June rides, summer begins

[Crankin]

Sounds like you're having fun, NWG.
I knew I needed to not ride today, despite the beautiful weather. So, in keeping with our decision to enjoy the places we don't get to enough, we took the train into Boston and walked the entire Rose Kennedy Greenway, plus a lot more. The Greenway had an exhibit of old neon signs rescued from restaurants and businesses that have closed. One was a restaurant I went to as a kid. Tons of people out at the beer gardens, some Pride activities, a Portuguese festival, etc. After our walk, we walked to the North end, found a restaurant on a side street we hadn't been to and was not full of tourists, and sat by the open windows by the street and had some appetizers. We are going away Thursday for a quick weekend trip to Chicago, so instead of our usual grocery shopping, just stopped by to get something for tonight.
I always feel guilty when I don't ride on a nice day, but it's not like I am inactive. DH thinks I am a little over the top; he's probably right, as I've had long periods of obsessive exercise, but since I don't weigh 92 pounds anymore, well, I feel guilty. The weather until we leave looks good, so I will get at least 2 rides in. Looking forward to the trip and we plan to walk everywhere.

[north woods gal]

Sounds like fun, Crankin. I do miss some of those activities the big cities offer. I did ride into town, yesterday and there was a motorcycle rally and meet going, complete with stands selling hamburgers. That's more our speed, up here.

Did 12 miles of laps on my trails, today, first half with my old Pugsley and the last half with the Log Lady. Pretty pooped out when I was done, but the two bikes were an interesting contrast, of course. The old Pugs is no racehorse, but you just can't beat those wide tires for smoothing out the trail and rolling over anything in their path. No need to do any fancy darting or dodging. Just plow right on through. As for the Log Lady, after riding the Pugs, it was like going from a pickup truck to a Porche.

[emily_in_nc]

nwg, there are a lot of online shops that sell custom decals. For awhile, a lot of folks in our bike club in NC were getting decals with their names on them, so I did the same when I built a lovely Aegis Swift with bronzy-gold decals. I matched the color as close as I could on an online shop and added my name to the frame. Can't remember the online shop, as this was back in 2004, but they did a great job with the decal!

Crankin, your ride (including campus and bike path) sounded really fun. Just the kind of ride I would like. I like variety during a ride rather than just a long road ahead, where the environment is the same the entire way. Keeps my senses clicking.

We finally got a ride in yesterday (first in nearly a week after traveling and have been visiting my mother and step-dad). This was in my mother's and adjacent neighborhoods. She lives in the foothills of the Appalachians, so it's quite hilly, though there is one road connecting a couple of the neighborhoods that is flat, a welcome break. No shoulders, but at least the speed limit is only 25-35 mph, and it doesn't get much traffic. The neighborhoods are hillier but get little traffic on Sunday mornings. It was hot, humid, and sunny, so I only put in 18 miles, about half my Florida normal. With the hills and riding my Bike Friday, which is slower than my Trek, I still got a great workout. Glad to get out there, even though conditions are never ideal in this area for riding.

[north woods gal]

Good for you, Emily. As they say, where there's a will, there's a way. Can't always find a place that is bike, friendly.

When I lived in the Chicago area, my suburb was NOT bike friendly, other than a couple of short paved bike trails in a couple local parks and, of course, those had to be shared with people walking. No bike lanes in town, not a one, or even bike routes for dealing with traffic. Bicyclists were totally on their own for dealing with traffic. While it was technically illegal to ride on sidewalks, the cops actually encouraged me to do just that on some sections of roads for my own safety. These were road stretches where several bicyclists had been killed. Did get to do some mountain biking in the nearby Forest Preserve on gravel trails, but those same cops and some locals also warned me to be ever vigilant. Those were known hangouts for drug dealers (and, yes, I saw these people). Worse yet, more than one gal hiking or jogging on the trails while I was there disappeared without a trace. Pretty darn spooky. Still,those were some great bicycle years for me. Will never forget them.

[Crankin]

We've had beautiful weather, but today is cloudy, humid, and breezy, although not too hot. It's supposed to rain a bit this afternoon.
I rode to the gym Monday and did my class, which apparently set my recovery back, as I was really not feeling well for the whole day at work. Kind of sucked, since I had 8 clients until 7pm, as I am going away tomorrow. But, a night of sleep helped and yesterday I finally felt much better. Still not 100%, though, so I went out for a little ride of 13 miles this morning. At mile 5 I thought I was sweating a lot, but it was actually raindrops I was seeing. Along with that, there were a few nasty wind gusts. I started thinking that every time I am on the road I was on, going in this direction, it has been either sprinkling or foggy and I've had to shorten my ride. So, at that point I made my decision and was fine with it. The sprinkles were intermittent, but the head/crosswind was not, so I was surprised that my average was as good as it was, and not at "touring" pace. Not high, but about average for me when I am not really pushing it. In addition to the wind, there's one short, but steeper hill right before the final 3 miles home, which is flat.
Glad I went, but vacation for 3 days will give me enforced rest from the bike, although we may rent bikes and ride along the Chicago River. Hope to ride a lot next week on Wed, Thurs, and Fri, as we will have our granddaughter for the full weekend next weekend. I wish we had a bike trailer, but DH doesn't want to invest in one, and would rather wait until she can ride a tagalong or on her own bike. I will be able to do a shorter ride on my own, one of the days, but we most likely will hike with her in the carrier one of the days.
We get home at midnight Saturday, so I also hope to ride early Sunday, before Father's Day festivities. It's supposed to be 90.

[north woods gal]

I hate to add gloom to anyone's day - we all have enough in the way of negative news, these days - but I need to report that I had a major bike accident., yesterday, that will cancel all my bike riding for at least the next six to eight weeks or most of the summer.

I was riding the Log Lady, late yesterday, and lined up to climb over a large three foot high bolder that I had climbed over 100s of times. I remember getting the right line and the right speed and I remember climbing it. That's the last thing I remember until I found myself on the other side, me laying on my side, looking up in the air. Just laying there and gasping in pain. I did the proper inventory of the body parts before getting up. All seemed in tact. When I got up, though, my neck and adjacent shoulder area were screaming with pain. Fortunately, this took place on a section of trail only 30 yards from the house. Wheeled the bike inside the house and my husband and I were both shocked to learn that the left side on my face was torn and battered with two huge goose eggs growing fast. Tried to rest a bit, but the pain in my neck made it impossible. Off to the hospital emergency room we went.

After a long and very painful night in the trauma surgery unit at our local hospital, I was diagnosed as having a broken ring around my top cervical vertebra. In other words, I broke my neck. No paralysis, fortunately. but the potential is there if I have another accident will the mends. The specialist decided that surgery was not an option, so that means I would be wearing a neck brace for the next six to eight weeks with severe restrictions on physical activity. Absolutely NO bicycle riding of ay kind. The only thing I'll be doing, this summer, is walking. That is allowed.

I have only myself to blame and don't deserve any sympathy. I knew the risks of this kind of riding. Just that I rolled the dice and lost on this one. I feel a bit vindicated, though. The reason I built trails on our property was for just such a scenario. Had the crash occurred back, miles from any road, in some of the places I used to mountain bike, I might still be there.

When I do hop back in the saddle, there will be changes. No trick stuff or stunt stuff like rolling over big boulders. No kamikaze rides down long hills at "breakneck" speed. There will be more road biking and more conservative trail riding. And I will still post, here, to keep in touch with all my friends, here, when the pain allows.