I’m still around but healing
I tell you, the crash in Ride 23 has just ruined my ability to exercise. My shoulder is fine now. It was sore for a few days but is 100% good to go now. My knee is whats causing all my problems. I believe when I hit the sidewalk I bruised my knee pretty bad. It’s till tender around the edges and one of the scarpes I have is just below the knee cap. It hurts everytime I bend or move it. I’ve started icing the whole area twice a day and that seems to be doing some good. I do believe it’s getting better each day but it’s taking longer than I expected. It’s killing me to not be able to ride. This just sucks.
In the meantime, I’ve been making a huge push with my mortgage acceleration business. I sent out a bunch of marketing packages earlier this week to local realtors and will follow up today with phone calls. If you haven’t heard of this program, I invite you to check it out. I can show you how to own your home free and clear in one-half to one-third the time and potentially save tens of thousands in interest. All this without refinancing, without changing your monthly mortgage payment, and without adjusting your current living lifestyle. To find out if this program is right for you, and to see if you qualify, is free. Contact me if you want to know more.
Read MoreRide 23 – Crash and Burn
Well, it’s been about a week since I rode last. Not all my fault but some of it was. A business trip out of town and rain wasn’t my fault but laziness was. Because of that, I was planning on calling this post “No More Excuses.” You see, as I’m riding I’m concentrating on riding good but also letting my mind wander to different things. One of the things I think about is what to title the post for that day’s ride. Because it had been a week since I’d ridden, and because I felt bad about it, I was set to title this post No More Excuses. Before the end of the ride, though, events would cause me to change it.
My alarm went off at 5:00 AM as always for a weekday ride. I’d gotten a decent amount of sleep last night and felt ok. Maybe too much because I felt like I was in a fog for the first few minutes of the ride. After that, though, I began to come back to reality. The weather was good and there was actually a little chill in the air. That was nice considering the 90F days we’ve been having recently. It was chilly enough that I rode with my jersey zipped up. No moon in the sky so it was dark.
Starting off my legs felt….weird. They didn’t feel bad and didn’t feel great. They just kind of felt there. It was a weird feeling. They began to warm up and for the first time in a long time, I started to feel it in my quads near the end of my ride. A little discomfort in my hamstrings wasn’t uncommon but for me to feel it in my quads was new. I spent many years lifting weights and have very muscular quads that usually have no trouble doing whatever I ask of them. Maybe this is a sign that I’m making progress. Or maybe it’s a result of not riding in a week. Or maybe I’m just getting old. Not sure.
For a Wenesday there seemed to be very little traffic and until I reached my halfway point I didn’t see another rider, runner, or walker. The rider I did see was the Christmas Tree dude. He was going the opposite direction on a divided highway so I didn’t get a chance to say “Hi.” I did see some roadkill (a dead racoon) laying in the road but he had seen better days. It’s funny-yesterday, my wife had picked me up a new t-shirt that was from a place called the Roadkill Cafe here in town. The shirt is awesome. Little did I realize that both the racoon and tshirt were trying to tell me something.
I power through No Man’s Land and begin the 3 mile straightaway back home. I cruise these last few miles and with about a half mile to go I take it to the sidewalk. I take to the sidewalk because near the end of my ride there’s a big intersection and when I hit it on my return leg it’s very busy this time of the morning. Rather than mess with the traffic light and cars I hit the sidewalk and use the crosswalk. So, this morning I did the same thing. I’m riding down the sidewalk with no problems. I get to about 100 feet from the crosswalk and stop pedaling so I can just coast to the intersection. That’s when it happens. I feel a big jolt and the next thing I know I’m flying to the left and my bike is leaving the ground. I hit the ground hard and before I know it, it’s over except for the pain.
The first thing I notice is that my mouth is full of dirt. That would turn out to be a good thing. Then I notice my left leg and shoulder are hurting. I had somehow managed to get my pedals unclipped and I’m laying on the ground next to my bike which is laying half in the grass and half on the sidewalk. I remove my helmet and begin to survery the damage. It takes several seconds to get all the dirt out of my mouth. Once that’s done I look at my leg. I’ve got a huge piece of roadrash below my left knee that is just starting to seep blood. In a few seconds the blood has run from the rash to my ankle where I have a small cherry just above my sock. That’s when I see the huge knot just below my knee. This thing is huge and has a big red cherry on it. It starts to bleed. My shoulder is sore from hitting the ground. I get up and nothing feels broken. Whew! I pick up my bike, put the chain back on, and set it against a small tree just off the sidewalk. Now I try to figure out what happened. I look back up the sidewalk and I immediately see it. About every fifty feet or so on this road there’s a drain at the curb that leads to a box culvert under the sidewalk which in turn leads to drainage pipes under the sidewalk/road. At each of these curb drains there’s a small access cover on the sidewalk. In order to integrate the access cover with the sidewalk there’s a seam that curves about halfway onto the sidwalk following the contour of the access plate. At the point where I crashed there’s one of these curb drains. The seam that curves into the sidewalk looks to have a gap in it just wide enough for a bike tire to fit into. My guess is that my tire slipped into this small gap and caused me to crash. I must have hit that gap perfectly because it doesn’t look much wider than my tire. Unbelievable. Looking at the distance between where my shoulder hit the ground and the gap and it’s about ten feet. No wonder my leg looks like it got run through a meat grinder. If my recollection is correct, my tire briefly become caught in the gap and it threw me and my bike to the left. My left shoulder hit the ground first followed by my left leg dragging down the sidewalk for several feet. Maybe as far as 6-8 feet. I look where my shoulder hit and I realize just how lucky I was. My shoulder hit square in the dirt next to the sidewalk and left a huge gouge. If my shoulder had hit the sidewalk I’d most likely be suffering from a broken collarbone right now. Man I was lucky.
I get back on the bike and make it across the intersection with no problems. As I head across the crosswalk I can only imagine what the drivers are thinking as the blood is running down my leg. As I’m pedaling the last quarter mile home my left leg is starting to ache pretty good. I get home and immediately head to the shower to get everything cleaned up. The shower hurts initially but I eventually get everything clean. It looks pretty bad. I think the knot below my knee has actually gone down some. I wake up my wife to help me bandage the carnage. She sprays on an antiobiotic for cuts and scrapes. According to the can it’s not supposed to hurt. Yeah right. It was excruciating! Once the pain subsided we bandaged everything up. I’m sore but able to move around ok. What a morning! I’ll post the numbers for the ride later.
How was that for a return to riding after a week off? These last few weeks have been unbelievable. I almost wonder if somebody is trying to tell me something. I will say one thing though…No More Excuses!
Read MoreRide 21 – Back in the saddle
It’s good to be back. For those that didn’t see my other post, I had to take a week off the bike due to burning my hand pretty bad a week ago. I could hardly grip anything for a few days and the pain didn’t really go away until Sunday. I was able to get back on the bike yesterday and go for my normal weekday ride.
As usual for my weekday rides, the alarm was blaring at 5:00 am and I rolled on out. Thankfully, I had layed everything out and prepped the bike the night before. After taking a week off, everything was in disarray and getting ready the night before probably saved me 20 minutes.
Once I got the garage door open I was glad to feel a slight coolness in the air. The weather this past week has been scorching here in Jacksonville. Everyday has been in the low-to-mid 90s (32-35 C) with high humidity. I couldn’t imagine riding during those conditions during the day. There was still some humidity in the air but it wasn’t bad.
I was worried about how I would ride after taking a week off. My worries were unfounded as I seemed to pick up right where I had left off. The legs felt good and there seemed to be no “troubles down below” if you catch my meaning.
Upon reaching the first long straightaway I almost immediately saw three runners over on the sidewalk. This particular area is very popular with the runners and walkers but I rarely see more than one or two during my entire ride this early in the morning. Five minutes in and I’ve already seen three. My guess is that these may be folks that usually exercise later in the day but the heat has forced them to workout earlier. That’s fine by me. It gives me a chance to say “Goodmorning” and see other health conscious people.
As I continued on I couldn’t help but notice how dark it was. There were no clouds but no moon either. I also seemed to be hitting the streetlights as they cycled off periodically. At leat I think that’s what they’re doing. I’m going to have to ask some of the engineers/designers here at work if that’s how they are designed to operate.
As far as my riding went, everything felt really good. I was maintaining a good average speed and riding with no problems. I continued past my normal turnaround point and decided to add a little extra. I finally turned around when I did because I was running short on time. I really felt like I could have ridden much further but it was probably best to not overdue it with this my first ride in a week.
Here’s the numbers: 52 minutes, 13.33 miles, 15.4 mph avg
I want to thank everyone who continued to visit and comment on Biking To Live, even while I wasn’t posting for the last week, and for your words of encouragement as I healed from the burn. It’s very much appreciated.
Read MoreBiking to Live Week 5 Summary
This was a good week of riding. I managed to get all three of my weekday rides in as well as a longer Saturday ride. The shift to my Cannondale R-300 has dramatically helped me improve my speed.
Here are the totals for this week:
Monday: 11.52 miles, 52:26, 16.1 mph max, and 13.1 mph avg
Wednesday: 11.51 miles, 53:35, 18.2 mph max, and 12.8 mph avg (first ride on the Cannondale)
Friday: 12.17 miles, 47:05, 18.7 mph max, and 15.5 mph avg
Saturday: 25.14 miles, 1 hr 36 min, 20.8 mph max, 15.6 mph avg
Even though Wednesday way my first ride on The Crotch Rocket my average speed was still about the same due to taking it easy. I was riding with my brother-in-law who was riding a hybrid and if I hadn’t taken it slow I would have dropped him pretty quick. On Friday and Saturday though you can see a substantial increase in the average speed.
I also passed 200 miles this week since starting Biking To Live and this weeks mileage puts me at 241 miles total.
I can’t tell you how much better I feel since embarking on this journey. Not only is my biking improving but my health is too. My weight loss has been minimal (less than 5 pounds) but improvements in my blood pressure and heart rate has been dramatic. I had another doctor’s visit this week to follow up on some blood work and my resting heart rate had dropped 3 beats and my blood pressure is normal for the first time in a long time. The doc called my blood pressure perfect. I’m still taking meds for it but by the time I lose all this weight I hope to be able to come off of them. Time will tell.
As I said, my weight hasn’t changed much at all but I am seeing drastic changes in the fit of my clothes. I believe I’m burning the fat off but am replacing it with muscle with riding I’m doing. I talked with the doctor about this and he seemed to agree with me. He also said that losing 5 pounds in a month isn’t bad at all because you should be taking it off slowly (approx 1-1.5 pounds per week). If I follow the 1 pounds per week thumbrule then I’m right on track. He told me that as long as my clothes are getting bigger then I’m doing it right. He just cautioned me to watch my diet (which I am) and to start taking a multi-vitamin (which I will).
Pete over at Cycle Pig has started a new weekly series called The Weekly Oink where he summarizes some of the great content he’s found throughout the week. This week, one of the links he’s shared was a video documenting the construction of a bicycle helmet. Very fascinating. You should check it out.
Read MoreRide 18 – Wet and Wild
I slept in a little this morning and took off at about 7:30 AM for my Saturday ride. It had rained yesterday and last night so the roads were wet but not bad. I had to dodge the occasional puddle but nothing major. I went out today just trying to ride a good distance while maintaining a good speed. I wanted to try and average around 15 mph. I also had a basic idea of where I wanted to ride too.
Throughout the ride I saw a lot of folks out for their Saturday morning exercise. Bikers, runners, walkers, dogs walking their owners and so on. At one point I saw a group of about 5 women who had been running. They were gathered around one of those orange igloo water coolers getting a drink on the side of the road. Several were in the same shirt. As I continued up the road I saw another group of about 6 women; again in the same shirt. It must have been some kind of organized runners club or something like that. I continued to see several other runners.
About two miles after my usual weekday turnaround point I hit a new section of road that is pristine for bike riding. The road has only been in existence for about a year and isn’t well-traveled. It has a bike lane and rides very well. I think I was passed by one car on this section of road.
After turning around and making it about halfway back home I hear, “on your left!” I look over my shoulder and it’s a guy passing me. I’m cruising along at about 17 mph and this guy is moving pretty good. He’s riding a Colnago with aerobars and he’s tucked in. He’s probably ten years older than I am but like I said, he’s bookin’ it. A few minutes later I get passed by another guy, about my age, riding a Trek. The two guys are together it seems and I’m able to stay with them pretty good. In fact, they were rabbits for me to chase. I didn’t want to catch all the way back up to them so they wouldn’t think I was some jerk. To stay with them I really had to push it and it felt great. The both stopped as one of the guys was apparently ready to turn into his neighborhood. I passed them then but the guy on the Colnago passed me again a few minutes later and turned down a side road about a quarter mile later.
This was another super ride. It was nice to see all the folks out getting exercise and even better to see a couple of fellow road riders. It was also great to be able to really push it.
Here are the numbers for today: 25.14 miles, 1 hr 36 min, 20.8 mph max, 15.6 mph average
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