Time off...Great way to start off the New Year!

Well... I'm back. It's January 6, 2008 and I haven't even taken a look at my bike. It's been now over 2 weeks since I've been on a bike. I haven't worked out or done much physically, except for a couple days of skiing. I've heard that time off the bike is good for rest and rejuvenation. I usually take the whole winter off and suffer in the late spring to get back in shape. This year, I'm hoping it will be a little bit different. Tomorrow if all things align perfectly, I'll be riding.
Now for things which will cause it not to align properly....

Well, the health issue is a big problem. Before I left, I caught some kind of cold which continued to linger all through my vacation. It really sucked as I was congested, coughing a lot and hocking up all sorts of lungers to try to clear my throat and lungs. My voice went a bit hoarse and my ears were all clogged up when I flew and went up and down the mountains during the travels. Altitude changes exacerbates the cold. Each night during my vacation, I think I got about 4 hours of sleep. I kept coughing or snoring so that my wife would poke me to turn over. Well, I always said paybacks are hell. She apparently caught the cold the last few days of our vacation too. Of course all of our children had during our vacation as well, some worse than others. I'm back now and things seem to have almost cleared up. I still have some lingering congestion and thick mucus in my nose/throat. Gross. I promise not to blow my nose while I do a group ride.

The other health issue I have is a constant battle against the dreaded gout. It apparently is a hereditary disease which attacks young men in their early 30's. I handed this unfortunate card. Of course, I've been told it's treatable by changing your diet and getting on medicine (Allopurinol) We'll I'm not going to give up all of those delicious things such as goose fois gois, beer, mushrooms, caviar, red meats, and other alcoholic beverages. These foods are all high in purines which cause uric acid production. Gout is an inflammatory disease some what in the arthritis family. When it swells up it feels like you've broken your joints or pulled a muscle or strained a ligament badly. I have it attack my ankles or knees most often, I don't know if my back problems are also linked. Either way it sucks to have this disease, however I take allopurinol to reduce the risks, however it's definitely not 100% as I get about 6-10 attacks a year. Most are mild where if I catch it early I take a bunch of ADVIL's and hopefully it reduces the swelling quickly enough that attack is limited to only a couple of days and with mild pain. The times it sucks, I basically limp around for a couple of weeks and the pain is like you've broken your bones.

This past week, it attacked my right ankle again. Luckily or unluckily, it was on vacation. I caught it early enough and my ankle is just a bit stiff, a little of swelling and pain. Hopefully by tomorrow it will be a very small inconvenience.

I'm still not sure what caused the attack, except that I wasn't riding. Apparently, I've been told that sweating is a way your body gets rid uric acid. I did do a bit of drinking the week during the holiday season and a lesser amount during the trip. I did eat nicely every night. Let's see...
Prime Rib, Filet Mignon, Seared Tuna, King Crab Legs, Snow Crab, Oysters, Duck, Fish, Sushi ... the one thing I did miss was a good lamb chop or rack. (That's one of my favorites which I didn't find on the menu where I went this past week). Nice bottle of wine about every night, a few nights with the usual Grey Goose and sodas. So all in all, I don't think I over did anything on vacation.

The trip was a wonderful learning experience for myself and my family. We started in Las Vegas and drove past the Hoover Dam, went to the Grand Canyon, but didn't do much there except for stopping at every scenic view and staying overnight. Zion National Park was incredible with it's views and we hiked several of the trails. It was exceptionally beautiful, more so than the Grand Canyon in my opinion. We then headed out to Park City, UT after a couple of days in Zion. Park City has changed so much since my previous stay about 18 years ago. The city has exploded in it's development and no longer really looks like an old mining town. It's full of new multi-million dollar housing developments and condo's. In fact on top of Deer Vally Mountain, we were able to get a tour of this home: Click Here and Here. Pretty damn incredible and crazy! It would be a nice place to stay for a week or so, with friends... so who's with me??? (WWM) . Anyway, Park City's is becoming a much more glitzy place and has lost some of it's old silver mining town heritage. Deer Valley however is living up to it's reputation with great food and service. I however prefer the traditional ski bum's attitude about finding an inexpensive place to stay and skiing the hardest, steepest and deepest powder slopes... The groomed slopes is for non-skiers. Though getting older and traveling with a family, it's nice to be pampered like what you get at Deer Valley.

Anyway, we spent several days at Park City, visited the Olympic Park and watched the ski jumpers practice the 70 meter jump. Pretty cool to be able to sail so long in the air. The videos inside the Museum was also really well presented about the 2002 Salt Lake Games and the athletes involved.

After Park City, we headed back to Las Vegas to finish out our vacation. We spent two days lounging around the heated pool, hot tub, (large aquarium in the middle of the pool with sharks and other fish and a slide/tube which went through the aquarium.), and attending many of the shows in town. I guess, we did the family stuff and not much gambling, drinking and chasing women which I had experienced in the past. We took the red eye home and I have to say that my kids really did well traveling, even though our plane was delayed because of another delayed flight which had our crew on it.

All in all it was enjoyable and a bit tiring. I'm looking forward on getting on the bike and riding.
Hopefully the weather will be nice tomorrow.