Mountain Bike Monday - Down and Out

We had such a lovely ride together last Thursday at Poco! We ventured over to Forest Exploration/Fendley Station and proceeded to vary the ride up a bit by doing it backwards! Dynamo likes to break out of the box, but I tend to like the same old thing. I like familiar. I can remember all the turns and bumps, but when we switch it up everything looks different! This time I was up for trying it! Good thing we did because it was fun! It was a little challenging to be sure that we turned the right way, but we got it!



I don't think I've mentioned it before today, but Dynamo hurt his thumb earlier in the month of July, so he's been having some trouble riding the really bumpy stuff. He went to Patient First after he injured it. They did an x-ray and said he didn't break anything, but to come back in a week if it wasn't better. Well, Dynamo iced his thumb religiously and babied it for days, but no relief. So, he went back into Patient First and the doc there referred him to an orthopaedic specialist for hands. And, on Friday at 9:15 a.m. he had his appointment. Shortly after he went in I got a text that said, "About to get casted. Done for 6 wks!" To that I replied, "U r jokin right?" Then, I got the picture via text of his hand in a cast in the parking lot at the doctor's office. (Since I'm having technical difficulties pretend I've inserted a photo here of his cast.)

Apparently he has pulled some ligaments around his thumb (in the webbing). This condition is called "skier's thumb." Talk about devastated! Dynamo has been training for over a year to get ready for the big Shenandoah Mountain 100 mile mountain bike ride on Sunday, September 5, which is 4 weeks away! I was devastated for him! It broke my heart to see him so sad and disappointed. When someone you love works so hard for something you want to see them achieve their dreams. Team Chieppa was so sad on Friday. We are still recovering and dealing with the news. Dynamo is still trying to think of ways to make it happen. But, we'll have to see. It's pretty hard to ride with a full cast. But, he will continue to ride the trainer and I will too. And, before long we'll be back out there on the trails. We'll be kickin' it up a notch and getting ready for next year!

So, to sum things up...Dynamo lost his cell phone on the trails a couple of weeks ago, hurt his thumb earlier this month, got a cast, and Monday morning when he went out to go to work he had a piece of metal stuck in his truck tire. We readjust. We stay calm. We thank God for all the blessings we do have. And...we continue onward. Life is good. God is good.