Being the only one attending the pity party is exhausting.

pouting-kid

I hope I haven’t worn my emotions to obviously on my sleeve these last couple of weeks, but the fact of the matter, and this is maybe the second to third time I’ll say it, but this whole leg injury business sucks, like, a ton.

For the most part I feel like I’ve maintained a pretty healthy attitude about the whole thing but this past Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I went into a fairly dark place. (I partially blame the fact that I kicked the main meds almost immediately, and didn’t taper. Also, contrary to my previous statements, pain medication is fucking horrible.) It was most reminiscent of puberty when your self loathing knows no bounds, and you are very literally at war with your own body.

Maybe adolescence wasn’t like that for everybody, but I hated it, and suicide was a regularly rotating thought occurring in a cycle alongside girls, punk rock, and skateboarding.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

It was Thursday night after nearly scrubbing while trying to navigate my kitchen and nearly blowing my knee out again (which happened to follow Wednesday, when I accidentally kicked my crutch and broke my left toe);
fuck
that DeMonika had a very serious ‘come to Jesus’ meeting with me telling me in no uncertain terms that I have to get my shit together and learn how to deal with this. No amount of rage, or frustration, or despair will change anything about the current situation, and then something along the lines of “now just sit down and shut the fuck up.

So that’s what I did, and between trying to maintain a Zen-like perspective of it, and listening a regular rotation of this song;

I’m clawing my way out, and generally the better for it.

Of course it certainly helps to have comrades in arms, and with Kevin in Lincoln;
kevin
-who went under the knife eight days before I originally hit the earth, and Mike;
MM
Photo by Becky Osborne.
-who gets his goods cut on Wednesday, I’m clearly book ended by good company.

Mostly though I would sincerely like to express the most heart-felt thanks to everyone who has made contact either via Facebook, or Twitter, or email, or post, or phone calls. I am genuinely touched by the concern and it’s made this process indescribably easier, though I doubt from her perspective, DeMonika would agree.

You know… On account of ’cause I’m a little bitch.

That said, let’s move onto other topics not necessarily related to said bitchness.

That photo up there of Mike clearly illustrates him playing a musical instrument. Among other projects he is involved with, he’s long played bass guitar for a rock and/or roll type of project I make mention of regularly called ‘Who Rides The Tiger‘.

As a matter of fact, I most recently spoke of the band when noting I finally had my hands on test pressings for a record by them that I’m releasing though this very website/imprint;
wrttno1
Six test pressings arrived, I took one out for myself, and promptly sent the remaining records down to Southern California for an informal listening party that Mike had organized. Around 11:00 on Friday night I realized I’d missed a FaceTime call from him, and despite the fact that I understand grown adults don’t FaceTime with one another, I got back with him just as the final chords of the final song were hanging in the air.

I chatted with him, as well as an array of other attendees of the party and was given a boost of excitement about what we’ve got in store.

As well as, (and I know I’ve said this before), this year’s Underbike Industry Mixer®

I built a website which I kinda maintain every now and again at Underbike Industry Mixer(dot)com (duh) where any interested parties can keep up on all the comings and goings of the event.

This year’s party will once again be co-sponsored by Ritte Van Vlaanderen, Swobo, and Paul Component Engineering.

The venue is booked, the band is booked, the band’s rooms are booked- Which by the way are at the Golden Nugget and I just found out when booking said rooms, that they have a waterslide that goes though a big tank full of sharks and other large sea creatures;
Shark-Tank-Pool-at-the-Golden-Nugget
Screw Interbike. You can find me there.

As of right now, the party is roughly four and a half months away. I’m nothing if not organized.

But hey- Let’s get into some bike mumbo jumbo, shall we?

From Butler, I got the following bit of info regarding not invisible bikes, which I was pretty keyed up on doing for a while;
peternewlands
Original photo by Peter Newlands.
ericcho
Original photo by Eric Cho.
-The whole collection of which can be found in here somewhere.

But rather, invisible riders;

Stevil-

They took what you did, but kind did it backwards;

I still think your name should be in the closing credits of the commercial.

Over-n-out
Butler

Personally, being that I typically find bike dorks to be somewhat tiring, those depicted in the Canadian ad campaign look like about the only kind that I’d be able to tolerate.

Finally, from Max, who has been an absolute saint in as far as consistently contributing fodder for this here douchebag bike blog (same diff) while I’m on injured reserve, I got notice about some big doings set to go down in the southern part of the state in just a few weeks;

Stevil-

Hey how ya feeling? Recovery going well, I hope and those sponge baths are amazing.

Wink.

This is happening:
fundo_onehundo4-Blue
Link to the event page where info will be posted as it develops. Which means very randomly with no rhyme or reason.

In music news: Nirvana Tribute (by BORIS, Thou, Kylesa, etc.)(Editor’s note- Fucking amazing.)

Virtual beer clanking sound.

Over and out,

Max

Again, I do appreciate Max’s involvement in contributing content for the time being. I certainly encourage others to do the same. I see on the social medias what everybody is doing with their spring time camping trips, and fun time bike ride adventures. Shoot a couple photos, and type a few words. It’s easy as pie.

I’d appreciate the assist, but if you don’t, it’s not like I’m gonna pout about it.

Much.

newlittleskull

Spread this like it's sick

Leave a Reply

12 Responses to “Being the only one attending the pity party is exhausting.”

  1. somedudeinFLA May 4, 2015 at 7:45 am #

    Stevil,
    I was actually considering sending in a ride report from this weekend but i dont want to be rubbing it in your face with your forced time off. At any rate, my adventures involved skinny(ish) tires, dirt, and one unfortunate sick raccoon (i suspect distemper. Tragic). Just want you to keep the faith and know that we’re doing “it” in FLA.

    P.S. My last forced time off was from a horrible slice on the bottom of my foot after stepping on a seashell. Hopefully the next one will have a better story like being bit by a gator or something. Hell… i dont even have a scar from the damn crustacian!

    • Stevil May 4, 2015 at 1:50 pm #

      Don’t worry about my face. Hook a brotha up. This will pass.

  2. Mom May 4, 2015 at 9:42 am #

    But you have such nice straight toes!
    XO

  3. Martijn May 4, 2015 at 11:01 am #

    Can we call a virtual beer clanking sound just VBCS from now on?

    • Stevil May 4, 2015 at 1:50 pm #

      And so it shall be done. VBCS.

  4. doubt May 4, 2015 at 2:48 pm #

    bikes without riders sure look goofy to me

  5. pedalman May 4, 2015 at 4:11 pm #

    Bikes are actually totally sweet when you remove the annoying rider part!

    • Stevil May 4, 2015 at 4:34 pm #

      I can’t believe I totally missed the opportunity to write a bit about bikes being sweet when you take off the part that makes all the bothersome noise.

  6. Loudass, Esq. May 4, 2015 at 5:30 pm #

    MORE BB GUN ARTICLES

  7. nelskyle May 5, 2015 at 5:48 am #

    here’s one that will get you excited about riding again! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0&feature=youtu.be

  8. George May 5, 2015 at 7:32 am #

    I didn’t know Richard Petty could play the conga drums…

  9. danlees May 5, 2015 at 7:55 am #

    Speaking as someone who is dealing with an enforced time off the bike due to a particularly nasty staph infection in my elbow, I feel your pain! And can’t even drink my way through it due to antibiotics! Chin up brother!