Happy April Fools Day

Hard to believe another month has passed us by already. March was a pretty good month. I'm done with the orthopedic surgeon and I wrapped up physical therapy last week.

The Maestro finally came back from FDL cycle after the tune up. Got cleaned, lubed, and a couple of minor parts replaced. Went out for a ride on Saturday morning for the first time since November. I'm tryting to get back into my usual routine so I was up early. Not as early as I have been in the past, but baby steps man. So I rolled out of bed at 4:30 A.M. and put on my cold weather gear. Temperature at this time of day was 25 degrees (18 with wind chill). Now the coldest I've biked in was 22 degrees back in November and I had no problems with being cold. For some reason on Saturday, I was very comfortable except for my thumbs. My fingers were fine but my thumbs were in some serious pain. In so much pain in fact that I feared frost bite. I was forced to turn back and cut my ride at only 3 miles. Rather disappointing, but after I got back and had to run my hands under cold water first, then luke warm, then a little warmer, to get the pins and needles to go away, I realized turning back was the right thing to do. Good news is that my ankle held up with no issues at all, and if it wasn't for my thumbs, I felt like I could have gone for 20 miles easily. Guess that means my wind is starting to come back.

I also started to jog again. Per my therapists suggestion, I started out with 1/2 mile courses. By Friday I hope to be up to a mile at a crack, and so on and so forth. The real good news is that after being layed up for damn near 2 months, I didn't gain any weight, so at least I don't have that to contend with too.

We're taking our first family vacation in July to Madelaine Island. Camping with a toddler should be fun. Hope to get some biking in around the Island. I also booked a trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for September, for our 10 year wedding aniversary. I've already checked into renting a fat tire beach cruiser so that should make for some good pictures.

April should be a great month! Weather is warming up. Baseball is starting soon (Go Brewers!) Here's my reading and listening picks for the month.

Trail Dog's Book Club - April '09


"No Country for Old Men" - Cormac McCarthy


I decided to read this book based on Neil Peart's (acomplished author, cyclist, and drummer for some band called Rush) recomended reading list from awhile back. I was excited to start reading it based on Neil's review. It was kind of hard to follow at the start but not because it was a boring storyline. The verbage took a bit of getting used to as McCarthy tried (and succeeded) in capturing the dialect of a "good ole boy" from a Texas border town, in written word. The other thing that threw me for a loop was the punctuation, or lack there of. I couldn't quite put my finger on it from the start, but as I kept reading I figured it out. It wasn't that sentences didn't end in periods, or an apostrophe wasn't used in the right place. There were no quotation marks. Not a single one in the whole book. So for me, depending on how late it was, sometimes I had a hard time realizing if someone was still talking, or if it was back to narative. Aside from that, this was a great story line that keeps going till the end. McCarthy's writing capabilites actually allow you to see the gore of an incident in the written word. Finishes out at about 300 pages, but it flew by.

Tunes from the Trail

Matt Nathanson - Some Mad Hope

People that know me, know that I don't typically like new artists. I like new music as long as it's from my same old favorite bands. Maybe I'm loosening up now that I'm not in a band anymore and I don't play that much. Gotta check out this guy Matt Nathanson. http://www.mattnathanson.com/


He has a real melodic style that kind of reminds me of David Gray, but Nathanson is much more...atmospheric. He's had a few of albums out in past years, but "Some Mad Hope" will be his breakout recording (even though it was released in '07). He was on Ellen and played the song "Come on Get Higher", which I believe is his first big hit. Personally I think the song "Car Crash" is just about perfect (can't get it out of my head). I love the melodies and the style of the song. Check him out if he comes around your area. I would, but the only date in Wisconsin is in Milwaukee and he's opening for sugarland (I can't stand that stinging nettles lady). Maybe I'll pay for the ticket just to go see him, and then leave when they come out. Anyway here's "Car Crash" for your listening pleasure.




Kippis,

Craigers