Gluten Free Homebrew

For those who don't know yet I'm experimenting with a gluten free existence (well 90/10 give or take if I'm being realistic).  Decided to give it a try based on a bunch of articles I had read of folks suggesting eliminating gluten in an effort to reduce RA symptoms.

I had tried and tried to find every reason to explain RA away since I have been dealing with my myriad of joint issues.  But the issues that have persisted are some of the most classic early warning signs for RA and a whole lot about how my issues have behaved screams of RA.  Looks like a duck, sounds like a duck.

Once I had finally decided to except that there was a decent chance I was dealing with RA the research began.  HOW DO I FIGHT?  Western medicine chooses to go after the immune system with some nasty drugs that won't be finding their way anywhere near my body.  Luckily the internet had some better more natural strategies the most common of which was eliminating gluten from your diet.  So back in December of last year I went for it.

Long story short its been going well so far. I've gotten to experiment with some new foods and it hasn't been too much of a struggle.

I haven't been avoiding beer entirely of late but I have certainly cut back quite a bit.  I've never actually researched how much gluten remains in beer after it is brewed...I probably should.  But gluten free beers are becoming a thing as gluten free diets become more and more trendy so I figured what the hell I'll make a stab at one.

This is actually the first time I've put together a recipe / kit myself choosing my extract and the individual hops and when to add them etc.  I've always just followed directions given up until now.  New territory for me.  Could be disastrous.  Time will tell.

I haven't decided what to call this batch yet.  I almost feel since this is my first truly custom creation I'll need to wait and taste it first.  Here is what I ended up going with:

• 6lbs White Sorghum Extract
• 1oz Warrior (60mins)
• 2oz Cascade (1oz at 15mins, 1oz at 5mins)
• 1oz Sweet Orange Peel (5mins)
• 1 cup Maple Syrup (0mins)

White Sorghum is the most common gluten free grain / extract to use with brewing.  At least from what I can tell based on availability.  When making the wort it had a 'unique' color and smell to it.  Not bad per se but different.  I went a bit heavy with higher alpha hops and tried to get strains that trend a bit citrusy.  I've read that sorghum can have a bit of an after taste and the best strategy is to try and hop it away, that is if you like hops.

I do, so I went with Warrior at 60mins to do the brunt of the bittering and then later additions of Cascade to round things out.  I also tried adding some sweet orange peel for some aroma and hopefully some masking of that aftertaste.  And just for shits and giggles a cup of Maple Syrup for a bit of color and body because #NEWENGLAND.  Also toying with adding some more syrup to secondary but that will be a game time decision.

My fingers are crossed.  I think the cards are stacked against me a bit with sorghum but hopefully its at least tolerable.  Maybe serve it with an orange slice you can bite on after each sip in case it really sucks haha.

We got a diagnosis or what?!

I'm kinda getting sick of talking about my #shittywrists but I figured one final(ish) update made sense.  I went back in to see my Ortho last week(?) week before maybe, I forget.  Mainly to touch base and bring him up to speed on the progress made during my first big block of PT.

He seemed to think that based on the progress I've made and the behavior of the pain / recovery that it is unlikely that it is anything really nasty like RA.  Which is good news.  But he did say that based on everything hes seen between X-ray, MRI, and his physical examination of my wrists etc. that in his opinion there is some sort of 'seronegative arthritis' present.

Seronegative is a very general term that is used to describe a whole bunch of different kinds of arthritis (caused by all different kinds of things) that don't have the rheumatoid factor and will not show up on blood tests.  These types of arthritis are commonly much less severe and can in some cases completely resolve themselves.  They can also be very cyclical and can come and go based on some trigger or other environmental factor.

Many seronegative forms can also target tendons not just joints which is why he is leaning in that direction because one thing we have learned through the course of PT is that the last remaining pain/mobility issue that I have and more than likely the root of my problems is an angry Extensor Carpi Ulnaris or ECU.  In a lot of ways you could probably call my issue chronic tendinitis.  We just don't 100% know what is causing the inflammation.  Could be arthritis or it could be I destroyed myself riding rigid started the repetitive stress train rolling and now I can't stop it.

The (sort of) good news is that either way; seronegative arthritis or epic repetitive stress the strategy going forward is the same.  Work any and all anti-inflammation techniques and supplement with PT to keep mobility and strength.  So thats whats I'm going to do.  Targeting the ECU has really gotten me to that next plateau.  I can ride my road/cx bike basically pain free on lighter terrain.   Diffuse pain during the day is far less and if I keep compression on the tendon itself that helps a lot.

As funny as this sounds there is an off chance there is some shoulder and back involvement as well that could be hampering my recovery which could have been introduced from ergonomics at work.  I've made some tweaks recently and I have an appointment to have some Graston done on some back and shoulder muscles to try and hit the reset button and loosen everything down through.

So there you have it.  For simplicity sake I think going forward I will refer to my wrist issues as chronic tendinitis possibly caused by seronegative arthritis. I'll keep battling and getting gnar as best I can. #POSITIVITY

Another Month Slips by...

You'd think by my silence here and with my continuing health issues that I'd be doing nothing and falling into a deep deep depression.  But you'd be wrong.  If anything I've been too busy to post and my wrists have been ping-ponging so much every time I think I have some progress worth reporting things relapse and I think I'm screwed once again.

But I'm happy to report that my wrists have trended well for long enough that I feel like updating on that front as well as all the other crap I've been up to.  Last really bad weekend I had was my bach'fest weekend.  I don't know if anyone noticed.  I've gotten pretty good at compartmentalizing the pain.  Not sure what I did but Saturday night into Sunday morning was less than awesome.  Luckily that weekend was 150% full blown awesome so it more than balanced things out.

Luckily I had a PT appointment shortly after that trip and we tried a new treatment called Graston Technique.  It's fairly brutal but I love it.  Basically involves a series of metal tools with different shapes / edges that get 'scraped' along muscles to break up adhesions.  Doc went to town on my right forearm and the next day was a complete 180 from that #shittywrist weekend.

There have been a few mini relapses since then but I've gotten a second Graston treatment and some new stretches to focus on the remaining aspects of my mobility that have improved the least since we started and they really seem to be helping.  Everyday I'm gaining more and more confidence that this isn't something nasty that is insurmountable.  I'm heading back in to see the Ortho in a week or so and I will be pressuring him hard to use his Doctor brain to posit some additional theories other than Rheumatoid.

In and among the ups and downs I've managed to stay pretty active this summer, albeit without any racing.  This ordeal has created a bit of a shake up in what I can and can't do for fun and fitness and some good has actually come from this.  Not only have I managed to stay fit but I think I'm probably climbing as well as I ever have on my road bike.  VAM numbers are consistently over 1,000 and I've even been flirting with road KOMs again.  Ideally I would love to be able to ride off road a bit more but road seems to work a bit better for me right now and being able to do gravel and dirt on the Macho Man has been awesome.  So many new loops and opportunities for really interesting rides.

For instance last week Eric and I rode out of the shop and in the span of 18mi got over 2,000ft of climbing taking in the access road up the back of Belknap Mountain.  Crazy steep dirt switchbacks, actually felt like a true alpine climb although it wasn't really all that long.  Then after the sketchy descent we cut through the woods on an old trial that was just a bit wider than singletrack.

My inability to get on a bike first thing in the morning due to wrist stiffness has also introduced the lunch ride into my arsenal.  I loved commuting but I think I might like consistent lunch rides better.  I think one of the big reasons my fitness is what it is right now has been these faster / harder 10mi loops on lunch.  Target a few segments and before you know it I've been accidentally training for CX for weeks.

Speaking of CX that should be hilarious.  I've got my USA Cycling license and I'm looking forward to showing up to my first Cat 5 race in a full on pink skinsuit.  I think CX could be my savior this year.  I can get my racing fix without a huge time commitment or as much risk for my wrists.

I'm interested to see what this will mean for me long term.  Assuming I get past this whole wrist thing I can't honestly say its likely I return to my full blown MTB race schedule of years past.  If CX works and I like it I see myself targeting 2-4 MTB races with the primary goal being the team and having fun then getting a few additional CX races in the Fall.  I know now I can get my fitness without racing a bike hard all the time.  Without the full race schedule this year I've gotten to spend more time with Gina which has been great.  Trips to the beach, getting up to Littleton.  I was able to snag a 4,000ft'er with Mike.  Racing is great, setting and reaching goals is great but ultimately meaningless when compared to the other stuff.  Don't forget to enjoy the view.

Who knows maybe I had spent too much time leaning in one direction and this whole year has been the Universe helping me to balance things back out.  I would have preferred a less drastic approach but if I'm being honest with myself nothing short of this would have worked.

NEMBAfest 2014

Sweet Jesus.  There is no way I'm going to be able to adequately put into words how awesome this event is.  If you ride a bike in New England (or beyond) and you somehow come up with some reason to not attend you are probably a bit mental.  Sure there are some legit excuses but all attempts should be made to experience the awesome of a full weekend of killer everything bike related.

My weekend went about as well as I could have hoped for.  I had some reservations as to how my body was going to hold up.  This was my first time back on dirt in weeks and I was going to be testing out all of my bike modifications for the first time.  All of which it turns out were good decisions for me, at least for right now.

Cockpit changes are definitely a lot more comfortable and the gears allow me to sit and grind heading up so I don't have to rip the front end back and forth.  I was certain I was going to ride a geared bike all wrong but surprisingly I remembered to actually use the gears in most cases and even remembered to shift before the drivetrain was under a lot of load.  Hard to say if I was truly any faster over all.  I wasn't exactly hammering and I was certainly climbing certain sections slower but I can tell you without doubt I was riding similarly fast MUCH more efficiently.  Riding gears is so easy.  I kept waiting to get really tired and it never really happened.  All told I got 50+ miles on dirt this weekend.

It felt really good to be riding a bit like myself again.  I still get some pain when the speeds get high and the terrain gets a bit chattery or chunky but for the most part I was riding about how I would have.  I was even accused by Mick of faking this entire time.

I was still waking up with quite a bit of stiffness and soreness but some painkillers and stretching got me back on terms by mid morning to the point that I felt ok to ride again with help from my braces.  Didn't really seem to get any worse day to day so there was no real cumulative effect.  So I guess the order is keep working at the PT and feel free to mix dirt back into the mix.

The only thing I'm worried about is that now that I'm close enough to "full health" I'll just go back in full bore and I'll never make it past this point so I'll need to be careful / smart.  I'm already itching to do bigger rides on the MTB now and I was even starting to think about Carrabassett being a reality for me.  I'm going to try and be good though and go at this in a very calculated way.

Weekend didn't go ALL good though.  The biggest tragedy was snapping the rail on my beloved SDG Bel-Air that I have been riding probably for at least the last 10 years.  It finally gave up on my night ride Friday but like a true gladiator it somehow remained solid even with one completely sheared rail and got me home just fine.  Luckily I was able to get a saddle at the expo the next day.  My best option was a WTB Silverado Slimline that I actually kinda like now after riding it 30+miles Saturday and Sunday.  If you are going to break something do it at a giant festival, you'll be covered no problem.

I was also really pleased with the team presence at the event.  It really seems like at least a subset of the team is really 'gel'ing' well.  I have high hopes for the future.

Check 1, 2

Oh man has it really been a month since my last post?

So many things movin' and shakin'.  PT has begun and progress is being made.  I still can't really rule out there isn't some nasty underlying issue causing all this but it definitely seems like I'm going to be able to get myself to a better place doing these various stretches and exercises regularly.  I've got all kinds of cool PT toys now and I'm doing things like the 'reverse waiter' and 'the chipmunk game'.

I'm also crashing my cross bike and getting covered in road rash.  Does that count as therapy?  I didn't put my hands out to break my fall so no setbacks in that department.  Just a bunch of annoying scabs on my elbow and knee.  This was the first time I've crashed on a 'road' ride since I got pinched out of a B2B ride peloton into a parked car.  It was a pretty classic dirt road goof on my part.  Too much speed into a 90 degree turn and choose the wrong rut to commit to.


I was probably only 2 miles from home at the end of a 55+ mile ride.  I was pretty gas'd and just trying to limp back in.  I had a few options on how to get home and I choose the one with a bigger early descent instead of finishing off a bigger climb.  Whoops.  That steep descent led to the turn in question.  Dove into the turn and the dirt just disintegrated and my wheel dug in.  Luckily it sloughed a bit and I didn't endo and explode.  I tried quickly to muscle through but I was just too tired and flopped into the ditch.  It was relatively "controlled" but it doesn't take much for that gravely dirt to shred all your skin off.

I am thoroughly digging these mixed dirt/road rides I've been focusing on lately.  Getting in some new routes and locations that I've been missing out on all these years.  Dirt roads around here seem to be guaranteed hilly and many of these rides have been chock full of vert.

On the MTB front the mods continue.  Finally got around to installing my new cockpit setup.  Shorter stem, riser bars and (although not in this pic) I re-found my Ergon grips that I ran a year or two ago.  I had totally forgot I had them and remembered that the only reason I stopped running them was because I couldn't get them to grip my carbon bars and they would spin under higher SS torque.  Bar is aluminum now and there will also be less torque due to my second mod decision which is GEARS.

I know. Blasphemy.  It was a hard decision to make.  But I think it was the right one.  At least for awhile.  Sitting and spinning at times will be much easier for my wrists and gears will actually allow me to do some of the longer format rides I like to do a bit easier and more time efficient by being able to actually pedal the flats etc.

Bike is at Chainline now, parts are ordered for the 1x10 conversion.  Just waiting on a new dropout with a hanger from Spot and hopefully I'll have it converted and ready to ride for NEMBAfest.  That will be my first time back on dirt in weeks.  Cautiously optimistic.

Plans and Mods

The battle continues...

Lately I feel like I'm making a bit of ground. Emphasis on bit.  I'm laying off the MTB for now and lately I've really been trying to avoid pronation and supination (rotational wrist movements) as much as possible.  Lately it seems like that is causing me 80-90% of my pain and avoiding it and making modifications to my day to day dealings at work and at home seems to be working.

I met with my ortho this morning and he is still pretty hell bent on me having inflammatory arthritis and RA specifically.  He was ready to refer me to a rheumatologist and put me on steroids but I told him to chill out and that I wanted to try PT and continue with pain management and activity modification first to see how far I could get.  So I've got a referral to an upper extremity specialist and I start in just under two weeks.  I'm hoping they are so booked because they are really good.

As part of this process I also made a few purchases this week to change up my riding position a bit on some of my bikes.  Shorter stems for my road/cx and MTB to bring the bars in and put a bit more weight back and off my hands.  Gel pads for under the bar tape and some road gloves full of gel as well (SO MUCH GEL).  Also got some riser bars for the MTB to bring the hands up and back even more.  I'm also going to try double wrapping my MTB bars in padded gel bar tape instead of grips to see how that works.

I have high hopes for the PT.  I'm trying to be optimistic but I really do think that I could get to a much better place if I was doing the right stretches and strengthening exercises regularly.  I'm hoping that between a stronger joint and some ride position modifications I can at least ride pain free if not quite as intensely as I'm used to.  I think I can eventually let go of the drive to become a faster racer/rider.  What I really need at this point is to be able to ride (on and off road) and not be completely wrecked in the following days.

But seriously, who wants to ride some Gran Fondos? June 14th. VT. Be there.

Rollercoaster of PAIN

Peaks and troughs. Loopty-loops. Zero gravity. This ride has it all.

Here's your monthly? weekly? I forget how often I've posted about my well being already. Dementia must be setting in.  We'll go with 'periodic' health update.

By now you all know that TVR went pretty bad.  Even taped and braced TVR was just too much.  Set me back a bit but I got back on top of things in time for a little road ride Wed.  That ride felt pretty good.  Fitness is maybe a bit behind but still within my normal range for this time of year.  Wrists held up fine and I even noticed on one of the climbs that rocking the bike back and forth and using my wrist flexor muscles actually alleviated some pressure in my wrists.  I continued with some very light exercises later that night and the next morning that really seemed to help.

Further confirming a theory I've had of late that not all of the acute pain I'm dealing with now is arthritis.  I think there is also a muscular / tendon issue in there as well.  A while back I randomly realized that putting some pressure at certain spots on my flexors or extensors actually provided a bit of relief.  As funny as it sounds a tennis elbow strap actually seems to provide me a small amount of pressure release as well as a small increase in range of motion.

I think I may have developed some kind of muscle imbalance that might be snowballing on me a bit.  Riding off road seems to be getting a bit harder/worse for me lately than it was even a few weeks ago.  I rode Franklin last night which is in no way anywhere near TVR and by many accounts is probably one of the buffest places you can ride in New England and it was still way more painful than I would have liked.  I was able to get around at a decent pace but it hurt and I've definitely got some swelling and even during riding I was starting to feel some fatigue and pain in my forearm muscles further confirming my thought about some sort of developing muscle issue.  It seems like the issue I'm having now is more with grip strength and pain created by compression in the joint while griping/holding the bars and my EVS braces can't really guard against any of that.


I go back to the orthopedist next Wednesday and the plan is to try and get setup with a PT hopefully who specializes in upper extremities.  My gut is telling me there is a good chance that if I can figure out the puzzle of which muscle(s)/tendon(s) is tight/loose/aggravated I can get to a much better place.  In the meantime I think I need to steer clear of the MTB.  Its not working right now and I feel like every time I ride it its setting me back.  Road still seems to be fine so I will be racking up the miles in the meantime.  Maybe this year I'll just do Gran Fondo's and Dirt Road Randonee's.

But to be honest, who the hell knows.  I think at this point I've changed my outlook and plans 300 times in the last 6 weeks.  So this weekend I'll head to Willowdale for the team and to volunteer but I'll be chalking up a DNS unfortunately.

Who wants to ride some road?

NEMBA Racing Kick-Off

Well I can't say it went off without a hitch but it was pretty close.  We did have one rider fall off the pace a bit and we didn't manage regroups well enough early and he ended up calling it a day within the first few miles.  I feel bad about it and I learned some lessons in how to try and manage that better, I guess that's all you can hope for.

I'm very excited about this year though.  We've got a good group of people that all look pretty motivated and ready to go.  I've even finally got two riders who are committed to riding/racing a bunch of Enduro this year and are willing to help me lay the groundwork for a full Enduro team as part of the program next year.

Meet and Greet was part of the agenda and the other part for me was additional testing of body and gear under trail riding conditions.  Believe it or not this was my first time back on dirt and I had no idea how wrists would behave under actual off road riding conditions.  My EVS WB01 wrists braces and my new X-Fusion Slide29 fork were getting their first go-round of paceline decently paced riding.  Make or break time.

I've already had a pretty good idea that the braces were going to work pretty well based on my initial commuting and road experiments.  And they are geared more towards an MTB riding hand position so I was fairly certain they were going to work great as far as support.  What I wasn't sure about was comfort deeper into a longer/bumpier ride.  Happy to report I didn't have any issues with hotspots or circulation getting cut off.  They stayed put and support on the axis they were designed for was great.

One thing I did notice was I'm still a bit vulnerable side to side with those little wiggle moves you have to do sometimes in fast twisty stuff.  I had a bit of pain and weakness at times that bumped me from my line or had me adjusting speed to make sure I didn't lose control.  Not sure there is going to be much I can do about that, just one of the concessions I'm going to need to make.  Good thing is tight and twisty is one of my fortes so even at 3/4 I'm just as fast/good as a lot of other riders.  And interestingly enough about 6-7mi into the ride things started to loosen up a bit (probably just due to adrenaline and endorphins) and that pain/weakness went away and I was shredding at just about full speed without issue.

Going along hand in hand with my ability to shred is my new fork. WHICH I LOVE.  In all aspects.  I was probably most surprised with the steering accuracy.  Absolutely no issues holding true lines.  The action was incredibly smooth, forgot it was there for a majority of the ride.  Their suggested 70psi seems to be ideal for my weight and with the rebound set at about halfway I couldn't be happier with its trail qualities.  The lockout behaved great, although I didn't need it much.  Pretty amazed I could get a fork this good for just north of $300.

So long story short my body and gear held up surprisingly well and I would say 6-7mi into the ride I was riding just as fast as a 'pre all these issues' me would have been riding this time of year.  Lots of enjoyment was had.  BUT...

I woke up this morning to some pretty thrashed wrists.  I think I could have avoided this a bit with a better more aggressive post ride ice routine instead I went straight to beer and burgers.  I'm going to have to experiment with just how far and diligent I need to be about that but I think I'm going to have to do what it takes to always have access to copious amounts of ice post ride no matter what.  I need to develop a full post ride anti-inflammation attack plan and implement it with extreme prejudice.

What Have I Learned This Week

Bunch of stuff.

1. Cortisone shots can hurt pretty good but that is one hell of a drug.
2. On One Midge bars aren't great if you have #shittywrists (at least that is my experience)
3. EVS makes some sweet wrist braces
4. My new 'road' bike is seriously kick ass
5. I won't be able to shred singletrack with complete abandon but I will be able to shred

Saw the foot Doc this past Wed.  He was a bit confused as to the amount of swelling I still had around the joints in question.  I told him about some of my other diagnoses I had received and he explained that it could be arthritis and that rheumatoid can very frequently present in the small toe joints.  He wanted me to get tested for the full slew of auto-immune stuff again that I already got and tested negative for.  So its still a guessing game.  Symptoms say one thing, tests say the other.  Somebody get me Dr. House.

I did end up getting a cortisone shot in the foot to deal with the symptoms and man do those things hurt.  It wasn't all that bad in the grand scheme but for some reason I was expecting no worse than a tetanus shot so it snuck up on me a bit.  But once that stuff kicked in...Magic.  We'll see how long it holds.

Tried commuting on Friday.  Ended up being a bit colder in the morning than forecast and I didn't layer all that well so that was awesome.  I also realized fairly quickly that my wrists didn't really like any of my available hand positions with the Midge bars.  Something about the flare and the brake levers being slightly off axis just doesn't work.  The reach to the levers was always a bit far and now with reduced grip strength my braking power isn't awesome.  Throw in numb fingers and you've got yourself an exciting ride.

I think I'm going to need to make some changes, first to the bars and possible even to a set of brifters.  The bar end shifters were a bit hard to work with at the angle they are at and they aren't indexed which also makes them a bit harder to work with when you don't have the best dexterity.  Gonna swap the bars to a pair of standard road drops I have in the parts bin to see what I get and go from there.

Got my first experience with the EVS wrist braces this weekend both with my road bike and on a quick MTB shakedown ride down the road.  I'm going to save the official review for a bit more ride time but so far I am very pleased and its looking like my ability to continue riding is all but assured.

Speaking of my 'road' bike I love it a real lot.  Did a nice little mixed 70/30 pavement/dirt ride around the neighborhood and while my fitness is god awful right now I really enjoyed being able to just go wherever I want and have a bike that is more than capable.  I am sticking by the Macho Man being one of my best build decisions ever.

Also had a few minutes to kill Sunday and I really wanted to see how my fork rides and the braces feel on the MTB before the team meet and greet ride this coming Sunday so I threw on my shoes, helmet and braces and took off down the road.  Granted it was a half mile down the road but Sanbornton roads are not buff by any means so I got to see the fork in action and I'm liking what I see.  Action was smooth, didn't even know it was there in most cases and the lockout worked great on the climb back up.

Braces held strong and the pain was minimal.  I was particularly pleased with the lack of pain while pulling up on the bars.  I was worried that was going to be my downfall but I think its going to work out ok.  That said I took a few more jarring jolts and I definitely feel it up through my wrists so I'm going to have to ride clean.  Luckily years of riding rigid has cleaned up my line selection pretty well.

I'm far less concerned about the season (and the rest of my riding career) than I was a few weeks ago.  But if there is one thing I've learned about arthritis, things can change hour to hour so I've got to stay diligent and be smart.

Where's My Health At?

It's official.  I made a new category of 'Health' here at Manarea because mine is probably going to become something I get to deal with from here on out.  I'll probably be learning a lot about whatever it is I actually have and I'll probably need to vent from time to time.  Your welcome.

So here's where I'm at currently:

Wrists - Just finally wrapped up my diagnosis with the Ortho Doc this past week.  After some X-Rays and MRIs his take is I am suffering from some sort of arthritis.  My carpal bones are all very upset, more so in the left than the right.  This was both good and really bad news.  Good in that all my other soft tissue appears to be intact so I don't have to worry about doing any permanent damage to anything in that realm with any activity that I want to do.  Really bad in that the damage has already been done and I'm probably looking at a life sentence of dealing with my #shittywrists.

So right now there are three main possibilities:

Osteoarthritis - This is just the 'wear and tear' form of arthritis and is more common to appear when you are older after a 'lifetime of use'. But if you jam a lifetime of use into 1/3 of a lifetime...voila!  This is what I'm hoping it is because that would limit my issue to just my wrists.

Rheumatoid Arthritis - This is the auto-immune kind.  I was tested for this last summer when I was all messed up and it felt like every joint in my body was off the rails.  That has since calmed down and my blood tests were negative but the ortho Doc told me about 'seronegative' forms of RA that don't show up on tests.  So that is still in play and I'm going to have to wait a bit to see what my symptoms do.

Lyme - One of the most common symptoms of Lyme is joint pain that mimics arthritis.  I was also tested for this (twice) and both times it came back negative.  But both times they did the most common Lyme titer blood test which I've read is basically crap and very commonly gives false negatives so that is also still technically in play.  Again, going to have to wait to see what my symptoms do.

So its into pain management mode.  Therapeutic dose of Advil basically around the clock.  Lots of ice.  Recently did some research on wrist support specifically made for riding and luckily motocross and DH has all kinds of options that don't limit the range of motion you need for riding but provide a good amount of support.  I went with the EVS WB01 due to stellar reviews on MTBR.

They have rigid foam pads you can mix and match to get just the amount of support you want and people seem to love them.  They seem a bit bulky but they are designed so you can still wear gloves and grip bars without issue.  Should have them in about a week.  Fingers crossed they work well for me.  Review post coming after some use...


Foot - Been in 'The Boot' now for almost 3 weeks.  Made a bunch of progress so far.  Swelling on the top of the foot is down and I am basically pain free.  I had always thought this came about due to walking on the ball of my foot a lot due to urchin spines but I guess now there is an off chance that the issues with my metatarsal joints is also arthritic in nature so I'm going to have to keep an eye on this as well.  WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

So it looks like my joke from last year that 80% is the new 100% is now permanent.  Which sucks but I can at least work with that.  I'll eventually figure this out and get to making my 80% as good as my 100% used to be.  Onward and Upward.