Another Bell's Palsy Update

Coming up on 4 months now with Bells Palsy and I can finally see the end. It's amazing how much energy it takes for nerves to regenerate. My left eye is starting blink without massive conscious brain function, although I continue to have overactive tears in both eyes at times and they get tired easy. Face is getting back to normal except during massive smile or rowdy laughing. I can deal with that. Still have a little pain at my forehead, cheek bone, and chin but it is not bad and really only when I press on it. Hope no one else has to deal with this, or at least I hope they are tougher than I am.

I started riding again starting in June and now have a few solid weeks of riding. We did a Southern Utah mini vacation in early June before the baby comes and I treated it like a little training camp. Sleep, eat, ride, play in the pool, read, play in the pool, eat, and sleep a hike hear and there and more pool time with the girls. I built a little base of desert singletrack and seemed to respond fairly well. Still need a little more recovery than normal. I have since been commuting to work and doing a couple hours of riding on the weekend. Introduced a little intensity as well and seem to be feeling better all the time. Just need stay up on lots of sleep and not push the hours much. Slow road but I'll be back.

If you like technical climbing and descending I have a new favorite trail for you. Grandeur Peak. Now that all the rocks are being removed from the trails around here including Shoreline and Rattlesnake gulch I have to get my fix somewhere. Saturday I rode the Jekyll up Grandeur from Millcreek. Around 3600' climb from my house most of it on super technical singletrack. The top has a couple short cliff/rock sections on the ridge you have to hike but otherwise it was 99% rideable. I wanted to descend back the same way but with so many hikers I decided to take the West Face trail down, that one is pretty steep on a bike but still fun and a good test for controlled descending. I wish we had races over terrain like this. maybe I will start a Grandeur Peak uphill TT? I will have to go on and on about the Jekyll another time, but in short that bike rules. Weighs 23.9 lbs, has 6" travel front and rear, and pedals and climbs like a small travel bike. Game changer!

New baby coming this week so hopefully I can keep the recovery rolling and the fitness rising. May even line up for a race here soon to really see where I am at???