It's August! Riding through the heat.

[north woods gal]

Emily, not remembering anything about the impact happened to me on my crash and from talking to others that have had crashes of various types, blacking out on the actual details of the impact is not unusual. On my crash, I remember riding up the boulder as I had done a 100 times, but then it's all a mental blank until I found my self laying on my back, looking up at the sky. Can't remember a single detail about the impact and, honestly, that's fine with me, because it must have been horrific. Pretty sure I must have passed out for a time, but, like I said, still don't know what actually happened.

Crankin, I think you'll like a bike with those wider 37mm or so tires. That kind of gravel bike can be very useful, not to mention comfortable;e to ride.

Spent the last 4 days at a resort in Brainerd, Mn., for a family reunion. There was a very nice 10 mile long paved bike trail next to the entrance. The resort entrance, though, is situated at the top of a mile long or so hill. That meant that going right or left from the resort took me into a long and steep up and down, but overall, downhill run. There were also several even steeper drops to small lakes on the side of the trail.

I averaged 10 miles a day, but those 10 miles were a real workout because I took my Gunnar single speed. Lots and lots of steep climbs with very little in the way of level sections. On a course like that with a single speed there is no loafing. It's either sprint or walk. I should have taken the other single speed, my Log Lady, because it's geared lower and has smaller wheels, which help with climbing, but I did fine with the Gunnar, though it was right at my limit. Hubby tried riding this trail on his fat bike, but didn't last too long on the climbs, so we rode around the resort for our daily together ride.

Back home, this afternoon, to ride my trails with the fat bike. Ughh! I do not like the way my head bounces around riding my single track. My neck does not like it, yet. Still uncomfortable. Beginning to worry about the wear and tear on my body with all that pounding. I am at the age where stuff like a detached retina is a real possibility. No problem riding gravel, but the gnarly, rooty single track that I have is NOT comfy for me to ride, right now. Just when I thought I was back in shape for trail riding, again. Beginning to wonder if I should abandon it for good. I've already paid a stiff price for doing it.

[Crankin]

Here is my new addition. It's still an incomplete build, no pedals, rack, bag, or mounts for my lights and GPS. But, we finally have them all chosen or ordered.
Not a great shot, as it's in it's natural habitat, in the basement!

[emily_in_nc]

Crankin, congratulations on the new bike. I think you'll enjoy that addition to your stable! Different bikes for different things, I've always thought. Also, thanks for your comments on our friend. He did get checked out medically, and I've chatted with him several times -- he seems just fine mentally. He's just walking now and allowing his wounds to heal. He is an avid swimmer and says he misses that most -- he can't go in the water now with open wounds. I didn't know this originally, but he had to get five staples in his head! He doesn't seem to be in any hurry to get back on the bike. I told him to buy a new helmet before he does! Amazingly, he said his helmet didn't crack, but if he hit his head hard enough for his helmet to bust open his skin underneath, it is not safe to wear. I hope he takes my advice. He is a bit eccentric!

nwg, I would stay off your single-track trails for awhile longer. You are just barely cleared to ride, and that is intense riding, much more than riding on pavement or gravel. Please take care of yourself and don't take that kind of risk with your still-healing body! It's not like you don't have other options for riding, after all. Would hate to see you re-injured in any way.

Also, I told our friend about your crash and losing consciousness, since I remembered that you had. He is concerned by it, but I think it's pretty normal. Even when I broke my jaw, I remember realizing I was going over the handlebars, and the next thing I remember is sitting up in the road bleeding and realizing that I'd injured myself rather badly. So I figure that I probably lost consciousness for a couple of seconds, just enough to protect me from the moment of impact. Nice of our brains to do that, right? In contrast, when I went down on my side breaking my pelvis, many years ago, I do remember the moment of impact -- perhaps because my head was not involved. However, it didn't "hurt" until minutes later, due to that initial rush of adrenaline your body puts out in that kind of situation.

I had planned on doing another short solo ride today, but I had an orthodontist appointment yesterday where he added two new elastics, so I am up to four total, full-time (except when eating). The new ones gave me a bad headache last night, and I couldn't get comfortable to sleep so got very little sleep last night. As a result, I wouldn't trust myself to ride right now. I am still achy. Gonna take some Tylenol and do a couple errands instead. Yesterday I worked out in the gym, and the day before, DH and I walked downtown and did parking garage stair-climbing! That's a good workout too! I should be much better tomorrow, hopefully, and will plan to ride then. I'm still hopping on the cruiser bike to cruise around the RV park (to the laundry room, office, dumpster, pool, gym, etc.), but longer rides have been few and far between since DH crashed. Fortunately, he's doing better every day and may even ride with me tomorrow!

[north woods gal]

Love the bike, Crankin. That's my idea of a great do it ali utility bike, especially once you get it set up with racks and bags. I've used similar bikes in the past for such a bike. Once had a Trek 7700 that was very similar. That bike, at one time, was my only bike, but it never let me, down. Bet you'll be riding your Specialized a lot.

Emily, sorry to hear about the hassles with the orthodontics issue, but you are so right about not riding until you feel good. One challenge at a time, I always say. As for the blacking out on a crash, yeah, from what I've read it's pretty common. Probably the mind's way of coping to a traumatic injury or something. For darn sure, I wouldn't want to keep reliving my crash over and over in my mind.

I'm going to let what feels good be my guide as to what kind of riding and how much I do, for awhile. I'm more the type to set a goal and push my self, silly, to get there, but I did reach my goal as to my mountain biking expertise, prior to my accident, so I can now relax and just enjoy the rides, whatever form they may take. I'm especially enjoying the single speed workouts on the roads, now. Gets me the same level of workout in a shorter amount of time than riding my geared bikes.

[emily_in_nc]

So, DH rode today! He's been riding around on his cruiser bike, just little short rides, in the past few days, but this was his first ride on his roadie since his crash last Monday, nine days ago. I was so happy that he felt comfortable enough to head out. He still has a large band-aid on his left elbow and side of his knee, but none were in a place that bothers to ride.

We did our usual route but cut it a little short because of the layoff, and because he was using Eggbeaters pedals (from his MTB) and Keen sandals (that uses on his Bike Friday), since his Speedplay Zero cleat failure was what caused the crash. He threw out those ancient Sidi shoes after the crash, thank goodness. It was long overdue!

Got in 28 miles on a hot and sunny morning. We've had a brief dry period here in central Florida, after a very rainy July. I actually miss our afternoon/evening rains, as they cooled things off so much, and meant I didn't have to water my potted plants every single day. Ready for those to return, but this hot and sunny period is better than a hurricane!

[north woods gal]

Good for him, Emily. You and I both know what a big step it is to ride, again, after an accident. 28 miles for me, right now, though, would be a very long ride. Impressive, especially with that Florida heat.

Been averaging between 10 and 15 miles a day, now, with a mix of trail and pavement riding, but mostly pavement. My neck is doing okay, but long rides of over an hour tend to make it a bit sore, so gradually working my way into longer rides. It's not just my neck, really, it's also my shoulder area muscles around the base of my neck that need to build back up.

Been getting to know my single speed Log Lady a bit better. Really enjoying it for these hour long rides. Have tuned it to put me in a good upright position for pedaling out on the road and have gone with XC MTB racing tires with very low rolling resistance to make it easy to pedal. It's also geared low for trail work, though I'm not using it on the trails, now. Just using it as a hilly country pavement/gravel road bike. (Not going to use any bike, now, with less than 3" wide tires for trail riding, as per my resolution.) Without going all techno geeky about gearing and gear inches, I'll just tell you that when pedaling on flat and level pavement, the Log Lady maintains a measly 10 mph before I start to overspin. Definitely not a bike to pigeon the road miles. That's okay, though, because when I start to climb, I forgive it. The 27.5" tires and low gearing makes this little single speed climb like a monkey. It's a hoot! It's also a great bike for casual outings or just noodling around the neighborhood. (By contrast, my 29er Gunnar single speed is geared to maintain a very useable 13 mph on the flats, but, of course, I have to do a LOT more standing to pedal up our hills.)

As for my trail riding, I've discovered that dropping the tire pressure low on the fat bikes to my normal snow riding pressures makes them just comfortable enough for my neck to manage some trail riding if I stay on the smooth sections. I normally run the tire pressures up for summer riding to gain speed and agility, but I'm not concerned with those things, right now. Just being able to ride trails at all, even for a short ride, is progress.

[emily_in_nc]

As you say, nwg, you're riding different kinds of bikes on different sources (and with many more hills!) than we are. A 28-mile ride for me on a good day is just around two hours, with only gentle climbs. DH did 30 miles in the same time (while I took a break in the middle), so really not that long a ride on road bikes. We had a great tailwind on the way out so were able to maintain a pretty brisk pace. Coming back with a headwind (not too strong but noticeable) was a bit slower, but still faster than on your fatties.

So glad you're able to ride again, and that you're letting discomfort guide how long you should ride while rebuilding. My DH's crash was much less serious than yours, and he has healed up really fast. I'm so relieved about that as I'd initially thought he might be out of commission for weeks. He gets pretty cranky when he can't ride, so I wasn't looking forward to that! Riding keeps him sane.