Killer painkillers.

So the other day I was showing Vancouver to a friend of mine.  He's a scientist and a professional bike blogger and a man on a mission I admire, and I wanted to show him this pretty little jewel of a city from it's bicycle-friendly seawall. We stopped a couple of times to enjoy a beverage and chat, and at the end of one such pause, he very sarcastically complimented me on being a great safety role model, always wearing a helmet, and I laughed cause there was a little grain of truth in his barb. I first started wearing helmets when my eldest son was born, for sure, but over the years they've saved me enough headache that I don't even debate the issue any more.  I patiently explained to him how many times mum told me that special people like me should always wear a helmet.  He shrugged, and we went along our way. It was late at night, or early in the morning, depending on your perspective, so the path was wide open, and we were moving pretty fast, as you do.  That's when I ran kerSPLATski into a curb and demonstrated the infinite wisdom in mama's words.

The  helmet prevented a nasty bump on my head, but it did nothing good for my neck and shoulders, so this week has been notable for time spent having chiropractic adjustments, and yes, you guessed it: more prolotherapy.  This time I had neural prolo on the nerves running along the top of my shoulders, and joint prolo on several of my ribs... it looked something like this, and believe me, you don't want to know what it felt like.

 And what do YOU do for fun?

Not all pain is created equal, you know.  

Sometimes pain teaches you things like how not to be such a show-off, 

and sometimes it's just a gentle reminder that you're still alive.

Like that tingle turned to burn in your thighs after a climb...

Mmm. 

 This was on the way back down after we climbed to the top of Mountain Highway,

and stopped to check out the Lynn Canyon Suspension bridge.  

There was a whole bunch of GoPro footage of this ride, but in my great genius I unwittingly managed to erase almost all of it before I got home to download it.  Pretty impressive, don't you think?  THAT's whatchacall the Homer Simpson "DOH" pain.

Sometimes pain is a little reminder that you have new shoes,

 sometimes it means you've had too much sun where maybe you shouldn't.

And sometimes pain has a face.  Then it's a whole 'nother kind of message...
the kind of pain in the butt you'd do best to avoid altogether.  

In that case, I recommend taking a long walk in the park on two wheels...

  

It's the best thing for whatever ails you.