it's funny that I have an emotional reaction about people I have never met and never will meet. I guess this shows the power of the printed word, when it is used correctly.

I am very happy to hear of Rowan's progress. The shoes are okay. The yellow laces make the purple work.

Hope you both keep going in the right direction.

Happy Birthday Rowan!

Best wishes!

Happy Birthday! Have a wonderful celebration!

Happy Birthday Rowan! 2manybikes and Bailey.

Happy Birthday!

Thanks all!

And ... Rowan made his own birthday cake which turned out very well.

It seems that he likes chocolate.

Best wishes to both of you.

Thank you everyone for the good wishes. Had a pretty good day really, despite a hospital visit for x-rays.

First of all, grateful to be alive when I was so close to being not about five months ago. Comes down to some great people liking me enough to save me and get well again. Let by Machka of course.

Cycling is still important to me even though I can't do it as normal yet (same with car driving). But I can ride indoor my Hasa Ti road bike on a trainer a little on Zwift. And I tune in here regularly now which was impossible for about three months... and that can be fun, too.

Still some stuff to mend physically before back to work, but much better than five months ago!

Guessing you've had enough X-Rays in recent months to glow in the dark!
Keep on keeping on!

It's a great pleasure to see your post.

Best...cake...ever!

Just to clarify ... Rowan's cake, the one he made, was an orange cake with a light icing. It was very nice!!

Sounds tasty!

Considering the chances that he might never do anything more involved than drooling ... I don't care if his cake was made of Play-Doh with mud icing. That he can write posts, make cakes, ride a trainer .... you know, even though we were all hoping and trying to expect the best ... we all probably had a little fear for the man. I know i did. I am very glad to see he is back at it .... climbing that long hill back to where he was ... and on past that.

But I am thoroughly annoyed that there were Two cakes ... ans i didn't get any of either.

Hi Rowan, great to read your post!

This past weekend I graduated with a Graduate Diploma (halfway between a Bachelors and a Masters).


The whole thing was recorded "livestream". Technology is an amazing thing ... that we can share something like this across the world. My parents watched it live so they could "be there" for my grad even though they are halfway around the world in Canada.


Before my turn to cross the stage, I was watching everyone ahead of me intently to see what they did .... and then took a few deep breaths just before I appeared on camera.

I also looked up at Rowan who was sitting in a balcony seat watching me and we smiled at each other. It was a rather long morning for him, but he really wanted to be there and I'm glad we could share the day.


Plus he got a chance to talk to an old friend of his who is one of my instructors!!

And then, in the evening, I got to work on my next homework assignment. A few weeks ago, I started my first of 8 courses to complete the journey to a Master's degree. At this point, who knows if I'll be able to get there or not, but I've started. 1 course per semester.

Multiple salutes, thumbs up, bows, etc.

congrats to both of you for all the achievements over the past few months, a testament to both of your lives and your perseverance..

Machka, I've been following the thread. I'm rooting for you both, and cheered by the progress. Others have expressed how I feel better than I could, so I don't comment very often.
Best wishes for continued progress.

Congratulations !!!