"I'm healthy as a horse,
Ahh, but everything is spinning."
-- Iggy Pop, "Nothing Comes My Way"

Yep, the vertigo is back. Shit. Shit shit. Shit shit shit shit shit!

It hit me last Monday at lunchtime, thought maybe it was a food allergy by the way it came on. Left work, went to doctor on Tuesday morning, and now I'm back on meclizine and a new nasal spray, but now I have to get an MRI as they go looking for the underlying cause.

Meantime, rides. Luckily, the balance problem doesn't seem to bother the riding as much as the walking (especially walking in the dark); I guess the biking balance is visual enough to compensate. Anyway, felt better Monday afternoon, so I rode the towpath. Ditto Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, so 75 miles in for the week by that point...

Thursday I packed, and Friday morning I left for Mountain Bike Weekend in Jim Thorpe, got there around 11:00 AM. This was the 18th annual MBW, and my 11th. There was still a crowd (1000 participants as usual, but I suspect they had fewer people to turn away this year after it filled up), though I couldn't unload one ticket, and one of my friends was a no-show, and Brian got there Saturday morning only to leave very early Sunday morning... just not the same as the old days...

Anyway, Friday was OK, Fri nite was rainy, Sat was OK except for a few storm fronts or something that came through, Sat nite was OK (good campfire weather), and Sunday was beautiful but by then the show was over.

The traditional "Chain Gang Jim Thorpe Epic" was slated for Saturday as usual, but because of the Game Lands situation, Broad Mountain would not be a part of the ride, so there would be no chance of epic distances if we stuck to tradition. Instead, we went to Tamaqua, where there was going to be a race on Sunday, and rode the race course as well as a whole bunch of other stuff. (Did I mention we rode Tamaqua the week before, in an unsuccesful attempt to put together a connection between the Summit Hill and Tamaqua trails? I know there's one out there, we just haven't found it yet...) We were on top of the mountain when we heard thunder, so we went back to a teenage party spot we'd passed earlier, that had a lean-to, and we waited out the storm there. After the storm passed we rode some more up top, then dropped down through terra incognita back to the race course, which was at the base of the hill. We finished off with a lap of the racecourse, but it was all one soggy mess and really wore us out: our fifteen miles today felt harder (according to some of us) than the standard epic's 40.

Got back a little earlier than usual, ate, got a massage, then chilled and celebrated Brian's birthday with a few brewskis, then I passed out around midnight. Woke up again aroiund 1:00 to check out the naked chick riding through camp...

Sunday was my day. Everyone else was leaving early, but Pete H and I had tickets to the church breakfast in Summit Hill. Pete drove -- he was also leaving somewhat early -- but I rode down and we ate, and ate, and ate...

After that I checked out the trails west of Summit Hill, then hit the singletrack near the strippings, where I picked up an entourage of lost riders, and finally dropped down the Marble Trail (in front of an audience -- and I made it!! woo hoo!!) and took the Switchback back to camp. Packed up, swam in the lake -- my first actual bathing experience since Thursday -- and then headed home.

Dinner was Thai food w/ Joe G, who said his formal knee rehabilitation is coming to a close and he should be back in the saddle soon. (He called today to say he rode the towpath.)

So now here it is Tuesday night, and I'm ready to crash.