Art O’Connor

Made it to the Gallinvan Center last night for the Twilight Concert Series. I thought Sam Bush was the headliner but I was wrong. Stupid David Grisman was, good hell did that suck. I guess he toured with The Gratefull Dead (AKA The Worst Band Ever) once and has inherited all the fans Jerry left behind. Anyway despite the unbelievably boring music being played it was a super fun night. I was treated to some masterful displays by two of my friends. First Leck starts chatting up 2 really cute girls in the beer line and ultimately get one to spit the math. Well played Leck, well played. Then I ran into Phil Wood who I think should be the host of the new VH1 show “The Pickup Artist”. Hell maybe he is, hard to tell with the hat and eyeliner. Anyway he points out a hottie and tells me he is going to get her to go for a drink after the show and then he walks right up and does it. It was like watching Babe Ruth point to the fence then swat one into the cheap seats.

A long time ago a young hick from Maine walked on to the track team at the University of Utah. His spirit was willing but his back was weak. Our young hick eventually was given the choice of surgery to fix a bulging L-5 disc or rehab. Knowing that he had gone as far in that sport as his meager talent would take him he decided to quit the team with a year of eligibility remaining. Besides, he had discovered riding bikes was way more fun was curious what adventures might wait there. So fast forward a few (18) years and I have had virtually no back problems until the first the Star Crossed race in Seattle last year. On one of the dismounts I twisted my back weird and felt a pain I had not felt in a long time. Not good. Since that race I have had sciatica that shoots down my right leg. On the bad days (like Nationals last year) I am literarily pedaling with one leg. Not ideal but until recently it has been manageable and riding did not seem to make it any worse I have not really addressed it. Since I have started running in prep for XTerra it has gotten much worse. Putting on my shoes in the morning has been a challenge lately. On my last training run I had to stop after less than a half mile. Yesterday, I went to a chiropractor and he told me what I already knew. My disc problem is back. The bad news is no running for a while which means no XTerra. The good news is the Doc says it is very treatable and I should be ok for cross season, which for me will start in October since I will be out of town for the summer race at the end of the month. Even after only one treatment I am feeling better so I have high hopes for a full recovery. I am pretty bummed about XTerra but hopefully I can hit a few next year. I am making progress in the pool and I plan on continuing with that so who knows I may be a full on Tri-Geek by this time next year. Oh yeah, looks like I will be at Wolf Creek this weekend after all. Not a for sure but looks like I may be able to pull it off.

CUSIP is pronounced “Q sip” not “cusspid”. Phonics people, use it!

My summer race season is done. I was going to race Wolf Creek this weekend but since I have spent the majority of the last 5 days in bed with a fever it would be pretty pointless. I had high hopes for this season. My winter went well and I had good fitness coming into the spring. East Canyon went pretty well, and I felt good at the three MTB races I did. I was really looking forward to the June races, Sugarhouse, High Uintas, etc. Oh well they never happened for me. To be honest I have been kind of bored with the road scene lately, same faces, courses, arguments. Racing in the dirt was doing a lot for my burnout but I was still looking for a new challenge. So I got the wild idea to do an Xterra. I have always wanted to learn how to swim, in a former life I was a pretty good runner so why not? It has been fun being on the steep part of the learning curve again. Anyway through a combination of the worst flu I have ever had (and still have) and general work/life stuff I have not run in 2 weeks and have only been swimming and riding a handfull of times. I really want to race Xterra but at this point I am not sure what to do. I am on the downside of the flu (I hope) but still not 100%. I don’t want to overdue it and get sick again. Damn, life would be so much easier if I were a couch potato.

Some random thoughts:
A piece of paper is not a back up system. The worlds richest person is a Mexican? Another reason to never buy a Chrysler product. God hates poor kids.

If I wasn’t sick I would have been rocking out with these dudes last night.

I have not been sick in like 2 years, man did that come to an end with a vengeance. I got hit with a Category 5 fuckaroo. Train’s down! I am being well taken care of and should be back to normal soon.