Thanks all. The trip to the Dragon didn't end up happening because the weather down there was the shitz. I spent a lot of time analyzing the forecasts and realized we were going to be riding in the rain (and heavy rain, a lot of the time) 90% of the trip - having looked after getting back, some areas got swamped with a FOOT of rain. Not upset we missed that.
We went NE instead and rode down from NE NY to the Catskills and then wiggled our ways westward and up and down across all the little windy mountain roads through PA and nearly to OH, then back up. 2400KM or so across 4 days, really enjoyed it.
With regards to my back, it's still not good...but it's better than the day I made this thread when I was riding back from a trip to Montreal (anyone else watch the Plane Saver series?) and it was really killing me. I was actually worried I was going to have to bail out of the trip above.
Anyhow, thanks for all the suggestions and pointers. Touching on the points I remember:
- Most NSAID's work the same, whatever the brand name - Aleve, Naproxen, etc etc...all NSAID's in the end. I take a prescription strength one called Vimovo which is a high (maximum) dose NSAID with a stomach/GI tract buffer (acid reducer) built in and it works for ~12 hours. Because I have chronic pain issues I take NSAD's regularly, and I had issues years ago with regular Ibuprofen and ulcers, so I'm very careful now. But it works decent and still provides some relief without resorting to narcotics, so I gotta take it fairly regularly...and since I switched from regular Ibuprofen I haven't had any ulcer issues thankfully for years. Sometimes I go weeks (or up until recently, a month or so) with low pain levels and I can stop to give my system a break, but when I do need it, it's regular.
- I'm going to hunt again for an inversion table now that I'm home. I've heard good things from many people.
- I have a great PT who worked me through my 4 month recovery from shoulder reconstruction last year, but unfortunately my benefits are no longer what they were at the time so I'll have to investigate more how many treatments I can actually swing now.
- I've been supplementing with an OTC (Shoppers) acetaminophen with a mild muscle relaxant built in that has also helped a lot, but there's a limit to how much you can take as well and I'm acutely aware of that...but I've been able to stay 1000-1500mg below the daily 24 hour limits (so I consider that pretty safe) whilst still achieving relief.
- Get a new bike...well, that's a hard pill to swallow, pardon the pun. If a year from now I'm still suffering, it'll have to be something I consider.
- Foot position, fair argument. The "chesterfield" position on a cruiser does put a lot of pressure on your spine, and my VTX is far from the plushest ride out there, zero question. See point above, however. I do have some flexibility to get my legs more under me for periods (my floorboards are long) and I found it helpful. I can actually, with some effort, get my ass out of the seat and into the air if I see a huge bump I want to avoid, but it is indeed awkward.
What ended up helping most on this trip was my Airhawk, and experimenting with it's position. I found that pulling it further ahead then where it would normally be helped immensely - it still supported my butt, but allowed my tailbone to "float" (for lack of a better way to explain it) in midair so that it wasn't subjected to the jolts from the road. It not only helped a ton using it that way, but seems to have allowed things to recover even despite a lot of riding.
Anyhow, I'm going to head back to the doctor and see what he thinks, it may be time to pursue things further.
In the meantime I need to refocus on some personal family stuff going on. As much as the big burst of wind therapy getaway over the last 5-6 days was a much needed distraction, reality has been pretty brutal recently and I can only run away from it for so long I guess.