Sim Racing

Over the last few months I've been dealing with a nerve issue in my left shoulder. There were a bunch of things that led to this, too many pull ups, not enough push ups, bad ergonomics at my work desk, and the thing that triggered the pain the most; sim racing.

The fact is that my body is adapting to the fact that I've lost ~20kg over the last 18 months and am trying to be an active 43 year old dude and the repetitive rotation of my shoulder was painful.

I made some changes to the setup I have, raising my seat and most importantly; switching to a larger diameter steering wheel. I also obviously had to cut back on the amount of seat time. This sort of aligned with a dip in my interest, especially in racing official series on iRacing, so it was ok. Except for a single week off I have managed to continue racing in the wonderful Thursday night league that over the last 5 years has become a cornerstone of my week. I had to accept that I would be running in the mid field and I can't expect to be at the same pace as I was when I wasn't dealing with shoulder woes and had all that seat time. 

I've worn the livery of shame more often than I'd like to admit, after making mistakes or poor choices that impacted my league mates' races. Still, it remains a solid source of laughs and great racing.

Last Thursday was the first time that I hadn't felt any pain during the session in the sim rig. Which was very nice. It was also great because I had some fantasic close battles and decent banter.

I'm actively working on tamping down my desire to purchase one of these ridiculous things...

It's 308 mm diameter is for my health!

Bad Robot

Disc Golf

 The disc golf hobby really dug it's claws in. I play in the local social league that runs once a month and have been lucky enough to be battling for the handicap honours. The bit of structured competition has really raised my enjoyment as it's given me some goals to work on. The first is simply to beat my handicap each outing, something that I've managed to do most months. The more specific things have been putting in focus practice with the sorts of shots I find myself commonly making.

I've definitely found a few moulds and plastic types that I really like, and I've built up quite a collection of discs. Here's a few that I have duplicates of because practicing a shot with a handful of the same disc helps work on the key ingredient; consistency.

Deputy from Dynamic Discs - my putting putters.

Berg from Kastaplast - approach disc that will fade and get to the ground, also fun to fly flex lines. Also great for many emergencies using rollers, flicks, and thumbers.

Fierce from Discraft - when I need to fly a tunnel.

Thrasher from Discraft - I'm learning to shape this in a range of ways.

Finger Nail Cadence

When you clip your finger nails is a pretty good time to do all those "seldom but required" tasks that you've been putting off.

I've come to realise that unless I build a habit that is daily, I struggle to continue with it. This blog is a prime example. When I was in the habit of posting most days it was a vibrant way for me to exercise the skills around maintaining a blog. When I aimed to update it "every month or so" it quickly turns into "every year or so when I finally carve out some time".

I had this idea years ago, but never actually actually followed through with it. This time, after I've just clipped my nails I'm here posting. Let's see if it continues next time.