones are stabilized.

Thanks, Gary, that's good to know.

Best wishes on your recovery, revchuck.

Not mine :(

When I broke my collarbone long ago, it took 6-8 months before the bone pain subsided. No surgery. These days I'm hearing 6-8 weeks with surgery.