Manic Mutton

I'm not going to talk about tires and such until my headache and indecisive panic subsides.

Most people are here to read about my family anyways.  That and socks... and straps.

Maybe I should talk about my new hobby.  My left shoulder.  It's been bugging me since... September?  I can't remember exactly.  Since then, I've stopped doing chin ups, started some foam rolling routines, incorporated some stretches, gotten a few massages, felt better but not anywhere near 100%, started doing push ups, some sit ups for my core (my lower back feels much happies), went back to chin ups, went on vacation to Florida...

No messenger bag on my left shoulder for five days.  Three (actually 2.5 mountain bike rides) while there, the last two days totally off the bike.  Just family time, driving home, and the oddest Mexican restaurant experience ever before returning back to life.  Back to reality.

Two Thursdays ago, within hours of starting back at work, my shoulder was pooh again.  A different kind of pooh tho.  Like someone opened up my back and inserted a Polish sausage under my skin directly over my left scapula, sewed me back up, and then beat me with a length of garden hose.  Que?

Since then, lots of ibuprofen, heating pads, ice, another massage, foam rolling, tennis ball, no more chin ups.  A week later, I decided to order this:

A semi-custom Mini Metro bag from Chrome, right shoulder specific.  I should have done this... months ago?

It was years ago when I was having problems of another sort with my back that Kürdt pointed out that I do ride around with a bag on one shoulder all day long and ride a rigid mountain bike on the weekends, so... (logic).

I've been told countless times that when looking at my back, my left shoulder is over-developed when compared to my right.  It's pronounced enough right now that I can feel it when I'm foam rolling across my entire backside.  It's weird.

More years ago than when Kürdt was dropping knowledge, I remember The Wonderboy complaining about shoulder pain from having a bag on it all day.  I just assumed he was just weak.  Maybe I was wrong (he could be weak tho).

So yeah, almost 20 years on one shoulder.  Time to mix it up.  I'm going with a smaller bag than ever before because the messenger game in Charlotte has changed that much since 1996.  Carrying file boxes and huge rolls of drawings used to happen quite regularly, but it's gotten quite rare now.  Not to mention, I'm more than likely only doing one to three deliveries at a time and am no longer cooking ten plus jobs at once.  I'll have to leave my big Bagaboo at work just in case something bulky comes up, but I think it will be in the closet 98% of the time.

Please don't tell me to use a backpack style roll-top bag.  I have one, they're not that great for work, but they are perfect for hauling eighteen beers around town all day.   That I do know.  Unfortunately, I don't get paid to do that kinda work.

Also, I felt way better after a day in the mountains on a rigid bike (this past Sunday) than I did when the day started.  So there goes logic out the window again.

Now to wait on Chrome.