Goodbye tooth, goodbye pain

I am now back from the dentist and what I thought was going to be a terrible ordeal turned out to be completely painless. It has been many years since my last dentist visit and I was expecting a very unpleasant hour or so but the 50 minutes the whole thing took went quickly and easily as possible. My broken molar is now gone. I have a graft where the tooth was and one simple stitch. The freezing is still working but I imagine when it starts to dissipate my mouth will be more than a bit sore.
I wore my heart rate monitor during the procedure because I figured it would be interesting to see how high my heart rate went. Here are the surprising numbers. My low was 55 bpm, the peak 99 bpm and the average over the 50 minutes was 71 bpm. I fully expected the numbers to be much higher but I guess the fact that there was no pain had a lot to do with the results. The dentist, Dr. Chiasson and his assistant were very professional as well.
All in all it was a relatively easy visit and the first of several I suppose should I decide to replace the tooth. As I type I can tell that the freezing is slowly leaving so it's time for a T3 and some Advil.

Training

Due to the fact that the weather is terrible right now (snowed this morning) I decided to do a workout on my rollers in the basement. I use this trainer early in the season usually and it is a great tool to help improve your riding. I have been using it primarily to increase my pedalling cadence while riding which is supposed to lead to better efficiency. I am fairly proficient on it now and haven't crashed this year. Yes, you read that correctly, crash. Last year shortly after getting the trainer I tried to ride while checking my heart rate on my watch. That was a bad idea which led to me having my only road bike crash since as long as I can remember.......in my basement. I am still not sure what happened but I ended up on the floor with a sore hip. Lesson learned.
Today I decided to do a 25 km roller ride. It took about 10 minutes for the sweat to start beading on my forehead and by the time I was done I was soaked in sweat. I figure I was fully warmed up after 20 minutes. I used both the bike computer and my heart rate monitor and here are the numbers.

Average speed - 41.42 kph
Time - 36 minutes, 24 seconds
Distance - 25.11 km
Average cadence - 92 rpm
Average heart rate - 153 bpm
Peak heart rate - 172 bpm
Calories burned - 624
                                                                                                                                                                 I must admit those numbers are my best so far. The trainer does help to stay in shape when the weather sucks. The one above I bought online from Mountain Co-op for around $200. It's simple to set up and an excellent way to stay in shape and keep some pounds off during the bad weather months.

Pain

First of all a weather report. It's April 24 and it is snowing. Yes I said snowing. I suppose there will be no bike ride today.
Now for todays subject, pain. Throughout my 56 years I have been fortunate that I have only had to experience pain in small doses, an injury here and there and some medical procedures that have caused extreme pain for a short period of time. I have had tax pain as well but that's another thing completely.
For the last 4-5 days I have experienced pain like never before. About 15 years ago I was eating some venison (don't ever believe the hunter who says he has a great way to cook venison because venison is a dreadful meat) and I cracked my one of my molars on a bone shard. On my way to Vail 3 years ago a piece broke off of the tooth and the filling fell out. There was no pain so I ignored it until 5 days ago when the pain set in. It came in waves at first, unbelievable pain for 15-20 minutes and then easing off to an acceptable level. I bought some Tylenol 1's and they helped a bit but when the real bouts of pain started it seemed the Tylenol was overmatched.
Three days ago the pain changed to a more constant gnawing. It was always there, sometimes not too bad but at its' peak it was debilitating. I tried many things to get past these peaks but nothing seemed to help, not lying still, not walking around, not meditating, nothing. Yes I said meditating, I was desperate.
Yesterday I was finally able to see a dentist but not until 4 PM. Never before have I experienced pain like I had yesterday. It was constantly high with peaks that numbed my cheek, made my bottom teeth hurt and my temple ache. I was unable to function.
I am now on antibiotics, Tylenol 3's and Advil and I must say I feel human again. In two days I have to go back and the tooth will be pulled and judging by the dentist's description of the forthcoming extraction it's going to take some work. I am not looking forward to it but the tooth has to go.
Suffering through those 3-4 days of pain have made me understand a little bit how people with constant pain for years on end decide to end it all. The pain eats away at you, erodes your inner strength and ability to function on the lowest of levels. I am for the most part a happy guy in an angry kind of way but the pain took away any capability of feeling happy. Hell, I was having a tough time being angry. That's saying something.

Beaver Creek in retrospect

I have now had a week and some to reflect on the ski trip and although the snow conditions were far from primo we had some real fun days in what can only be described as brilliant sunshine. We learned not to go out skiing until around 10 AM and when we did head onto the hill we went where the sun had been shining for a while.
The best run of the week had to be the Birds of Prey downhill run which has got to be one of the scariest downhills on the circuit. It's steeeeep in some sections and it boggles my mind that they hit the 2 jumps on the course at around 70 miles an hour. The run wasn't opened up until about 1 PM every day because it had been fertilized which caused it to turn to ice therefore rendering it unskiable until it had softened up a bit in the afternoon. There were even warning signs recommending that experts only on tuned equipment  should be skiing down that run. Fortunately they missed me snowplowing my way over there. There were also some bumps near the bottom of the run which were fun but rocky leaving the bases of my skis looking in very rough shape. The edges have burrs which would cut your finger and there is a rather large gouge out of one ski.
The staff of Kenmark were again helpful and fun to be around and the group as a whole were a great bunch. I'll be taking my skis to Kenmark in the fall  to get some much needed repairs done. Overall a great trip.

Photoshopped pic, my head, someone elses body

It's now back on the bike which is lucky for me because if I was as lousy a biker as I am a skier I would still be using traing wheels and for the life of me I can't remember where I put the damn things.

Tree hugger?

I was looking at my photos from my Vail vacation when I noticed something in one of the shots that had been missed. At first glance it looks like a simple picture of a simpleton, me, wearing a hat to further enhance my simpleton persona. The only thing that could make me look more simple would be to have me start skiing. That would seal the deal.

Anyways if you look at the background of the photo there is something going on. There is a guy in a red ski jacket having a close encounter with a tree. I suppose it's possible that he just talking to it to encourage growth or maybe he's an environmentalist and is on the verge of giving it a big hug but my guess is he's about to or in the act of pissing on that tree. In plain sight! On a very busy day at Vail! The nerve! I wish I had thought of it. It's so much easier than running into the woods in ski boots.
The other photo is of our friend and roomie for the week Tom. To say the least Tom is quite a character and the week without a doubt was more fun because he was around. There are few people in this world who can walk into a bar and shout "lock up your daughters" and have both fathers and daughters laugh. If I did it the results just wouldn't be the same.
Tom wore this T-shirt on the first day and had teenagers taking pictures of it and got a lot of laughs from the shirt itself and certainly the character wearing it.

Once again I simply couldn't pull it off, wearing a shirt like that but it's a natural for Tom. I'm not sure if he's exhausted in the photo from skiing (on Head skis), having a few at our first apres ski of the week or worn out from the anticipation of..................something. Suffice to say it was a better week with Tom around and when he's not making people laugh he's doing a great job fitting ski boots at Kemark Snowsports. Thanks Tom.

Back home

I made it home from Beaver Creek at 1:00 AM this morning and received the greatest greeting ever from Guinness and without a doubt I was just as happy to see him. The trip home took 13 hours. That's a bus ride, a flight, another bus ride, a car ride to Cam and Lori's and finally another car ride in the Vibe to home sweet home. It's great to be home again.

Not much snow but the sun was shining every day

The week of skiing was great although very hard on my skis. The edges now have many burrs, there is a dandy gouge in the base of one ski and there are some repairs now badly required. We all tried to miss the rocks but on some of the steeper and more challenging runs there was no way of seeing them. I did a total of 136,000 vertical feet of skiing with Thursday being my biggest day vertically speaking with 29,600 feet of downhill skiing. No wonder my knee is stiff and sore. For 2 of the 6 days we skied at Vail but it just wasn't the same as last year because the back bowls were closed which cut the skiable terrain in half at least. Apres ski was always fun at the end of the day and I will never tire of the complimentary champagne served at the Chophouse at 3:30 every day. I skied the Birds of Prey downhill at Beaver Creek as well nonstop. It gave me a new respect for the real down hill skiers who fly down there at breakneck speeds. Some of the steeps are steeeeep and the jumps are unbelievable.

3:30 is champagne time

All in all it was a great vacation. Thanks to the folks at Kenmark for doing a fine job organizing everything.

Day5, Beaver Creek

Today will be the fifth day of our skiing vacation. It has been fun, exasperating, warm, cold, icy, slushy and just about any other snow related description you can think of other than powder.
The previous two days we have taxied to Vail and skied there although it's not nearly the same as it was the last two years. The back bowls are closed so the amount of skiable terrain has been greatly reduced. Even the front side has some closed areas. Because of the reduced terrain the resort seemed crowded. It is also Easter so Vail is packed with skiers and boarders from latin america. Both days were fun with yesterday being the warmest day I have ever skied. Conditions in the morning were quite icy and by afternoon quite soft. We ended the day with a beer or two at Garfinkels.

Garfinkels at Vail

I am still struggling with my left boot trying to get my foot to sit properly. I still haven't got it right although yesterday was a bit better. In the end I may try a different footbed because this one still has a large pressure point covering the whole arch area and my foot slides back when I pressure the tongue to turn. I think the footbed was perfect until I climbed up Blue a couple of times in the fall without any arch support and injured my foot. That was not very bright. All in all this was the most frustrating ski season I have ever had.  I must admit I will be glad to hang up the skis for the year get back on the bike.

It sucks to suck

Today was day two at Beaver Creek and after a couple of crashes there is only one conclusion to be reached; I fucking suck at skiing. I should be wearing a fools hat but I guess just watching me come down the hill a la Zamboni is proof enough that I fucking suck. Maybe it's time to pack skiing in and go back to my board. At least I didn't look like a complete idiot on it. It's embarrassing to look like a complete fool and certainly I have done enough of that shit this year. After I make a complete fool of myself I then decide to beat myself up physically and mentally. There's a rational response. Maybe I am a fucking masochist. Yeah that's it a masochist. Sadly I'd probably fucking suck at that as well. FUCK!!!!!!
So I have now had some time to cool down and the realisation is this is the worst ski season I have ever had. I have never been more clueless as to what my problem is. I know it has everything to do with my left side but what. As much as my right boot feels perfect I can't get my left  boot to give me any feeling of edge control on a consistent basis. I have lost confidence completely in my ability to get my left ski under control all the time. Everything feels wrong about it. It sucks. I suck!

Beaver Creek, Vail 2012

I am back in Colorado once again for some end of the year spring skiing. We arrived in Beaver Creek around 3:30 yesterday and checked into our very nice condo. There are 4 of us, Cam, Lori, myself and boot fitter extraordinaire from Kenmark Snowsports, Tom. If you are ever in need of ski boots Tom at Kenmark is the man to see. Sadly I drank too much and was in bed very early last night but that means I am ready and rarin to go this morning.

The Ritz Carlton

I am back now from what can only be called a great spring skiing day. The conditions were icy this morning and it is obvious that skiing will end here soon. We had a liquid lunch basking in the sun at the Ritz Carlton. Lori decided to check out the sale in the shop there and saw a very nice base layer Bognor  turtleneck. She figured it might be $50-$60 but got a rude awakening checking the price tag. It was $399, marked down from $499. Wow. We then made our way over to the Birds of Prey run which was nothing short of fantastic. Great snow and beautiful warm temperatures. After a couple of runs on it we made our way to the Chophouse to finish off the day. It was certainly the warmest day I have ever been out skiing and although it's not primo conditions it's impossible not to have a lot of fun.I just checked the EpicMix website which I signed up for this morning. We all have a credit card sized IDcard which is read at every chairlift and at the end of the day you can get your total vertical, all the lifts you have been on and a ton of other information. I totalled out at 24,000 feet of vertical today and for the first day thats OK I should think. The technology just amazes me.