Grounded...

I'm off the bike for a couple weeks.

(CAUTION: Icky medical details follow...)

I was due for a checkup on my diabetes, and I've been having some, aah... urinary issues. Discomfort, flow problems, etc. So, after seeing one too many Flomax commercials, I popped in to see the family doctor. After the usual round of tests (cough! cough!), he sent me home with an antibiotic. Diagnosis: prostatitis, a rather annoying inflammation of the prostate gland. My wife dove into the Internet and uncovered the possibility that my cycling may be exacerbating the problem. More specifically, my 10 year old not-so-anatomically-engineered saddle might be exacerbating the problem.

So, just to be on the safe side, I'll be taking a break from the commute for a couple weeks while I treat the problem. Then, weather permitting, I'll ease back into riding (with the more-anatomically-friendly saddle moved over from my road bike) and see what happens. It could simply be a bacterial infection, but...

Why in the world would I put such a potentially embarrassing diagnosis on the web for everyone to see? Well, I bet I'm not alone... and besides, It would seem a bit weird for me to mysteriously stop posting for a couple weeks...

Worst case, I'll have to ditch my traditional bikes, grow a (full) beard and ride one of these:


(photo courtesy RANS Bikes... this is their popular Stratus XP model...)

Don't worry... I'll be chronicling my adventures with cross-training and maybe adding a few articles on cleaning and maintaining bikes during the interim. Besides, if I'm going to get back in to triathlons, I'll eventually need to learn how to run and swim!