Father's Day

Sorry, I wrote this a while back but forgot to hit the Publish button, so it has been a Draft for the past weeks.

Tory and I rode in the 3rd annual Urban Assault Race this past Father's Day weekend. As part of my Biketown essay I said I wanted to get my kids more involved with bicycling as well as myself. This race appeared to be fun. The basic gist of the Assault was to go to each of the 11 checkpoints, do a task (or sit a time penalty), collect your beads, and head for the finish in as little time as possible. Look for the team Lefty's Hounds in the Fathers Day division.

We planned our route the day before and decided to take a slight figure 8 tour with more of the uphill check points early in the day. I decided to use my OLD hybrid bike instead of the Biketown Townie I was given since it is faster and easier to manuver. Most riders appeared to be using road bikes but there were plenty of hybrids as well.

The checkpoints had us riding bigwheels through a curvy route, stacking blocks up side of a wall to a height of 7 feet, squirting water into funnel worn by partner that collected water in a bucket, riding razor scooters, bouncing on big balloon balls over a muddy track, throwing frisbees, taking a dip in the Colorado River (very cool water), jousting traffic cones, and a few other odd tasks. We also had to perform a scene from Napoleon Dynamite - I was Kip training to be a cage fighter, Tory was Napoleon trying to headslap me. Lucky!

The race was a hoot, altho we lost tons of time waiting in line at one stop, and Tory and I got separated for countless minutes at another. Overall, 4 hours and 26 minutes. 20 - 25 miles, and we did every task.

But it was hot. The last thing was a wet body slide that I dropped awkwardly out of for about 2 feet. 15 minutes later my lower right back begins to hurt. Oh dear. I sit and eat a burrito, drink a cerveza fria, but the pain grows. As I am driving home the pain increases exponentially. I can't tell Sean I hurt myself on a slip and slide. As soon as I get home, I take 2 ibuprophen, take a hot shower, and lay down to nap. But I can't begin to get comfortable. Later we decide to go to emergency room.

After an interminable ride to ER, drugs are finally administered, tests run, and I have a kidney stone on the move. Ouch. Dreadfully painful.

Lithotripsy the next day, and the saga continues.