Bracing News

 Merriam Webster (the company behind the reason Webster has become a euphemism for a dictionary) defines bracing as, "giving strength, vigor, or freshness," but in this case, I'm thinking of a different meaning, although the news I have is, in fact, a wee bit invigorating.  Yeah, I mean bracing, as the use for a brace, in this case more specifically, a neck brace, also known as the thing I'm no longer directed to wear.  Yeah, yeah, the neck brace, after good images on a midday CT scan today, is no longer required.  So here I sit, typing, with my head supported by nothing but my mended neck.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was warned a jump into rad mountain biking at this point would be more than a tad premature, but I have even been given clearance to start easing back into pedaling a bicycle, even one kept upright by nothing more than my balance abilities.  To put my feelings succinctly, WHOOT!!!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I was finding some pleasure in explorations on foot, and I suspect I will still personally need to walk the full fifteen miles or so between my home and Adele's apartment in Northampton just because they're there, but let me be truthful, we live in a world designed around the wheel, and while the bicycle can't keep pace with the automobile, neither for pace nor environmental damage, it is still a couple hecks faster than walking pace, so getting back on a bike will do wonders for my personal mobility.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I still have much work, and maybe a few tribulations, left to regain my reliability on a bicycle, but at least now, that process can begin.  Did I mention, WHOOT!!!

And one more note, you may notice a similarity between the words "bracing" and "racing", but for now, dropping the first "b" will have to wait some time and a bit more.  While permission was granted to ride, the doctor did caution against her vision of full-on mountain biking--which actually sounds like a rather abusive sport to me when compared to what I prefer to think of as the finesse of slipping a bike gracefully through the woods.  Still, I was told the bones will continue to ossify for another 4 months, and there's also the fact that my neck muscles have been a wee constricted from the toning of supporting my head upright, so best to take things one slow step at a time.  Racing, it could happen again, again, and yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I may feel a little more motivation to demonstrate just how much a bike racer could do without an automobile, but for now, I'm just damn pleased I can go ride a bike because, have you notice, wow, they're cool!