It's August! Riding through the heat.

[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.

[rebeccaC]

So glad you're able to ride again, and that you're letting discomfort guide how long you should ride while rebuilding.

+1 i can't find better words than those

He gets pretty cranky when he can't ride, so I wasn't looking forward to that! Riding keeps him sane.

[north woods gal]

Sheila, you're right to take it slow in that kind of heat and humidity. You'll get there, though. That, and fall is just around the corner, right?

Had a big day, today. I broke 20 miles of pavement in a single ride for the first time since my accident. Did 21.4 miles, to be exact and did it on the Gunnar single speed, to boot. Even included two of what I call my "killer leg burner hills" to make it challenging. My average speed was pathetic, but this was more about being able to go the distance than performance. Real confidence booster for me. Much needed.

My neck did okay. A bit stiff and just a twinge or soreness towards the end, but doable. One thing that helped was tweaking both single speeds, this week, to put me in a more upright riding position for riding on pavement. Just a matter of going to shorter stems, adjusting seat and handlebar positions. Have also noticed how sitting more upright allows me to turn my neck much easier and that's a big plus for safety. Really liking these single speed MTBs with their 2.25" wide tires as my road road bikes. Very practical in my area for that use. We get a lot of sand and gravel washing over our roads when it rains and the wide tires are a plus for safety. Also noticed some recent logging activity along the route, this morning, so the wider tires also let me bail out and ride the shoulder when I hear a log truck coming up from behind. And, of course, standard MTBs like these make great gravel road bikes and I love riding gravel.

Been a good couple of days for wildlife spotting, too. Came around a curve and surprised two hen turkey and their young ones, yesterday. Today, stopped and helped two small turtles cross the road. Lots of deer, as always.