Long Time, No Postie

It's been a while since I've been on here. No new route maps, riding advice, whatever. That's because I haven't been riding so much lately. Turns out I have some really bad circulation to my feet. They get wicked cold easily. I broke down and bought the Specialized Defrost shoes. I went riding on a 40 degree day and my feet froze. Painfully froze. The last post was in prediction of a good riding day in December according to the forecasts. I headed out west intending to circle the Berwicks. I got just outside South Berwick before turning around. Only 15 miles west of Kittery it was still way too cold. Ice on the roads and my feet were freezing. It was a death march getting back home. i stared at the ground infront of me, trying not to think about the distance between me and warmth.
I have begun acupuncture to improve blood flow. My friend works at Manchester Acupuncture Studio, which is a new-ish concept that allows for multiple patients to be treated by one practitioner, bringing the price down way low. Treatment is sliding scale $15 to $35, and they let you decide what is affordable. I highly recommend it to anyone not feeling like the perfect human specimin. They can help with addiction, depression, injuries, you name it.
I have so far gone three times and the experience is totally wild. We sit in a room of about 15 lazy boy chairs. One of the practitioners comes over, checks your pulse and asks how things are going. Based on your reply and other signs they are trained to look for, they decide which points will be poked. Then, you just close your eyes and sit back. I go into sort of a trance, where I think I'm conscious, but I'm not sure. I begin to go through daily life issues that I've been stuck on and think about solutions, I see light patterns drifting and flowing like Aurora Borialis or a flock of starlings sweeping around the sky. Totally wild experience. You can be as quick as 30 minutes, or fall asleep for hours, your choice. I prefer to 'cook' a shorter time as it was brought to my attention that I was a tad grumpy after a longer session.
The clinic is in Manchester, NH. There are similar clinics in Portland, OR, and other places that I don't know about. I can't recommend checking out this experience enough. There are often other things to do around Manchester, such as intimate experimental sound arts basement shows, the Courier Art Museum, Consuelo's Taqueria. So you can make a day of it..