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Miranda, I completely understand. I have nerve impingement in my neck that causes numbness & pain. It is exacerbated with long bike rides. I've had to accept that my century days are probably over. I, too, am doing alternatives like dog walking & weight lifting (I have osteoporosis too). It isn't as satisfying but there is that part in Desiderata about gracefully giving up things of youth...
And losing the desire to ride - at 5AM it is over 80 degrees and 60% humidity. Ugh.
I also have had bike-related injuries that have really impacted my ability to ride longer than 45-60 minutes. Thankfully I've found other activities (weight lifting/metabolic conditioning/cross-training) that I like just as much as riding, but I MISS being able to just go out for a nice 40-50 mile ride to explore the countryside. I was in denial for some time in thinking that the only real impact was to mountain biking, but that has been proved wrong. At least I CAN still ride short distances - and the almost daily rain for the last month has meant that I've not been able to ride more than once a week (if that) as it seems to only rain when I've a "riding window".
It is sad that those few people I've ridden with in the past no longer asks me to ride since I've had to turn them down so many times due to these physical issues.
Thanks for sharing, that was helpful, nice that someone else understands...and I had never read that poem before...beautiful.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dogmama
Yes, I know what you mean, have the same thing...I try to tell myself, for some reason, their destiny must not be meant to be mine.Quote:
Originally Posted by Catrin
I'm going the other direction actually ... after a long near total hiatus I'm on my way partially back. I don't know if I will ever be all the way back. But since I'm the one with the limitations, the burden's on me to ask my old riding buddies to join me for whatever distance, terrain and pace I feel up to, if I want company. I can't expect them to guess, or conclude anything about the friendship if they get frustrated with guessing wrong.
This is a good way to look at it. I've tried this a few times but it doesn't seem like there is any interest in the shorter distances. I am shy (as hard as that is to believe) in person. I try not to conclude anything about the friendship but it is very hard since I never hear from them otherwise. Right now having company helps to get me out the door on my bike, but neither do I want to keep bugging them if they simply aren't interested on my short distances. There are a couple of weekend CIBA rides that I like that have shorter distances, so far they seem to land on days when it is raining...Quote:
Originally Posted by OakLeaf
Uhmm, perhaps my desire to ride has returned -- especially after riding 7.5 miles with the front brake on. :eek: I didn't realize it. I should have because it has happened before. . I had to walk up hills I never had to before. Had to slow way down on the flat parts and took a million rest stops. Most of the ride was done in the lowest granny gear. I thought maybe, because I hadn't been riding very often, I was just really out of shape. I track my rides, but I have no idea how to track this one. LOL. I now want to go on another ride that is not so hard!
Oh, I have had the bike in the shop twice for this problem. There doesn't seem to a permanent fix. I just have to remember to check it when we take the bike of the bike rack. That seems to be when it happens.