No reason for this dog other then I’ve decided that all of my posts dealing with back issues should have a dog for a thumbnail.

Just got back from the first visit with my new doctor. All went well. He is a spinal surgeon, but he didn’t seem to think that surgery was the guaranteed way to go. I kind of baited him with the “I think its time to get surgery” routine and he said there maybe some other alternatives and not to resign myself to that. That was good and he seems pretty easy to talk to so far. Of course, the usual drill ensued… “Go get an MRI and come back”. After calling 15 disconnected numbers given to me by my wonky health insurance I finally found a working one and made an appointment for monday. Hopefully by later next week I will be able to have the prints read and have an idea of what can be done for me and when.

That’s the problem area, but the xray is very faint and hard to see. Disc squished between L4 and L5 and probably worse between L5 and whatever is below that.

Going a little stir crazy so I talked Giant into sending me a MTB to ride. I’m hoping some suspension will help me at least be able to put in some cross country miles and get some desperately needed exercise. Although, I’m pretty afraid of trying to put it together. Hydraulic brakes and gears and crap… I have no idea. Really makes you appreciate how amazingly simple BMX bikes are. I think that should be the rule for all you BMX designers. Keep it simple. If its not simple its not BMX.

I asked the Indian doctor who made this xray what the dark spot was and he got really embarassed and red and said, “this is your poo poo”.

Yesterday I had the bright idea to do some concrete work at a new ditch I found. How could anyone have guessed that lugging 80lb bags of concrete around would make my injured back sore? I really don’t know what I’m doing with concrete and have never used it before. I smoothed out one kink a little bit though, but it looks like its going to wash away in the first rain. I did find a really cool ditch right down the street from my house. 15 years in Austin and I’ve never heard of it before. Lots of potential with just a little work (assuming I can figure out how to do the work).

I don’t understand how the little sharp metal bits from my spleen surgery can be ok to leave inside me. Seems like they would poke through something to me?

This isn’t the best quality, but what can you expect when you have Sandy Carson riding behind you with your digital camera taped to his helmet. This is the Roscoe bike is action! Sorry I didn’t edit out the wind noise.

Here is a rad quick shot of Sandy going through the small box jump section. Sorry I didn’t edit the wind noise on this video either. 

Below is a bunch of pictures of Ray’s MTB. If you click these photos you can see them a bit bigger since they are so detailed.

This room has lots of off roading obstacles. 

This is one of the skatepark rooms. Foam pit, resi, all the modern conveniences.

The Skatepark area at Ray’s is completely awesome on its own. But keep in mind there is another 85,000 square feet out there to ride!

Part of the big box line. up at the top is the Kenda hip. 

On the left is the pump track, on the right is some smaller stuff.

The above two photos are two different sections that both make you feel like you are in a miniature golf course, or maybe a human sized pinball machine. 

Improve your balance!

Yeah, my new sponsor has its own wallride here.

180 degree curved wallrides are fun.

Berms are my favorite. 

Pump track section. 

The Holiday Inn thinks my name is Paj.