On December 27 I'll have my 11th orthopedic surgery (second on my right shoulder). On my follow up doctor visit after my accident in France an MRI revealed a torn rotator cuff. I had similar surgery in 2004 and although I was back riding on the road in 4 weeks the rehabilitation took a very long time. In an effort to continue my 200 + km streak I had scheduled surgery for 12/15 and then completed a 200 km brevet earlier in December. However during my pre-op visit, I was advised the surgery had to be moved to 12/27. The reason: since they plan to take fascialata from a cadaver's leg to help re-build the superspanatis the procedure has to be done in the hospital instead of a surgical center--thanks to Medicare. I suppose I shouldn't complain since my out of pocket expenses are nil--except for the $250/month I pay for medicare and a supplement.
So imy streak was in jeopardy since it would have been pretty near impossible to get back on a bike for 200 km ride next month. But fate intervened: Kevin Kaiser the Regional Brevet Administrator reminded me that by pre-riding his Augusta brevet within 15 days of the event date I could get credit for the ride ON THE EVENT DATE OF 01/01/2012. So last Sunday I rode the event route with 3 other RUSA members. My shoulder hurt enough to keep me from a normal pace as evidenced by fact that on 01/01/2011 I did this exact route almost 60 minutes faster on a single speed bike where it rained for the last 2 hours. Nevertheless, I'll have until the end of February to complete another 200 km event. That's my goal which gives me something to aim at (yeh, I know one's not suppose to end a sentence with a proposition).
