My latest "toy" purchase...

shack

I been doing a lot of mountain hiking lately, but sometimes I want to travel a little faster to get some exercise. I don't do any off road or trail riding...just some street, bike path, dirt road stuff. It is the end of model the year so I got it about $125 off MSRP. Took it to Cades Cove in the GSMNP this morning where they close it down a half day to motorized vehicles for an eleven mile ride. So far is seems to be a very nice bike.

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cnh

Wow, great price!

Enjoy! Could definitely use one myself, but am currently restricted to the old exercise bike till my tendon/ankle has a bit more strength. Also, how's your seat treating you, at our age you can't stay on those too long even if they are anatomically friendly. lol

I'm just kidding, baby boomers are ageless!

cnh

Conradicles

Nice Man!

shack

cnh wrote: »

Wow, great price!

Enjoy! Could definitely use one myself, but am currently restricted to the old exercise bike till my tendon/ankle has a bit more strength. Also, how's your seat treating you, at our age you can't stay on those too long even if they are anatomically friendly. lol

I'm just kidding, baby boomers are ageless!

cnh

I may opt for a more "comfort" oriented seat...the shop will swap it out if need be...and it will probably be a need...

I can relate to the ankle issue. Last winter I had one with a staph infection. The Ortho said it was one of the worst he had seen. Torn ligaments, fractures, tendons pulling away from the bone, bone spurs. I was in a walking boot for 7 weeks. It still hurts EVERYTIME I start walking after being inactive for even a few minutes...then once I start walking it limbers up and I'm ok. I can hike 12-13 miles and it the next day it hurts exactly the same as any normal day. I'm not sure what my next "step" will be but I'm tired of the pain. It may have something to do with the walking boot causing me to knock my sacroiliac hip joint out 3/4 of an inch...and I don't think it has ever gone back in place.

Here is a pic of what the ankle looked like.

cnh

I feel your pain, literally. Completely severed my left Achilles in mid-May, surgery, two weeks in a cast, two months in the "famous airboot" with accompanying heal pain. And about a month out of the boot and two weeks of PT so far. Can't come down steps normally, stiffen up in the way you describe, "hip"? Well some hip pain from the boot, yeah!

And my foot looked a lot like that! Toes are still somewhat swollen and the ankle as well, but less so. Can't really walk great distances before leg exhaustion settles in. Nasty stuff.

But staff infections are a lot more dangerous. I was in and out of the hospital in a few hours and clean! How did it get infected?

cnh

shack

cnh wrote: »

But staff infections are a lot more dangerous. I was in and out of the hospital in a few hours and clean! How did it get infected?

I had to have a kidney stone surgically removed via the urinary tract...after which a kidney stint was inserted and removed. It was a few days later the ankle became really swollen for no apparent reason. They knew I had a serious infection...but could not figure out where it came from. Numerous blood tests, MRIs, CT scans, etc and they couldn't find the cause. Three months later they found staph in a urine sample. It either came from the surgery or the removal of the kidney stint.

cnh

Pretty serious there. Glad they finally figured it out as such infections can be life threatening. I know someone who has a stint in their kidney, a hereditary issue that caused her blood pressure to spike.

Good to hear you're on the mend. My procedure was a cake walk compared to what you went through!

Have fun on the bike. You'll still have quite a bit of good weather down your way. Up here, we'll probably start to cool down soon after fall arrives.

cnh

Willow

For those of you with a foot fetish.... enjoy the pic!

Shack, congrats on the new purchase, looks like a good all around bike some groomed trails and pavement. Not to derail but how is your daughter doing since her massive trip?

Upstatemax

Nice! I've been finally able to get back on my bike this year and it feels amazing! I'm in better shape than I thought I would be...

As for the saddle CNH, that thing looks like a couch compared to mine! Yet mine is VERY comfortable. It pays to get FIT for a saddle.

shack

Willow wrote: »

Not to derail but how is your daughter doing since her massive trip?

Thanks for asking.

She finally was able to land a "real" job that is in her field. She is a kitchen/bath designer for Lowes. She is already dreaming up another trip...possibly to Chile and Argentina or the British Isles (primarily the Scottish Highlands). Now that she is gainfully employed they will have to be lesser in scope and time as she is able to accumulate vacation time. She says she is putting together a plan for another extended trip to take if she ever has a long break...say between jobs where she can have some time as she leaves one before she has to report to take another. She won't tell me where that one is....and I'm not sure I really want to know.

George Grand

Good looking bike. Makes me want to take a nap.

steveinaz

I dunno, that device looks like it requires alot of work....

shack

steveinaz wrote: »

I dunno, that device looks like it requires alot of work....

Yeah..when going uphill....flatland not so much....downhill is a breeze!

sda2mike

nice bike...it wouldn't take very long for me to re-purpose that thing to something else, though

MacLeod

Ive wanted to do the same thing for some time now Shack (the bike, not the infection). I was a fairly avid mountain biker there for a few years but then wound up enjoying riding around on the street a lot more enjoyable. Ive thought several times that I should upgrade to something like that so I can still head down the dirt road trail here in Ringgold that runs a long the creek or spend a couple hours just riding around the streets. I always seem something else to find to spend my money on though but one day, Ill have a more road oriented bike. And yeah, hard to go wrong with Cannondale.