Sunday, February 17, 2013

My Trip to Paradise

Over the Christmas and New Year's Holidays I've finally had the opportunity to go on a 'real' vacation.  A vacation that lasted longer than 1 week.  It has been over 5 years since my last true vacation and I have been feeling the need to de-stress and de-program.  My work does not afford me the luxury to travel and be away for long periods of time.  This time, I was able to go.  Destination - my birthplace, The Philippines.
It was a wonderful and magical experience.  I can go on and on about the things I was able to do and things I was able to enjoy, but I can truly say that it is best to show you rather than to tell you in writing.  Here is a video I had prepared for my family and friends and I thought that it would also be a great idea that I include you, my blog readers, in sharing my experience.  Some of you I haven't spoken with in months and I am anxious to hear from you, especially those that I have become good friends with through my blogs.  And then there are also the new friends I have made along the way who are now following me on this blog.  You know who you are. ;-)
This was truly a trip of a lifetime.  Something I will never forget.


Now for some cycling content...  
It has been 4 months since my last blog entry and I will tell you why...  Other than the excuses of life 'getting in the way', one of the main reason is that I haven't been on my bicycle(s) in the last 4 months.  To start off, I ended my cycling season of 2012 with a 'Bang' doing a charity bike ride on my Tallbike! It was a great end to an amazing cycling season of the best spring/summer/autumn seasons out here on the Westcoast Vancouver, Canada.  We had no rain for 3 whole months!  And if you know westcoast Canada, you know that is an extreme rarity around here.  I rode my bike daily.  I rode everywhere!  And one of the proudest accomplishments I've had was to commute to work day in and day out!  I did not use my car for 3 whole months, something I thought was simply impossible!  This was huge, and I was extremely happy that I was able to achieve this.
Unfortunately, all this riding came at a price.  At around August and September of last year, I started developing hip and knee problems.  The hip pain started moving towards my groin and before you know it, I was forced to stay off my bike to get some time to heal.  It has been 6 months now since I've had these pains on my right hip, right groin and right knee and I have seen no improvements even through long-term rest.  In this time, I have also been taking some Yoga therapy sessions hoping it would help fix whatever problems I am having.  Yoga has helped tremendously with my mind, and body and my overall physical and mental health and that includes my happiness. Unfortunately, it has helped very little with my hip/groin and knee problems.  I will need some drastic measures to be able to really fix myself.  I have now recently gotten some x-rays done and I am scheduled to see a Sports Medicine Doctor to continue on with my treatments.  Hopefully, this finally fixes my problems, or at the very least allow me to be as pain free as possible so that I may be able to get back on my bike.  At this time, I have lost so much of my cycling stamina and I will surely have to do a lot of training to get back to my physical cycling fitness level that I was accustomed to.  I am feeling some desperation for everything to start getting better as soon as possible as I am going to need my legs, especially now that certain 'plans' have been confirmed that will allow me to reach that goal that I have been aiming and striving for in these past few years of my born-again-cycling life.

Until next blog...   Hoping all is well with you.



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