Wednesday, December 20, 2017

64 and Still Going Strong

I turned 64 at 3:20 am this morning. So I decided it was about time to update my About Me page. Here it is.
I live and play along the Central Coast of California with my wife, my best buddy for life. I'm a proud father of 5 kids and grandfather to 9 little ones. Born in 1953 (you do the math) I created my blog in July of 2009 to share thoughts and information about recumbent cycling as others have shared with me. Also I take a occasional detour into family, hiking and useless musings.

For most of my life I hiked into the hills to think more clearly. Whether hiking locally or somewhere more distant, by myself or with my kids, I always imagined that I’d be hiking until my time here on Earth expired. My time here on Earth is far from over. There is a lot that I still want to do and see, but I'm wearing out. I've lived a very physical life and now it's caught up with me. The medical profession has put my shoulder back together, twice removed torn cartilage from my knee, put the scalpel to my feet to put them back in good working order, repaired my lower and middle back, provided me with new hips which left me the loss of part of my calf muscle because of nerve damage from the hip replacement. It also left me with heterotopic ossification in my right hip and constant general  soreness of the pirifomis muscles. All topped off with a heart attack on Christmas day of 2011.

In December of 2017 I turned 64 and even though my party parts may be wearing down I'm still going strong. After my heart attack in 2011 I weened myself off meat and turned to a vegetarian diet while at the same time taking whatever drugs the doctors told me to take. My one mouth disastrous affair with statins for cholesterol after my 2011 heart attack convinced me that pharmaceuticals are to be looked at with caution. I was soon off all drugs related to my heart attack. I control my colestoral and maintain a healthy heart and body through a common sense diet.

I'm 6'1" and weight 190 lbs. I ride my trike 10 to 12 times a month. I exercise at least every 5 days using some weights and old fashion calisthenics. And I stretch everyday. I take turmeric to keep the blood flowing and general heart health, vitamin D3 for heart health (old skin doesn't produce vitamin D like young skin) and Ibuprofen as needed. I also let big pharma make a little money off  of me. I take an inhaler for mild asthma (growing up in a house full of cigarette and cigar smoke didn't help) and about every 3 months my doctor gives me a prescription for 20 low dose hydrocodone tabs for the days when I do too much heavy lifting or just do something stupid. 

In early May of 2009 Dana at Bent Up Cycles showed me what recumbent tadpole trikes are all about. Their knowledge of recumbent trikes put me at ease that I could transition from hiking to recumbent cycling. My first ride was a Catrike Expedition. It was soon followed by a Catrike 700 which was later upgraded to the new version of the Catrike 700 with 20' front wheels. 

I can still take short hikes but my trikes keep me alive both physically and mentally. 

Enough about me go RIDE!