Intervals, Inflation, and Implants (Update)

News today on all three fronts:

Inflation: The CPI for July came in at 8.5% above July 2021. The stock market is excited because this was lower than expected, but I’m still getting sticker shock at the meat counter. If you had $1000 in your wallet in January 2020, it’s worth $883 today. Put another way, if you spent $200 on groceries in January 2021, and bought the same stuff, you paid $227 last month. Financial planning models that use a 3% inflation rate are going to need some adjustments.

Intervals: I did interval training of a sort the last two days. I’m trying to keep some fitness for France ahead of my impending dental work. Here is the picture of what I did this morning. 6×4 minutes intervals at 212 to 220 watts. Five years ago I would have done those at around 270 watts. Age cannot wither my infinite variety, but it can slow me down.

Implants: As a blogger I aim to entertain my readers, and based on feedback people enjoyed reading about my teeth. Here is an update: I thought the pain was coming from the bridge area, but actually it is the adjacent molar that is cracked. It is hard to locate the problem tooth when the whole area hurts so much.

The bad news is that the molar has to be extracted. There are several options after that, including just leaving the space open, but the best solution is an implant and a crown. The best solution is not the cheapest solution. I could get a very nice bike for what one implant/crown costs.

The one tooth issue is actually financial good news. I was expecting to need 3 implants and crowns for a failed bridge, which didn’t fail. For what 3 implants cost one could buy a very nice used car before the inflation/supply chain run up in prices. I was at the Honda dealer in Lodi getting an oil change recently and I was shocked to see that there was almost no inventory on the lot. No wonder car prices are so high.

The extraction, and possible bone graft and implant, are happening this afternoon. After that come the ice packs and pain meds for about a day, and antibiotics for about two weeks. None of this is what I would choose as preparation for my scheduled trip to France next week, but at least I can go, even if I can’t ride every mile. A healing jaw is a good excuse to under perform.