Update

Quick one here. I woke up this morning and am still in a pretty good amount of pain. With ice and tylenol and epsom salt baths, the swelling in the hand has not gone down at all. This makes me very nervous and I am thinking I may need to go get a cast on it, rather then just this splint and an ace bandage.  Seeing how this is clearly a little more than just a break, I need to focus on the rest of my crazy fitness life and make sure I have the use of my thumb before I go ahead and just meat-head my way through the rest of this ride.

So, the second I finish writing this, I am headed to get another helmet )man those cracks in my old one are eye-opening), and then I am going to just ride out of down for a few hours.  Ill try to get some hills, some speed, some wind, some bad pavement and see how I can handel.

My mentality is to get back into this adventure, and finish the thing off.  But, and this is so hard for me, I need to think about what is honestly best for me and my hand.  If it is a major struggle to ride for 30-40 miles with no trailer, there is no way I can do 100+ with all my gear, for anther 15 days.  So, saddening and pride-shattering as it is, I am headed out today with all my senses in top form and hoping I can come to some conclusion as to what I should do.  This has been one of the most difficult situations for me mentally, perhaps insight into just how thick headed I can be when I decide I am going to do something.

I'll let you all know...