Hello,

It’s been over four months since my last entry. I’ve seen many ups and downs during that time. You may recall that I suffered a back strain during my ACP 300km in April. Something unexpected happened after I rode in the Tour de Cure the following weekend: I suddenly found myself with absolutely no desire to ride my bicycle. It was actually worse than that. I had no motivation to do anything. I was suffering from chronic fatigue, chronic joint pain and a general feeling of blah! 😦 It was bizarre. I also put on about 20 pounds… as if I needed that. I went through two months of just going to work and going to bed. I had a series of blood tests and various doctor’s appointments. The results have been inconclusive so far. I’m still awaiting a follow-up with an endocrinologist.

Thankfully, I’ve bounced back a little. I’ve lost 15 pounds in the past month and feel like I will continue to lose weight, thanks to a shift in eating habits. I still have occasional periods of fatigue and sometimes find it difficult to concentrate or remember things (like how to spell half of the words in this sentence). I do my best to avoid fatigue by staying active. Since July, I’ve returned to my roots by riding in organized group rides with my good friends in PBA, many of whom are in the header photo above. The riders of Tidewater Rando are good friends, too. I just haven’t been eager to meet the all-day investment required to ride with them (soon, though). The shorter rides of 25-50 miles have been good for rekindling my interest in cycling. I hope to get back out for a few RUSA populaires. Later, maybe I’ll be ready for permanents again.

A development that you may not have noticed is a change in server locations for this blog. Although I had registered CaptainOverpacker.com when I started blogging, I was actually pointing the address to a subfolder at my main site, StealthTDI.com, which has been flawlessly hosted by Yahoo since 2001. However, Yahoo’s WordPress application is not as functional as the real WordPress.com. The spam-blocking software is discontinued, there were subscriptions issues, my profile had limitations and the e-mail notifications were not working as they should. I opted to register an actual WordPress account and then upgraded it to allow me to have everything under CaptainOverpacker.com. My blog now functions just like any other WordPress blog you might follow.

However, all previous Captain Overpacker subscriptions were terminated when I closed my WordPress app at Yahoo. If you want to be notified of my postings here, please click the “+Follow” tab in the lower-right corner of your monitor or one of the subscription options in the right margin. Unlike with my previous site, readers are in total control of their subscriptions with the simple click of a link.

I don’t have any major riding plans for the rest of the year. I’m planning to ride in a couple of cancer awareness rides in October; maybe something else in November if the weather is good. Those rides may be blog-worthy. Otherwise, I’ll wait and see what my health brings.

Still Kicking!

Scott