Surprise & Wonder

One of sport's great appeals is the ever existing possibility of surprise. No better reminder of that than Germany's dismantling of Brazil in the World Cup quarterfinal match on July 8th. The game statistics are outlandish beginning with the simple fact that Germany scored five goals between the 11th and 29th minute of the first half. It's safe to say that pretty much everyone watching was surprised at what unfolded.

The cycling world is certainly surprised today after Chris Froome, the defending champion of the Tour de France and this year's favorite, crashed three times in two days and had to drop out of the race on Day 5. No returning champion has done that since 1980. A surprising turn of events to be sure.

To behold the surprise is often to look on in wonder. We all stared in wonder at the Brazil/Germany match (except the Brazilian fans who stared and wept).

Surprise and Wonder

Self-referentially, I'm surprised at how quickly I became incapacitated without warning and I wonder what the fuck triggered it.

Though today I feel better. Probably 20% better. I can almost sit normally in an office or dinner chair, with bent legs. I am able to follow through a little bit more on my step while walking so I don't have to hump it around so stiff-legged. Psyched!

But not surprised. Not in this case. Master Yang, at the end of yesterday's session, said I'd feel better today. I have now almost complete trust in him, in his diagnosis and his ability to treat me. He is convinced that I have a pinched nerve in my lower back/butt area. He worked on me feverishly for 30 minutes, at one point climbing onto the table beside me and digging his elbow into my butt like someone trying to grind bone to powder. He focused on the left side but also worked the lower back, the spine, the neck. If his touch caused me to wince or recoil (not unusual) he would chuckle and say "gentle, gentle" and then go right back to pressing and probing.

In my mind, he is not just physically working the hyper-tightened ligaments and muscles up and down my left leg, he is acting like a spiritual bellows, a chi herder driving the chi through my body, endeavoring to breech the blockages, those places within that have frozen up and that impede the flow of the Life Force through my whole physical self. I've been astonished at what he's achieved in a single session. By the end of yesterday's, he had my left leg 3/4s of the way bent and was rotating it as is part of the method of Chi Pumping (my term).

Besides, so far Western Medicine hasn't offered me a better diagnosis or treatment. The blood test for Lyme Disease proved negative, though it was suggested to me that I undergo the Lyme treatment anyway, a cycle of antibiotics. Not psyched about that. I was prescribed some pain meds. I'm fine with that, but it's not treatment. Am going to follow through with a rheumatology appointment on July 18 to see what that branch of the Western tradition has to say. But for now, I'm betting on Master Yang.

I'm more hopeful today than I was yesterday morning when I had a hard time driving to work; using the clutch with my left leg was not fun. But sometime during the morning I began to notice a slight loosening of the tightness in the knee and quad. In the afternoon I had the Qi Gong session and felt a little better physically but a lot better psychologically. Being able to accept a diagnosis and start thinking of what's happening as something known was a big boost to my morale.

I'm definitely some time away from riding again, but then again I can't be sure of that. Maybe I'll be surprised. Maybe this will abate as quickly as it came on. The good thing is that my base level of conditioning was rock solid when this occurred so if I can get back on the bike within a couple weeks, I feel like I won't have taken too many steps backward. I'm confident that a mountain summit loop will still be a routine ride and not a suffer fest.

Dub in a pot top
wearing the neck tube that Scrod sent
as a pirate hat