Things are certainly looking very challenging for me this season on the bike, but maybe even more challenging in looking for a remedy for my leg problems. I have spent a good portion of my summer keeping the process moving along, only to be denied coverage by my insurance coverage recently. To be more accurate, I was denied coverage for this operation out-of-state. I have been informed many times by any expert I can find that I should see a specialist for this operation, indicating that this is not a simple run-of-the-mill operation. The specialists seem to all be out-of-state. Out-of-state specialists are expensive so the insurance company would rather I go on down to the butcher and see what they can do.
Well isn't that just dandy.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Green Mountain CX
I really can't say for sure at this point, but after the first races and the training for them out of the way, it's my perception that things are a little worse in the left leg blood flow department. It's hard to say as bike/shoe/cleat set up is always a big factor for me in the beginning of the season as well. Either way, things certainly could be worse.
I just finished up the first weekend of racing up in lovely Williston, VT. Day one was a good training day. Bout all I can say to that. I was in the mix on Sunday, particularly lap one. I know, I know. Who CAN'T be in the mix on lap one? True, but I felt really comfortable. Like my old self.
On lap two things in that leg went downhill and lap times plummeted. I just pinned that stupid leg and drove the bike as fast as I could and hung on for tenth. Actually I upped it on the last lap and made a ridiculous last corner pass to make up two spots and sneak a UCI point from, of all people, my old teammate who is perpetually 11th. I owe him one.
Anyway....day two was fun and it's really nice to see everyone again.
I just finished up the first weekend of racing up in lovely Williston, VT. Day one was a good training day. Bout all I can say to that. I was in the mix on Sunday, particularly lap one. I know, I know. Who CAN'T be in the mix on lap one? True, but I felt really comfortable. Like my old self.
On lap two things in that leg went downhill and lap times plummeted. I just pinned that stupid leg and drove the bike as fast as I could and hung on for tenth. Actually I upped it on the last lap and made a ridiculous last corner pass to make up two spots and sneak a UCI point from, of all people, my old teammate who is perpetually 11th. I owe him one.
Anyway....day two was fun and it's really nice to see everyone again.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
moving forward
Despite the dead leg diagnosis, I have been able to gather myself pretty well and get back on my program with coach (Pointway Performance). I just finished up a 3 week block of training that went well, all things considered, and I'm into another build toward the first racing this fall. Just this week after some rest and a week to get back on the pedals, I have seen some improvement.
While it is pretty much confirmed that without operation, I will never be what I once was, I am fairly confident that I will be able to have a decent CX season this year. It is hard to say, but since this condition is usually a slow progression, it would seem that I am no worse off than I was for last falls CX racing.....and I feel like last year was pretty OK. I was hoping for better but was happy to finish my first year back with a UCI win and some podiums. My outlook for these next years after getting back up to speed was to put together the fitness I had road racing in years past with the skills on the CX bike that I picked up since then. This plan will be put off a bit longer. That fitness of years past looks to be dependent on surgery and post-op PT to straighten back out.
Back to the original point, things are still looking decent for this year. Last summer I was not aware of what was going on with my leg and I put myself into a big hole training. I knew what I used to be able to do and would use that as a gauge. However, things work real weird when I train now though. The training stress is really concentrated in one leg....even when it doesn't seem like I am pushing it. If I don't really watch it it goes right over the edge. Now I am aware of all this and hopefully I can avoid that stuff.
Additionally, I have a good amount of UCI points going into the year so I wont have to go into the random draw for start call-ups that often put me back on the back row. In those situations at a national level race, I would never even get to the front. In second tier races I could get there right about when things were going down and I'd have just put myself into serious red zone to catch on.
Another addition, being acquainted with my equipment makes quite a difference for me. Last year I had my shoes ahead of time but the saddle and bike were new to me (since 2009). This year I am coming in with plenty of time on shoes, saddle, and I can transition onto the CX bike hopefully pretty easily.
Oh, another point.....I have been on the mountain bike more this year than I have since the 90s. Enough that I am starting to go fast downhill and break stuff. I haven't been comfortable enough to push the bike in a long time. I'm thinking that these skills will transfer over and maybe make up some for what I don't have in the straights.
All in all, things are looking good for this year.....and if I can jump through a bunch of hoops for the insurance people so that they will pay what I anticipate to be an unfathomable amount of money that I imagine I could probably survive on for the remainder of my life, to a surgeon for a couple hours of slicing me open, and a hospital to shuffle paperwork around while I wait out my mandatory time in a bed eating jello, then maybe even better seasons lay ahead.
While it is pretty much confirmed that without operation, I will never be what I once was, I am fairly confident that I will be able to have a decent CX season this year. It is hard to say, but since this condition is usually a slow progression, it would seem that I am no worse off than I was for last falls CX racing.....and I feel like last year was pretty OK. I was hoping for better but was happy to finish my first year back with a UCI win and some podiums. My outlook for these next years after getting back up to speed was to put together the fitness I had road racing in years past with the skills on the CX bike that I picked up since then. This plan will be put off a bit longer. That fitness of years past looks to be dependent on surgery and post-op PT to straighten back out.
Back to the original point, things are still looking decent for this year. Last summer I was not aware of what was going on with my leg and I put myself into a big hole training. I knew what I used to be able to do and would use that as a gauge. However, things work real weird when I train now though. The training stress is really concentrated in one leg....even when it doesn't seem like I am pushing it. If I don't really watch it it goes right over the edge. Now I am aware of all this and hopefully I can avoid that stuff.
Additionally, I have a good amount of UCI points going into the year so I wont have to go into the random draw for start call-ups that often put me back on the back row. In those situations at a national level race, I would never even get to the front. In second tier races I could get there right about when things were going down and I'd have just put myself into serious red zone to catch on.
Another addition, being acquainted with my equipment makes quite a difference for me. Last year I had my shoes ahead of time but the saddle and bike were new to me (since 2009). This year I am coming in with plenty of time on shoes, saddle, and I can transition onto the CX bike hopefully pretty easily.
Oh, another point.....I have been on the mountain bike more this year than I have since the 90s. Enough that I am starting to go fast downhill and break stuff. I haven't been comfortable enough to push the bike in a long time. I'm thinking that these skills will transfer over and maybe make up some for what I don't have in the straights.
All in all, things are looking good for this year.....and if I can jump through a bunch of hoops for the insurance people so that they will pay what I anticipate to be an unfathomable amount of money that I imagine I could probably survive on for the remainder of my life, to a surgeon for a couple hours of slicing me open, and a hospital to shuffle paperwork around while I wait out my mandatory time in a bed eating jello, then maybe even better seasons lay ahead.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Endofibrosis stenosis diagnosis
That's a lot of sis's
Just one month ago I wouldn't have had any clue of their meaning. However, now I do because it's been a few weeks since medical professionals have put those names to the issues I have been having on the bike, especially in the last year. Bare with me as this is all stuff I learned just in the last few weeks but what this means is I have narrowing (stenosis) in my left iliac artery, likely caused by endofibrosis. Endofibrosis is basically a build up on the outside of the artery. It builds up this....stuff....to protect itself from the constant un-natural kinking that the iliac goes through when cycling. Particularly cycling in aggressive aero positions. This build up is good for protecting my artery, but bad for the blood headed to my poor left leg. The more build up, the more the artery is restricted from expanding to meet the blood flow needs of hungry muscles. This thing is actually fairly common in bike racers, yet somehow it flies under the radar. Someone threw out a figure that 20% of pro tour level cycling have or had this condition. I don't know that it's true, but now that I have had to do the research and pay attention, there is a decent sized list of domestic racers I race with or used to race with that have had the condition. Some of you may have heard of it as the "dead leg syndrome".
Now it seems there is some grey area. Determining how long this has been going on is one of those areas. I suspect it has been going on for a while. I recall back in 2008 people starting to see a noticable difference in the size of my legs. I didn't think much of it cause I was still doing ok on the bike. Also, it was a little hard for me to pinpoint the symptoms I think because the condition in my left leg has been degrading gradually over time and my body just came to recognize this as my limit. It took a while for the condition to get bad enough for me to notice what wasn't hurting. Last fall I felt like I just couldn't push the pedals. Something felt missing and when I really tuned in it felt is if there was something off balance. That's as far as I could nail things down at that time. Then this spring getting out for the first bit of hard riding with only fitness from indoor riding, things were very noticeable. It was as close as I have been to real "dead leg". I can only describe the feeling as suffocation. My left hip/groin area felt numb and tight and my left thigh would just burn. My left leg would be absolutely pinned and my right would be maybe at tempo. I'd have no choice but to slow down. But thing is, it felt normal. The body adapts to the conditions I guess, only I was just going slower and slower and slower as the condition worsened over the years. Now I can connect the dots and see back through the years and many un explained symptoms seem to be lining up with this. The size difference between legs is likely in part due to the lower leg just not getting blood. My lower back problems are focused on the right side (the side that works with the left leg) and that muscle is over sized and over worked from trying to make up for what the leg isn't doing. My left foot that goes numb is likely not because my shoe is strapped too tight as I usually determine. And there's the funny numb feeling in my left hip area that I have had for years and years.
Quantifying deficit is another grey area. I did an ABI test, which is where they measure blood pressure in all limbs at rest and exertion. This was significantly off. I wish I could remember the numbers. I then had an MRA that showed a pretty dim and narrow flow of blood down to my left leg as compared to a nice bright and thick flow down my right.
Naming the causes is a real big grey area it seems. In my case the concern is how much worse will it get if I were to never touch a bicycle again and remain naturally on foot for the rest of my days? How much worse if I take up RAAM? It is the acute kinking of the artery that causes this, but it seems some people are more prone to the problems than others. Some people can spend their whole lives riding in absurd time trial postions and be totally fine, while other people do a couple years of triathlon and the condition progresses to the point the walking up the stairs is a problem and then go back in for the other leg too.
For me the biggest grey area is with the solutions. This is not a health risk for me and surgery is the fix. I can be average joe just fine. I can even go on racing with the limitation that I currently have just fine. I managed ok last fall and during a period last summer even with the condition. Of course nobody can tell me if it will get worse and when. I could have surgery and return to my abilities from 6-7 years ago that are, at the worst, well beyond the best I have managed at any point in the last couple years. That would be nice. Or, I could have the surgery and, like many folks I talk to, return at about 75-80%. I attribute that to the body needing time to balance back out. Things adapt around this condition and they have to adapt back out of it. Or, I could have the surgery and also, like a few folks I've read about, have a re-occurrence of the condition and have surgery again. Of course, the worst case scenario, with any surgery, for anything, is major health risks from being cut open. These seem minimal in these days of modern medicine, but none-the-less a concern. People have died from all kinds of surgery, but many, many people die from crashing cars and I don't seem to mind hopping in the car to get to a bike race.
My thinking on the whole thing now is mostly concerned with post-cycling. I would really, really like to get back to previous levels on the bike and race the rest of my career, achieve my goals and all that. However, when I'm done with all that I would like to be a recreational athlete. Probably a runner. I can go out and enjoy running through the woods no matter how fast or slow I'm going, but I would like to be able to do so without a major hindrance. Especially a hindrance on one side only. I'm sure I will want to compete on some level also.
I have not been able to make a clear decision yet, but as you can probably see from the above text, subconsciously I have definitely been leaning toward having the treatment done. In the mean time I need to find the motivation to stay on the bike because I will be racing this fall either way and I am capable of doing ok even with the condition as long as I can keep it out of my head. I have been riding and racing the MTB a bit and I think that is the route I will go for the next few months. At least on the MTB I can have fun and make up in the techy stuff a little of what my legs won't do.
I wish I had better news, but hey at least it got me to write again.
Just one month ago I wouldn't have had any clue of their meaning. However, now I do because it's been a few weeks since medical professionals have put those names to the issues I have been having on the bike, especially in the last year. Bare with me as this is all stuff I learned just in the last few weeks but what this means is I have narrowing (stenosis) in my left iliac artery, likely caused by endofibrosis. Endofibrosis is basically a build up on the outside of the artery. It builds up this....stuff....to protect itself from the constant un-natural kinking that the iliac goes through when cycling. Particularly cycling in aggressive aero positions. This build up is good for protecting my artery, but bad for the blood headed to my poor left leg. The more build up, the more the artery is restricted from expanding to meet the blood flow needs of hungry muscles. This thing is actually fairly common in bike racers, yet somehow it flies under the radar. Someone threw out a figure that 20% of pro tour level cycling have or had this condition. I don't know that it's true, but now that I have had to do the research and pay attention, there is a decent sized list of domestic racers I race with or used to race with that have had the condition. Some of you may have heard of it as the "dead leg syndrome".
Now it seems there is some grey area. Determining how long this has been going on is one of those areas. I suspect it has been going on for a while. I recall back in 2008 people starting to see a noticable difference in the size of my legs. I didn't think much of it cause I was still doing ok on the bike. Also, it was a little hard for me to pinpoint the symptoms I think because the condition in my left leg has been degrading gradually over time and my body just came to recognize this as my limit. It took a while for the condition to get bad enough for me to notice what wasn't hurting. Last fall I felt like I just couldn't push the pedals. Something felt missing and when I really tuned in it felt is if there was something off balance. That's as far as I could nail things down at that time. Then this spring getting out for the first bit of hard riding with only fitness from indoor riding, things were very noticeable. It was as close as I have been to real "dead leg". I can only describe the feeling as suffocation. My left hip/groin area felt numb and tight and my left thigh would just burn. My left leg would be absolutely pinned and my right would be maybe at tempo. I'd have no choice but to slow down. But thing is, it felt normal. The body adapts to the conditions I guess, only I was just going slower and slower and slower as the condition worsened over the years. Now I can connect the dots and see back through the years and many un explained symptoms seem to be lining up with this. The size difference between legs is likely in part due to the lower leg just not getting blood. My lower back problems are focused on the right side (the side that works with the left leg) and that muscle is over sized and over worked from trying to make up for what the leg isn't doing. My left foot that goes numb is likely not because my shoe is strapped too tight as I usually determine. And there's the funny numb feeling in my left hip area that I have had for years and years.
Quantifying deficit is another grey area. I did an ABI test, which is where they measure blood pressure in all limbs at rest and exertion. This was significantly off. I wish I could remember the numbers. I then had an MRA that showed a pretty dim and narrow flow of blood down to my left leg as compared to a nice bright and thick flow down my right.
Naming the causes is a real big grey area it seems. In my case the concern is how much worse will it get if I were to never touch a bicycle again and remain naturally on foot for the rest of my days? How much worse if I take up RAAM? It is the acute kinking of the artery that causes this, but it seems some people are more prone to the problems than others. Some people can spend their whole lives riding in absurd time trial postions and be totally fine, while other people do a couple years of triathlon and the condition progresses to the point the walking up the stairs is a problem and then go back in for the other leg too.
For me the biggest grey area is with the solutions. This is not a health risk for me and surgery is the fix. I can be average joe just fine. I can even go on racing with the limitation that I currently have just fine. I managed ok last fall and during a period last summer even with the condition. Of course nobody can tell me if it will get worse and when. I could have surgery and return to my abilities from 6-7 years ago that are, at the worst, well beyond the best I have managed at any point in the last couple years. That would be nice. Or, I could have the surgery and, like many folks I talk to, return at about 75-80%. I attribute that to the body needing time to balance back out. Things adapt around this condition and they have to adapt back out of it. Or, I could have the surgery and also, like a few folks I've read about, have a re-occurrence of the condition and have surgery again. Of course, the worst case scenario, with any surgery, for anything, is major health risks from being cut open. These seem minimal in these days of modern medicine, but none-the-less a concern. People have died from all kinds of surgery, but many, many people die from crashing cars and I don't seem to mind hopping in the car to get to a bike race.
My thinking on the whole thing now is mostly concerned with post-cycling. I would really, really like to get back to previous levels on the bike and race the rest of my career, achieve my goals and all that. However, when I'm done with all that I would like to be a recreational athlete. Probably a runner. I can go out and enjoy running through the woods no matter how fast or slow I'm going, but I would like to be able to do so without a major hindrance. Especially a hindrance on one side only. I'm sure I will want to compete on some level also.
I have not been able to make a clear decision yet, but as you can probably see from the above text, subconsciously I have definitely been leaning toward having the treatment done. In the mean time I need to find the motivation to stay on the bike because I will be racing this fall either way and I am capable of doing ok even with the condition as long as I can keep it out of my head. I have been riding and racing the MTB a bit and I think that is the route I will go for the next few months. At least on the MTB I can have fun and make up in the techy stuff a little of what my legs won't do.
I wish I had better news, but hey at least it got me to write again.
Friday, December 28, 2012
I'm cold
I grabbed a win on day 1 of Supercross, and felt decent. Better than most of 2012, so I'll take it, but things cooled down pretty quick. Day 2 I felt pretty off and wasn't happy about it. NCGP was a complete disaster. Particularly Sunday. Embarrassing is the best word to describe my feelings from the day. I didn't even give my fitness the opportunity to fail because I was falling all over the place. Set the bike up all wrong with WAY too much psi. Just a complete mess.
On the bright side, there have definitely been times in my cycling career in which, under these circumstances, I woulld have just quit. Now-a-days I seem to be reasonably content with under-performing. Maybe "content" is the wrong word, but I feel like I can shrug it off and keep plugging away much better than I used to. That being said, I AM a realist. I've said before "you don't learn much when things come easy. You learn a ton when you make every mistake in the book". Well I'm going to add to that. You also don't learn a whole lot when you put the blinders on and deny the mistakes you made. I have to recognize how poorly I performed in order to see the mistakes I made and try to correct them. Things only get ugly when this creeps into you self esteem and you start to believe that you performed poorly because you ARE poor. I still go out to train and race with certain expectations. I have lofty dreams, but set reasonable expectations. The drawback that inevitably comes along with having expectations is the failure that you set yourself up for. I'll take the self-imposed failure every now and then, hell, I'll take a whole season worth, because I know I can work through them so I can have the expectations that provide me with the motivation and drive to become the bike racer that I used to be and the even better bike racer that I want to be in the future.
On the bright side, there have definitely been times in my cycling career in which, under these circumstances, I woulld have just quit. Now-a-days I seem to be reasonably content with under-performing. Maybe "content" is the wrong word, but I feel like I can shrug it off and keep plugging away much better than I used to. That being said, I AM a realist. I've said before "you don't learn much when things come easy. You learn a ton when you make every mistake in the book". Well I'm going to add to that. You also don't learn a whole lot when you put the blinders on and deny the mistakes you made. I have to recognize how poorly I performed in order to see the mistakes I made and try to correct them. Things only get ugly when this creeps into you self esteem and you start to believe that you performed poorly because you ARE poor. I still go out to train and race with certain expectations. I have lofty dreams, but set reasonable expectations. The drawback that inevitably comes along with having expectations is the failure that you set yourself up for. I'll take the self-imposed failure every now and then, hell, I'll take a whole season worth, because I know I can work through them so I can have the expectations that provide me with the motivation and drive to become the bike racer that I used to be and the even better bike racer that I want to be in the future.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
getting warmer
There is snow falling outside right now. Yesterday I was comfortable in short sleeves while inactive. What the heck? My neck of the woods is known for unpredictable weather. Great place to be a meteorologist. It might be actually, everyone knows nobody knows so if they are expected to be wrong, well that must really take alot of pressure off.....but this could also be looked at as an unatural swing due to climate change. A lot of people would be quick to jump to that conclusion, and they are right, but it just makes me think about how we really have no scope for the changes we are causing. Climatic changes over, say 100 years is a blink of an eye in human terms. A flash of lightning. Abrupt. Nothing can adapt. To us, well it's a lifetime. We have no personal gauge for what is happening. Not too long ago we had cultural knowledge. The collective mind of the people was one, so to speak and closely tied to the world around it. The feelings, memories, and skills from one generation were given to the next, so that any one generation had the memories of their ancestors. That is a wisdom unknown to the people of today.
The bike racing weekend was finally a pretty good one at the NBX shimano series finals. On day one sitting on the back of the lead group finally worked out in my favor, as I was able to avoid the puppy-monkey crash and follow Lindine up the road with Nick Keough. We got some space but Garrigan and Milne bridged up. I was not feeling great as usual and when it whittled down to Garrigan, Lindine and I chasing Milne, I got gapped off a little. The good from this day was that I was able to chase back on and squeeze into third at the expense of Justin. He bobbled the last corner, or else it may not have been so. On the second day things felt like they were finally coming together. I could push the pace, make the splits, and even cause the splits. I think it has taken me this whole season to just figure out my position on the bike. Sunday I finally felt like it was dialed. I was comfy all around. Pace and Position. Unfortunately my head might need to catch up. It is so used to not having the go that I found myself sitting on the back when Milne went away. Yesterday when he got the gap I saw it and was held up a little but in reality, probably didnt have the go to get across. Sunday I saw the gap and definitely had enough to go with but was poorlly positioned and had no way to follow. I came across second, feeling quite comfortable.
I am pretty happy to feel like things are coming together even though there are a limited number of races left. I need to get the confidence in the mind now that the legs are workin OK. Long Island, North Carolina, Arizona in-laws visit, and then on to Chicago and Nationals.
The bike racing weekend was finally a pretty good one at the NBX shimano series finals. On day one sitting on the back of the lead group finally worked out in my favor, as I was able to avoid the puppy-monkey crash and follow Lindine up the road with Nick Keough. We got some space but Garrigan and Milne bridged up. I was not feeling great as usual and when it whittled down to Garrigan, Lindine and I chasing Milne, I got gapped off a little. The good from this day was that I was able to chase back on and squeeze into third at the expense of Justin. He bobbled the last corner, or else it may not have been so. On the second day things felt like they were finally coming together. I could push the pace, make the splits, and even cause the splits. I think it has taken me this whole season to just figure out my position on the bike. Sunday I finally felt like it was dialed. I was comfy all around. Pace and Position. Unfortunately my head might need to catch up. It is so used to not having the go that I found myself sitting on the back when Milne went away. Yesterday when he got the gap I saw it and was held up a little but in reality, probably didnt have the go to get across. Sunday I saw the gap and definitely had enough to go with but was poorlly positioned and had no way to follow. I came across second, feeling quite comfortable.
I am pretty happy to feel like things are coming together even though there are a limited number of races left. I need to get the confidence in the mind now that the legs are workin OK. Long Island, North Carolina, Arizona in-laws visit, and then on to Chicago and Nationals.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Part 2 of the bike racing post just without the bike racing
All this bike racing has really been getting in the way of life. I have been spending a very limited time in the woods. That is not only bad for the psyche, but didnt help my pursuit of the white tail during bow hunting season. This summer I acheived a goal of producing a bow from the landscape, but I just didnt have the time to practice enough to reliably make the clean shot. Actually making a shot on target is rare. So I stuck with my hand me down compound bow with sights. Not the end of the world. But lacking time in the woods, that was limited in productivity as well. Which is OK. Sitting in the woods is nice. It's not all about bringing home a deer. It's about connections to the real (natural) world. A connection to an activity that is fundamental to being human. Also eating good food and filling a predator void created by our imbalances. The unfortunate thing is I failed because I am lacking the connection to the real world and I miss out on the other three things because of it.
Yesterday I was surprised to hear a little bit on de-evolution in somewhat mainstream media. Well, on Wait wait don't tell me, which pulls it's humor from the media. They even used the term, which I don't totally embrace, but the theory was there. It's not surprising to me that it is so rare to hear it even mentioned. It has no easy solution. It might not even have a difficult one. Climate change? Cake. Stop burning fossil fuels, which are unnecessary for human life. Easy. So called de-evolution deals with a fundamental human trait. Our nasty little habit of controlling everything in our environment. What we control we remove from the great balance. What is removed is, well, off balance. The point of the skit on the radio was that human are getting dumber. That's a pretty broad generalization, but the point is without natural selection, there is no reason a smart person would be more successful at breeding than a dumb person. Just like a person predisposed for cancer, heart disease, poor eyesight, etc has no problem passing those genetics on to the next generation.
Now to tie these two topics together I'll talk about a recent event in the woods around my home. Opening day of gun season for white tail deer. De-evolution at work. These are not wise and capable hunters. Seriously, "hunting" with a gun is about as hard as going to the grocery store. It takes about the same effort and that is evident by the sight of some of these characters out there. It also takes about as much wisdom. The gun does all the work. Deer didn't evolve to avoid bullets sailing from a hundred yards away. All you do is sit and line up the sights. You dont even have to sit in the right spot really. Just a general vicinity, which is almost hard not to be if you are in the woods or field. They don't really need to aim that well either. Again general vicinity is good enough. Bullet goes through bone. With bow hunting at least you have to be sitting within like 20 yards of an unsuspecting deer that has to be facing a certain direction. Today this is considered "really hard". While yeah, I am unsuccessful so far, it really isn't so hard in the big picture. It's only hard because we are so far removed. Modern bows are really just quiet, short range guns. All the bells and whistles. If we think about how much time and experience we have with something like driving, and imagine if we spent that time learning to hunt from childhood......yeah, modern bow hunting is anything but difficult. All this being said, I guess I dont have any problem with gun hunting, other than the noise and the obnoxious people. If it's like going to the grocery store, well, at least it's fulfilling those two things mentioned above. They are eating good meat and filling that predator void. Now trophy hunting? No excuses. Trophy hunters are unskilled, misguided, meat heads. Humans used to be a component in natural selection. We culled the weak from the gene pool of our prey. Now these idiots go out and shoot the biggest and strongest with a rifle from a quarter mile away. I wonder what that's doing for the genetics of our prey?
Yesterday I was surprised to hear a little bit on de-evolution in somewhat mainstream media. Well, on Wait wait don't tell me, which pulls it's humor from the media. They even used the term, which I don't totally embrace, but the theory was there. It's not surprising to me that it is so rare to hear it even mentioned. It has no easy solution. It might not even have a difficult one. Climate change? Cake. Stop burning fossil fuels, which are unnecessary for human life. Easy. So called de-evolution deals with a fundamental human trait. Our nasty little habit of controlling everything in our environment. What we control we remove from the great balance. What is removed is, well, off balance. The point of the skit on the radio was that human are getting dumber. That's a pretty broad generalization, but the point is without natural selection, there is no reason a smart person would be more successful at breeding than a dumb person. Just like a person predisposed for cancer, heart disease, poor eyesight, etc has no problem passing those genetics on to the next generation.
Now to tie these two topics together I'll talk about a recent event in the woods around my home. Opening day of gun season for white tail deer. De-evolution at work. These are not wise and capable hunters. Seriously, "hunting" with a gun is about as hard as going to the grocery store. It takes about the same effort and that is evident by the sight of some of these characters out there. It also takes about as much wisdom. The gun does all the work. Deer didn't evolve to avoid bullets sailing from a hundred yards away. All you do is sit and line up the sights. You dont even have to sit in the right spot really. Just a general vicinity, which is almost hard not to be if you are in the woods or field. They don't really need to aim that well either. Again general vicinity is good enough. Bullet goes through bone. With bow hunting at least you have to be sitting within like 20 yards of an unsuspecting deer that has to be facing a certain direction. Today this is considered "really hard". While yeah, I am unsuccessful so far, it really isn't so hard in the big picture. It's only hard because we are so far removed. Modern bows are really just quiet, short range guns. All the bells and whistles. If we think about how much time and experience we have with something like driving, and imagine if we spent that time learning to hunt from childhood......yeah, modern bow hunting is anything but difficult. All this being said, I guess I dont have any problem with gun hunting, other than the noise and the obnoxious people. If it's like going to the grocery store, well, at least it's fulfilling those two things mentioned above. They are eating good meat and filling that predator void. Now trophy hunting? No excuses. Trophy hunters are unskilled, misguided, meat heads. Humans used to be a component in natural selection. We culled the weak from the gene pool of our prey. Now these idiots go out and shoot the biggest and strongest with a rifle from a quarter mile away. I wonder what that's doing for the genetics of our prey?
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