The Summertime Cast Blues

 This might be the best waki comment ever

 So true!! Just be thankful you are able to ride and have a blast at it.

 Tnx Waki. The hug was much needed.

 Boxxerace Broken. Thanks Waki.

 johnson broken, but I got some new titanium parts so everyone will be oogling my leg bling. Thanks for the Waki hug

 cartoon brought the lulz and also well said

 What the hell happened to Waki?! ...First time I positive prop him ever!
This world is changing too fast...

 @webermtb: oh well I am surprised too, I feel really happy that people share my point of view on appreciation. So I decided to enjoy it instead of bringing up Hitler which I normally do at this point. But today just hugs.

 Yep. Just recently spent a week in hospital due to a crash and surgery etc. Just getting back on a gravel bike felt so good. Appreciate your health. It won't always be there.

 after almost 2 years out due to a nasty crash and with pain almost everyday after for the last 9years... I really appreciate my present condition and a day without pain is a bless! Time out is nothing compared to not returning to the sport!

 @Dustfarter: but ironically isn't life a bit like this, that saying: "don't take anything for granted" is a rather silly thing to say? One needs to experience certain things to understand that. Ironically enough we need a f*cking kick in the butt from life, or observe someone close to us, get a freaking kick, to realize that everything we got is fragile? And even if you do suddenly realize, oh shit, I better get most of this, whatever it is, there will always be even deeper level. No matter how awfully it sounds, a "disaster" can be a blessing. Sure, we all rather not to, but very few of us who don't, can appreciate life. Sometimes it can be too big and crack the person, but sometimes when that person gets up from it, he/ she is better off than if they lived in comfort. I mean off course once all your basic needs are satisfied, I don't mean, oh how happy that child with brain tumor must be, because this is where pseudo intellectual bullshit leads. Hell no. I mean like getting kids. I am getting more satisfaction out of every ride out of every trip than before I got them. Damn I swear so many times, for them taking riding away from me, but every single one of those fewer rides is better.

 I did the exact thing you are talking abt. I was ungrateful, until I overshot a 60'er and split my spleen in half and the top third of my pancreas. Now all I want is to be riding again.

 @JohnmMtb: but that's what I meant above, some people are unequipped for gratefulness. It just is that way. Accepting it, is a form of gratefulness. I was stupid, I am less stupid now. Sad to hear about your injury, all the best wishes for fastest possible recovery to the best possible state.

 @WAKIdesigns: ungratefulness has its pay of paying for itself with Titanium screws and plates. And by paying for itself I mean paying out the ass for medical expenses. Because, you know, America.

 Seriously needed this perspective after four months of riding British Columbia, Moab, Pisgah, New Hampshire... and now I am back to my local crappy bike park 7 Springs. I'm healthy, I have lift accessed riding an hour away, and a huge network of XC trails. Good vibes!!

 Great thought to spread, Waki! I take disabled people out to catch waves once a month...they range from autistic to those that have little to no use of their limbs and live in a chair. Many are barely able to communicate but the energy that comes from them when they feel the energy of the ocean pushing them on a board is absolutely mind blowing and has made me realize just how F'ing fortunate I am that I was born with a body that functions and is strong....I give back in other ways too because of these realizations. My house and art studio were flooded by two hurricanes...I lost work and all my savings...my relationship ended out of nowhere but I went to this surf event and none of that mattered because I can stand up when I want to...walk, talk...even bitch about how i don't like Guide brakes! I'm and most of us are more fortunate than we realize unless you've spent time with those less fortunate....I encourage everyone to volunteer and gain perspective...it will make your world more beautiful and those around you as well.

 @GlassGuy: great to hear. I just found this bit from Joe Rogan: “conquer the inner bitch”. Love that expression.

 for once with my broken ankle I cant put my foot up someones arse for 6 weeks.

 I bet he got really familiar with the stranger!! HAHA

 Expendable youth! Still have the old VHS somewhere

 So pumped that Taj is posting his work on PB.

 Same here. Its crazy that another guy I used to watch in the 90's is a real contender in Joyride.

 www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLi93D9pi8k Yes- please post more on PinkBike. The history is rad but so is this current work. Loved it. "Life is better on a bike..."

 @snl1200: also this one: www.ridebmx.com/videos/history-lesson-taj-mihelich-thunderdome
right after i got back into bmx the indoor skatepark he designed in olympia was ruined by an earthquake

 @jrocksdh: I don't think you understand the massive difference between Obamacare and universal health care.

 @jrocksdh: i'm confused, and maybe i'm missing sarcasm. if you get hurt, how is a low monthly/high deductible plan considered affordable? last time i got hurt on a high deductible plan and it quickly became very unaffordable. the plan was great until i needed to use it. the plans i had before and after that had a higher premium, but lower deductible and actual coverage. i've been injured on them, too.

as long as i ride things, i'll pay the extra premium to actually be covered. overall, it's saved me money and i don't envision a life where i don't get hurt, so i'll be needing it.

 @underhawk: Same experience here.

Another bit about private insurance providers and a private healthcare industry is that it is PROFIT driven. So the goal for those businesses is always to reduce costs and increase revenue wherever possible. They are businesses after all, and the goal of any business is to be profitable. So why not take the profit motive away from healthcare in order to ensure that people's health comes before making a few people very wealthy?

Don't get me wrong here, I am not looking forward to higher taxes in order to pay for Joe Trailer-Trash's surgery after he biffed it trying to clear his double-wide on a moped, but sometimes taking care of each other is more important than having a few extra dollars for titanium cranks.

 @iamamodel Hoorah for universal healthcare! I just did the exact same thing, unfortunately for the second time - I've had a plate installed along my radius in 2016, removed in April, and now another installed a few months later... and it all cost nothing!

Funnily enough though, first time they plated it I was in a full arm cast for 5 weeks, this time I'm in a light brace and able to use my arm more-or-less freely after 3 weeks - the brace by comparison is a godsend.

I definitely sit centre-right (yay capitalisim!), but universal healthcare is awesome. I don't mind covering Joe Trailer-trash, because us as mountain bikers often aren't much better at making smart decisions...

 @jrocksdh: My wife and I lived in the USA for three years while she did a post-doc. My employer wanted to keep me after three years and offered us the chance to stay much longer. There were two main reasons we didn't stay in the USA - one of them was cost and quality of healthcare (and we had very good healthcare through the university. You've been told that your healthcare is great but it isn't. It's terrible.

Ove the long term, I'd say MTBers are cheaper on society as we use vehicles less, and studies show that people like us are a smaller burden on healthcare than... aah... less fit groups.

 @NickB01: Ha ha very true. I am not proud of some of the decisions I have made while on a bike, or the injuries that came about as a result.

 @NickB01: it all cost nothing??? It cost plenty. Just that someone else paid for it. If the system works you’ll get the chance to buy some else a plate and screws too.

 @MonsterTruck: You are right, with universal health car someone pays, but that's just part of being a member of society. My surgery cost me nothing, but I've paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes over my working life, so my society is still way in front. In fact, being a Kiwi, @NickB01 can come to Australia, break his wrist here and enjoy free health care courtesy of all the countries with reciprocal universal healthcare, just as I can travel to NZ, England, Scandinavia etc to get my wrist mended if I break it. Yet if I go to the USA, I have to pay the most expensive travel insurance in case I do break my wrist, because the doctor's bill will be ten times as much as what would be billed here.

 booo!

 Meanwhile Gee is top ten at a WC DH with a broken wrist. You're a pussy cancelling a trip for a finger

 Finger injuries can the worst! They can feel so minor in the grand scheme of things but really impact grip strength and ability to ride more than other injuries that sound more severe. I've hobbled out some rides with some stupid injuries when I was younger but remember trying to ride with a broken ring finger was nearly impossible. Yep... Kids! Speedy recovery!

 @mollow: @kelownakona who said i cancelled it ? 7% IPA and Ibuprofoen does wonders....... Top of the World-Khyber-MON-Kashmir-Kush was hard work so i might be a bit of a pansy....

 @poppagee: haha, props dude. Glad you had a good time

 You probably should've warmed up more before hitting A-Line. There is even signs at the chairlift telling you to warm up twice in the same trail. But I guess being 53 and English you knew better eh?

 Congrats on beating kids, champ.

 @mollow: I’m an old man everyone is a kid

 I had foot surgery June 1st and am back on the road bike. Tried the MTB but it hurt quite a bit and swelled up with bruising. So back to taking it easy...

 Studies show that they tend to have better outcomes if they let collarbones heal on their own, which takes a long time. They generally only will do them if they are tenting (poking up... like a tent). That said you can always insist on having it fixed. But they get infected often and have to get taken out.

 True and not so true. With fibreglass and synthetic cast padding& stockinette today, as long as your hospital/Health region doesn't cheap out (Looking at you AHS) are quite good. They are water shedding and as long as you take the time to FULLY dry the inside of the cast you can shower/swim with them. However most people don't and their skin turns to white goo, becomes one with the stockinette and generally smells like death. I go home with that smell burned into my nasal passages everyday... So I tell people to keep their casts dry.

 Gotta love free surgery in Canada!

 @Jaypwall: It's not free. You pay for it in your taxes. It's just not out of pocket at the time.

 @Gibbersticks: my number one pet peeve is the f*cking canadian idiots who think healthcare is free

 @mollow: It drives me crazy. It's bad enough that the rest of the world thinks it's free but the people that live here... morons. For any morons here, each province has a income based scale. The more you make the more you pay. It literally takes 1 minute to find out how much. People always want to argue with us at work over these facts. My biggest pet peeve is hospital jumpers here in Calgary. They show up in emergency and get pissed if they are not seen immediately and leave and go to another hospital. Every time you check in at triage they create a chart which the hospital bills the healthcare system Approx $700-$800 to generate. That's before you see a doctor (they bill separately) or any tests (bloodwork, x-rays, etc...). So when you leave and go to another hospital they create a new chart for that facility and bill accordingly. So one dumb human chews up money for no reason other than they are impatient and dumb. It took a lot to type that out without swearing....

 @Gibbersticks: hahaha man... I feel your pain! I dont wanna get started my account will probanly be suspended again. Cheers

 @Gibbersticks: dude relax, I understand how my taxes work. It's just nice to not get stuck with a $6000 bill when it happens. Speaking as someone who had a plate put in my wrist 9 weeks ago.

 @Jaypwall: how much in taxes do you think you're paying a year compared to americans?

 @Jaypwall: It's all good and I'm fine thanks. Good luck with your wrist.

 @mollow: I'm paying about 900 a year in taxes for healthcare and I've been in the hospital multiple times a year so it's working out fine for me. Just gotta keep that rate-of-injury up high enough to come out on top lol

 You sound like a pretty hard bloke. @mollow:

 @Bazlar4: pretty hard bloke? What does that even mean?

 Means wind ya neck in u big sausage muncher @mollow:

 standing in front of a mirror probably.

 @colincolin: good point!

 @colincolin: except the writing on the t-shirt isn't back to front

 @mallorcadave: it's added in photoshop. duh.

 @colincolin: what you mean it's not a real rabbit?

 No, it's his left. It shouldn't do that - it's behind his back and that's why it's broken...

 looks like emojis don't work on PB..