July rides

[north woods gal]

Emily, I am so sorry to hear about his accident. Of all the things to cause an accident! Bad enough when we make a mistake, but an equipment failure like that is just not something we can predict. I am so happy to hear that it wasn't worse, though. Not that those road burns aren't bad -they really are nasty - but at least nothing was broken. Give him our best.

I finally got the last of my bikes dusted off, tuned, and given a ride after collecting dust for six weeks while I recovered. 15 miles, today, and four were trail miles. I am getting my karma back for trail riding, but it's heavily tempered with safety in mind. My neck is still a bit weak, so I've been very careful to stand when I go over rough patches as to not have my head bounce around. Chalk one up for the fat bikes in that regard. Those big tires really help to smooth out the ride compared to regular mountain bikes. Yesterday, my DH moved obstacles off the trail for me, such as logs and boulders, that I had placed there to ride over. Also removed some nasty roots. Keeping both wheels firmly planted on the ground from now on. Don't want anything do with the stunt stuff.

[emily_in_nc]

Thanks, gals. He is actually doing much better today! He actually got some sleep last night, and we changed his bandages this morning. Two of the wounds are a bit worse than the other two, but both looked better than yesterday. I think they'll heal up just fine. He's sore, of course, but he has a very hard time just sitting around (ever), so he actually walked with me across the road to Publix just now. We walked slower than usual, and he did fine! I carried the heavy bag, and gave him the light one to carry back. I had already done a longer walk to the bank and tortilleria, so I got some good exercise, and tomorrow I'll go to the gym.

Crankin, so sorry about the injury. That sounds painful! I am not sure I can imagine catching a 10 lb. ball. I only work with 5- and 8-lb dumbbells at the gym as it is!

nwg, very glad your DH removed the stunt stuff from your trails. Sounds like you are doing everything right. Really glad you are back on your bikes and know you are verrry happy.

[Crankin]

Thanks, Emily. It's a little better today, not as painful. There's just a small red abrasion, and below it a reddish bruise, which is a bit swollen, but it's small. I had to choose carefully when picking out a shirt to wear today, as it's fairly high up, and I didn't want any comments! Occasionally the ribs on either side feel sore, but it has really decreased.
The weighted ball is smaller in circumference, so it's a bit of a shock when you catch it, and it's heavy. I was trying to be careful, as my instructor is 9 months pregnant... due in 3 weeks and barely modifying anything. She wins the prize, even I was not doing burpees in my 9th month, though, close. We don't usually use it, as there's only one, and we took it out of the main gym, into the room for classes, since there were only 3 of us.
I usually use 10 lb weights for my "heavy" weights and 5 lbs for light. Sometimes, I need to go down to the 8 lb weights for shoulder presses, as we usually do one minute of each thing, for several rounds. I still want to build my upper body, as I feel weaker than I should be. But, I guess I need to put it in perspective. My neighbor could barely lift her bike onto her bike rack and it was painful to watch her attempt it.
The rain is going to hold off until noon, so I think I can get out tomorrow. We are making dinner reservations for our trip to Canada starting next Wednesday. Can't believe it's finally here.

[north woods gal]

Hope you heal, quick Crankin. I only have the faintest tinge of back and blue in one small spot, now, after my accident. Seems like bruises take forever to clear up, though.

All single speed work for me, yesterday and this morning. Did 11 miles, yesterday morning, on the Gunnar, to start. That took a lot out of me. It was right at my limit of what I can handle on a single speed, right now, but I loved it. I really, really enjoy single speeding, all the more when it's single speeding with such a wonderful bike.

Did some errands and stopped by the bike store to pick up my other single speed, my Log Lady. Had heavy lugged trail tires on it, originally, but that really made for hard pedaling. Had the guys go tubeless for me with some much smoother 27.5x2.5" XC tires. How smoothly and easily tires roll makes a huge difference with a single speed. The Log Lady is much more pleasant to pedal now. Did a combo ride of pavement and trail for a total of 4 miles, last night, making it 15 miles on the day, all single speed.

Hit the pavement, again, first thing this morning on the Log Lady to beat an approaching front of heavy thunderstorms. Got 6 miles of laps done around the neighborhood before the rain hit, so over 20 miles of single speeding in 24 hours. I am very pleased, given that single speeding is more of a workout and it took me a few weeks to get into single speed shape, even before my accident when I was in good MTB shape.

Our neighborhood is actually ideal for single speed riding. One lap is 2.5 miles and it is all gently rolling hills, so just enough of a challenge to make the ride interesting, but not so steep as to make it grueling. Then, too, almost nothing for traffic, plus we know all our neighbors along the route, so that's fun, too.

Yes, I did ride the Log Lady with those skinny tires on some parts of my trails. I originally got the bike for trail riding and geared it for that kind of riding. I only ride it on the more level, straight, wide and all dirt sections, though. I won't ride it on sections with climbs steep enough to make me stand on the pedals or on the techy sections. Pretty much like riding a dirt trail through your local park, in other words, so I feel safe riding it on these sections. Being lower geared than the Gunnar also makes the Log Lady a nice option for pavement riding when I'm a feeling a bit lazy.

Heading to Brainerd, Mn, tomorrow for a family reunion over the weekend. Will be taking the Gunnar and hubby will be taking his trusty fat bike. The trails in the area are almost all paved (a lot of trails in Minnesota are, compared to our area), so the Gunnar should do just fine.

There are no words to describe how wonderful it feels for me to be riding like this, again. A piece of me that was missing for six weeks is now back in place.