Sunday, December 23, 2007

Bad Karma

My friend John called from the North Slope tonight with a simple piece of advice: Lose the new name!

You see, a couple of years ago when I set up a user account for the Alaska forum at mtbr.com, I just used my real name. So I recently decided to cool up and get a bitchin' screen name like all my friends. The best I could come up with was "Bad Karma," which I stole off a Warren Zevon CD. Being a big fan of the Z Man, I was already using Old Velvet Nose as my forum avatar, so one of his song titles just seemed to fit.

Shortly after the name change, I went out last weekend and took my chin-mangling, jaw-bruising, concussion-inducing faceplant. Then I went out for a ride today with John's wife, Maura, and my seatpost bolt exploded two or three miles from the trailhead, forcing me to pedal standing up for a fairly long stretch at the end of a four-hour ride.

John thinks bad karma has started following me around. He said I should punt the new name. Maybe he's right.

But I'm not convinced. As all my friends will tell you, I'm one of those optimistic, sunny-dispositioned, glass-is-half-full people. I'm always smiling, whistling show tunes and petting cute puppies.

OK, the crash sucked ass.

But today's ride was a hoot in spite of a tiring challenge at the end.

After a week of pain that slowly migrated around my jaw, neck and chin, and concussion-related spells in which I was alternatingly foggy-headed and irritable, I got to spend the day with a friend riding fat bikes on snow. We ran into several biking friends on the trails, and I even got to chat briefly with a couple of former co-workers I hadn't seen in a long time.

And the worst thing that happened was a little extra exercise because I broke an old component and then got to drive to Paramount and upgrade to a sweet Thomson Elite.

And come to think of it, maybe a little good karma was kicking in, because my store punch card was full and I got my new $100 post for only $70.

I think I'll go pop a painkiller and skip through a pretty meadow while tossing flower petals into the air.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

glad you are healing,i took my first spill this morning on the way to work,three months of commuting and my streak ends!it's not a matter of "if it happens",it's a matter of "when it happens",i scrub the sidewalls on a business entrance i have never used before,before i knew it,the bars were yanked out of my hands nad i was up and over,it makes you feel real stupid!,no cars in site though,but i did scrub the knee to the point of bleeding,and bang the elbow.but being the true cyclist i checked the bike first!,my Cateye light,check!,my Cateye computer,check!,etc,once i got on the bike trail and saw two rabbits dart in front of me,my pain was a million miles away!(not really),but it helped.MERRY "CHRIST"mas & a HAPPY NEWW YEAR!

Maura said...

"I think I'll go pop a painkiller and skip through a pretty meadow while tossing flower petals into the air."
There's a picture hanging in Jens that has always kind of creeped me out. Now I know why. Here's a link. While not exactly showing a bearded guy skipping, it's what your description above evoked in my mind. I had to share.
http://artistsregister.com/artist_image.phtml?slideId=17876&backlink=artists&number=AK11

Anonymous said...

Maura -
thanks for the link! LoL
Tim, maybe a new avatar for you?
rose

Grill Meister said...

Happy Holidays, Wildman!

Don't change your avatar and on-line name - just because. I had the nickname of Krash Kelly back in the olden days when I was heavy into road racing. I kicked ass in criteriums because I was willing to be on the edge and on the front, where the action is. But, those races are crash prone. Thus I had plenty of opportunity to pick myself up off the pavement, get back and the saddle and get on the attack again. I've been; in the air upsidedown, in the ditch, in the bushes and riding over other down riders and ending up with a lot of road rash, but I never gave up. Every criterium I had crashed in I went on to win. Even when other rides, pre-race, would say "Hey Krash, you gonna crash again, so you can win?" I always came back with "Crash, I don't crash. What're you talking about?" If we go through life thinking about the impending doom that is ultimately following us around, we might never step out of the house. That blows.

Remember my comment about the ER and Demerol? I've broken bones 14 times, had a zillion stitches from playing hockey for 50 years. The ER is my friend. And as you know none of that has slowed me down. In fact I can't wait to tell my next broken bone story. Just remember if you get to tell the broken bone/stitches/concussion story, it means you survived.

See you Saturday BAD KARMA!

Grill Meister

Anonymous said...

Broken seat opst stink! I broke 2 this summer!