July rides

[north woods gal]

Glad you survived, Crankin. Could it be that the salad or chicken was bad? Has happened to me. That might explain it, too.

Four days to go till my follow up X ray on my neck and I'm really, really sweating it. All the worst case scenario stuff keeps floating through my head. I so desperately want to ride, again, but I know it's up to the doctors, not me. Oh,how I wish I could go back in time and get a do over, but life doesn't work that way. Time to keep the faith. In the meantime, I just keep on walking.

[Crankin]

NWG, our brains are wired to go to the worst case scenario. Even those of us who are not prone to anxiety or negative thinking often have to fight it at times. You are right, the decision is not yours, so focus on what you can do. You know that eventually, you will ride!
I don't think the food was bad, as DH ate it. He was fine. I attribute it to a combination of things, but mostly assuming I was fine to ride, since I did a fast, but shorter ride on Saturday, after feeling crappy on Friday. I did not sleep well last night, so I skipped the gym, and am heading out for a short walk, before it gets up to 90 again. Thankfully, I don't have to be at work until 10.

[emily_in_nc]

Hope you're feeling all better now, Crankin. I rarely eat anything beyond a cereal bar, poptart, or (my fave when I take the time to make them) potatoes on my 35-36 mile rides. I am afraid eating anything heavier might make my tummy rebel too, though I tend to have a strong stomach. And I drink only water because of my braces, not wanting to have anything sugary in my mouth for very long (I rinse well with water after I eat my snack). My rides are obviously easier, though, with only gentle climbs, not like what you are dealing with up there!

nwg, good luck with your doctor's appointment. I hope he will clear you to ride (fingers crossed)!

[north woods gal]

You're so right, Crankin. Sometimes I just have to tell my brain to shut up and let my heart do the thinking. By the way, I'm like Emily. I can't ride on a full stomach at all. Makes me very uncomfortable.

Thanks, Emily. Hoping for the best, but if I have to fo for another month with the neck brace, doing all my riding, indoors, it won't be the end of the world. Been through worse. I'll get past this. Besides, those darn black flies and deer flies are making my walks just plain miserable. Have to douse myself in DEET not to get bitten. I may just stick to indoor riding for awhile. Get to listen to my music, too, when riding indoors. Something I don't do out on the road for the sake of safety.

[Crankin]

I can't ride on a full stomach, either, but when it is lunch time, I have to eat. My go to is either a half or whole turkey sandwich or veggie sandwich. If I have to make my own, it's almond butter and whole wheat bread. I have a "stock" breakfast or two I eat before a long ride, too. In retrospect, I was still feeling sick from whatever viral thing rolled through my body on Friday. When I get sick, it is always the same. In the winter, it's sinus/bronchitis. In the summer, it's stomach, aches, etc, sometimes mild sinus stuff. I've come to the conclusion that my body really doesn't like hot weather or the sun or really intense exercise (funny, since I lived in 2 sunbelt states for years) and as the cycling season goes on, I usually make through some big event or tour, and then this stuff starts. It's hard to keep a good mental attitude about riding, but since it's so much a part of my lifestyle, I've been trying to just get out there, with no thought of speed or length of ride. I really enjoy riding in the spring and fall a lot more. Still, I look at others who appear way more out of shape than I, and they seem like stronger riders. Well, I keep going! I feel much better, slept well last night and rode 13.2 miles at 5:30 AM. It felt almost cool, at 64 when I started, but after 5 miles, that stopped. I did a variation of the ride I did last week, over to the other side of town, but I will have to reverse one part of the loop, where I chose to go down a small hill, instead of climb. Today the sun was so much in my eyes on the downhill, it felt unsafe. I know the cars can see my blinkies, but if I can't see ahead, neither can they.

[north woods gal]

Crankin, sometimes our bodies are such a mystery as to what's going on with them. I think your attitude to just keep riding because it is a such a part of your lifestyle is so very relevant for me, right now. I'm down to just being able to ride my trainer, for now, but even that meager excuse for riding helps me so much, right now. I used to hate riding the trainer so, but now I'm grateful to the point of tears to be able to do it at all.

My riding during this recovery has been much on my mind, of course. I've already made some resolutions as to the changes I will make when I do start riding, again, but I suspect my accident has changed my attitude in ways that I cannot yet foresee. Maybe being forced to sit out and reflect on my riding will be a good thing. Funny about what I do and what I don't miss, right now, though. I find myself daydreaming about riding out on the road - paved, gravel, sand - or on paved bike trails or rails to trails setups or even logging and fire roads. Yup, roads and more roads. Even for my snow riding, I've been daydreaming about riding around the neighborhood on our plowed roads.

For all my trail riding that I've done these past few years, though, I don't daydream about that technical riding at all. This accident may have spooked me to the point where my techy trail riding days are over. I'm okay with that. I'll just have to try it and see. Just not missing it, at this point.

My taste in bikes remains very much the same, though. These last few years have been very much an odessy of riding plus bikes and fat bikes as distance bikes on roads of all kinds. Can't wait to get on the old Pugsley, again, and just ride out and take any kind of road this country can throw my way, even to playfully riding off on the shoulders and do a little exploring. Such are my dreams, right now.

[ny biker]

Dropping in for a quick catch-up -- did a 42 mile ride on July 4. It was hot but somehow felt better than the ride a few days earlier had been, despite similar conditions. It was sort of a club ride, but not really, since a friend and I decided to start earlier at a different place, ride to the official ride start to meet folks and go with them to the first rest stop, then take some shadier short cuts and finish on a shadier road than the posted route. Our ride start was closer to the last rest stop than the official one, so we finished earlier, too. All the changes were to avoid problems with the heat, and they worked.

Since then, no rides. Instead, I am in the middle of a string of four Foo Fighters concerts -- two last weekend (Maryland and Philadelphia), then one this weekend and another next Monday, both in NY. (It's a long story, but basically I looked at the tour schedule and decided what the hell, they're always fun and I need fun.) Anyway I will be staying in NY for a while for a family visit related to parent health issues. Not bringing the bike with me, because I expect to be busy with other things. My exercise will be walks around my home town, which is actually quite scenic. And dancing for 3 hours per concert, which is actually a good leg workout.

I do have time to squeeze in a bike ride tonight... in fact I am leaving now...