Doug Winterburn responds:
have a buddy who had a hip replacement about 6 years ago, then both
knees about 3 years ago and finally the other hip this year. He also has
a metal rod in one arm from almost ripping of the arm. Like (I
think) Charlie Self, all this damage was the result of riding a crotch
rocket over the hills and through the woods.

He claims to now be pain free. The Doc wants him to consider a shoulder
replacement, but he says no as there is no guarantee of swinging a golf
club after that. He claims it's getting very difficult to swim with all
the metal parts ;-)

Heh. Yeah, enduro riding can be rough on the clumsy.

I finished my knee lube injections (Hyagel?) about a week ago. Knees have been
improving since, and are almost totally pain free now.

You don't know what that means until you've spent most of a decade with a pain
level ranging from 5 to about 9 along with all the other fun signs of not being
a teenager any more.

I walk up the stairs from my office and it doesn't hurt! My wife is probably
sick of my saying that, but it is remarkable enough to me to be wonderful those
times I notice--and I notice ever time I walk up the stairs.

Charlie Self
"Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity
has made them good." H. L. Mencken