I did some serious nerve damage to my hands, presumably because of the broken fork. I've been pumped full of steroids the last few days... I cannot sleep more than a couple of hours and feel slightly out of it; on top of that my hands are still numb. If the steroids don't do anything, I'll have to go back to the hospital for more testing.
Anyways, my hands are my livelihood, a permanent injury is something I cannot risk, especially as I just started a new design/development business. Therefore, I don't intend on riding my bike in the foreseeable future. Thanks to Andy Buchanan and Mary Collier for offering to overnight a fork to Butte for me. I wish the circumstances of my hands would have allowed me to accept one of those offers...
Soon I'll writeup my thoughts on doing the route in August. In short, my limited experience on the route in August tells me that June is more ideal: longer days and the weather seems to be a little less erratic. I'd rather tour the route in August for sure though... there are a lot more people on the route to interact with, both fellow tourers and general people enjoying nature. ALSO, all the blowdowns were cleared (this made me so happy). It was fun.
