It was a year of travel, pro cycling and “the knee”. Lots of surprises along the way.
We started out with a surprise, as Norbert and I traveled to Hilton Head, South Carolina, USA, but our suitcases did not. We arrived on Saturday, they arrived on Monday, as did my brother Bill. We very much enjoyed sharing the time with him, as always.
Hilton Head proved not to be our thing, unfortunately, although we found an incredibly outstanding restaurant: the Sea Shack. It doesn't look like much, outside or inside, and everything is served on styrofoam with plastic utensils. But it had probably the best seafood any of us have ever eaten. Of the four times we ate out, three of those were there.
The highlight for Norbert and me was touring the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown near Charleston, SC. Really incredible and just so much to absorb.
I then started the cycling season with a new cycling team, a very small Austrian team. The first month went smoothly, however, for the second month I was told that I would not be paid as “they were unaware that I was doing any work.” As I said publicly, I have never been so insulted in my entire life.
Having now been screwed over by two teams in a row, I decided it was time to take a further step into retirement. I remained on call for www.cyclingnews.com as a journalist, and did various translations.
In May we had the absolute highlight of the year, as we flew to Vancouver and then took an Alaska cruise. We had a beautiful Airb&b apartment in North Vancouver, and spent several days oohing and ah-ing over the attractions, especially the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. The bridge, the platform walk through the trees of the rain forest – spellbinding.
We met up in another apartment with my friend Carleen, with whom I was traveling 30 years ago in Banff when we met Norbert. And we finally got to meet her husband, Doug. For Carleen and me it was as if we had never really been apart, and both of us got along perfectly with Doug.
The four of us then took off on the Celebrity Eclipse cruise ship, heading “North to Alaska”. The food was good, the scenery incredible, the companionship ever better. The stop at Icy Strait Point was funny more than anything else, Juneau was good with whale-watching and Ketchikan was ok.
The landscape was unbelievable, and we loved watching the sunsets.
However, it was the Hubbard Glacier which proved the most mind-boggling. So big, so impressive. We had wondered why we would spend three hours there, but when it came time to go, we didn't want to!
The summer went quietly, but by the end of August I noticed that my right knee was acting up more and more. Long story short, MRI showed the meniscus was badly off and needed surgery. I could have had it fairly quickly, but I had something more important to do the beginning of October.
Family always has priority, so the knee had to wait while my brother Bill visited us. A good time was had by all, and we all enjoyed a visit to the Kröller Müller Museum in the Netherlands, with its fabulous Van Gogh collection.
Lucas joined us for a visit to the Borussia Mönchengladbach museum and fascinating tour of the stadium.
About 3 days after Bill left, I had the arthroscopic surgery on my right knee. We were distressed to hear that the damage was worse than anticipated. However, the surgery and recovery went well and after two weeks I was able to put the crutches away. The knee is not 100% and probably never will be again, and I will most likely have to have it done again at some point, with the possibility of an eventual knee replacement being real.
I had a huge surprise in November when the Israel Cycling Academy contacted me, to see if I was interested in working for them in the coming year. It was a second league team which is moving up to the top ranks in 2020, and they wanted a native English speaker who was also a good writer and knew pro cycling. Nothing strokes the ego like having someone seek you out specifically like that, and of course I said yes!
So much for retirement, right? Frankly, I found it rather boring!
December kicked up with a trip to Israel for the team, now called Israel Start-Up Nation. Several days in Tel Aviv, the Holocaust Museum, the Gaza Strip, the Negev Desert in a sandstorm – it was educational and moving.
And of course professionally great. I very much look forward to my work the coming year.
Most importantly, we are all well and happy, and looking forward to further adventures in 2020!
