i'm hip
No, not that kind of hip. My left hip is complaining. Back in '92 or '93 (can't remember exactly) I was training for the upcoming road racing season (bicycle, I was a USCF Cat III racer). At the Rose Bowl in Pasadena there is a 3 miles loop around the exterior and every tuesday and thursday a peloton would show up to do a 10 lap training ride/race. I was just starting to come into form, and on lap 9 picking my way up towards the front to take a pull. On the downhill side through the corner some guy two bikes ahead went down. The guy right in front of me grabbed his brakes and his freme backed up into my front wheel. Over the bars at 35mph I go, landing mostly on my left hip and left elbow.
Luckily a friend of mine was there with his van (I rode from my house to the Bowl), as my bike was unridable. Once I got home I headed over to the Caltech med center and had the nurse sigh as she started to scrub the cirt and rocks out of the myriad road rash with betadine and a scrubber (fun!). After a few days/weeks the rash healed, but my hip was not happy. I couldn't ride for quite some time. The diagnosis was tendonitis. After a couple year layoff I could ride again, but every once in awhile it would flare up, especially in cold weather. I've never been competitive on the bike since, and haven't ridden much at all in the last few years.
I have been on my motorcycle though, and my Triumph has a fairly wide tank area and high pegs, which pushed my knees out and has made my hip unhappy. Especially on long days in the saddle. Recently its been fairly bad, as the Vegas trip tweaked it (riding a bike in the wind is hard work). The trip with the Duc on Wednesday really hammered my body, just in time for two track days and a flight to Shanghai. Nice timing, eh?
Anywho, today I went to see Dr. Ma and get some needles stuck in me. Feeling better and have some woodlock oil to put on it. I'm hoping that it hasn't turned into arthritis, but if it has, I'll work with that too. That seems to be the lesson life is sending me these days. Things are as they are, so work with them instead of fight against them. And I don't have to be hardcore, but just be. That's for another post though...