Archives 2025

Yesterday I received the final parts I needed to complete the repair on my V13 EUC. This has been a long process that has covered more than two weeks as I encountered issues that required several rounds of ordering parts. I did the final work last night in the garage as my kitchen workbench already had the Master V4 on it in a disassembled state. The work did not take long and afterwards I did a quick test ride with no gear in the chilly January air. Things felt and sounded better than they ever have. This upcoming weekend I hope to take an extended ride to confirm the improvements.

Last night I made an effort to get to sleep earlier than what has become normal recently. I was feeling like I was on fumes physically and mentally. I slept well but even after getting roughly seven and a half hours of sleep I awoke this morning with my body desiring more. I need to listen to what my body is telling me much more consistently than I have been.

Speaking of which I think I am going to make a hard choice and give myself an unwelcomed break from pickleball for at least a couple weeks. My IT band issue is now approaching it’s second month and I am getting very frustrated with my inability to make it disappear. However I have been trying to do that while keeping a reduced schedule of pickleball in my routine which I know is hindering my progress. So I am going to do the hard thing and stop playing for a bit to see what sort of gains I can make. This is the perfect time of year to be playing and not being able to take advantage is really, really pissing me off. If after continuing to do stretching/strengthening and not playing I still have issues I may begrudgingly need to escalate the issue to an orthopedist or PT.

Today a pretty significant wave of arctic air moves in and stays put for at least a week sending our area into it’s version of a deep freeze. I don’t particularly mind lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s but there are a lot of people here that will be dressing like Eskimos until the temps moderate.

My New Years day was a good mix of activities for me. I got out on a wheel not once but twice. Something that I assumed I would be doing a lot more after I moved in March of 23 was riding my wheels. Instead for a variety of reasons that really has not been the case. In fact I think 2024 probably had the least amount of miles on one wheel of any since I started in the hobby 8 plus years ago. My intent is to change that.

Riding has always been a way for me to naturally decompress and level myself out if I am feeling out of whack for whatever reason. I would like to indulge in that natural remedy more this year. WoW has historically been another way that I can wipe away whatever transient issues might be circling around in my head. That has also been nearly non-existent in my 2024. Both of these activities offer inherent relief from stress that I should take advantage of more often.

I accomplished my goal of getting the Christmas tree taken down and put away as well yesterday. After changing the outdoor RGB lights from their red and green state back to cool white the house was wiped clean of Xmas and officially back to normal. For many, many years undoing Christmas in my household carried with it a lot of negative feelings. Those feelings are not a thing anymore. On New Years Eve I did receive my final two Christmas cards of the year. As I have described previously, cards, especially unexpected cards bring little bursts of positivity and warm feelings into your day. This was definitely the case, once again.

I also mounted my electric skateboard on the wall of the garage instead of storing it on the back of one of my dining room chairs. It’s one of those tasks that I inexplicably procrastinated on despite it taking all of 5 minutes to complete. I have a handful of other things in that category that I need to address.

Normally I do yoga once a week, on Tuesdays. They also offer the class on Thursdays but I normally will opt to do weight training on that day. I am going to break protocol and take the class today as well. The movements hit my hips in a way that are definitely helping my lower body issues so I am prioritizing getting that better over strength gains right now. I asked myself what would I appreciate more, a bigger bench press number or being able to return to my normal pickleball/volleyball levels of activity. The latter was the instant and obvious answer.