My Most Recent Ride 2014 (Part VII in a series)

WOW!!! What a difference a couple of days make!!!

Three days ago I rode my last ride on the Florida beach. Today I am back in Knoxville. Though the weather is about the same temperature (65 degrees) my hills and trees are back. It was fun riding in Florida, but boy I am glad to be back riding in East Tennessee in fall!!

15.8 miles

 

First ride since the weekend before the 'incident'.

Oh, the joys of a recumbent. The reclined position put everything near heart level so I felt almost normal. The slower pace was because of caution rather than a physical need. It was harder work to get ready than actually riding. That includes the few short, brief climbs.

5.5 miles. Loke was a furry freight engine and helped too. He was thrilled to be out and running again. The 10 days without running hasn't seemed to impact is arthritis which I was starting to worry about.

A good day!

Terii

 

Went for a short ride today. It was a hard slog. My hip was bugging me, the muscles in the upper thigh area felt exhausted as if the left leg had done a century all by itself though the right leg felt fine. It ached even just flexing when I tried letting my right leg do all the work.

I gritted my teeth to push out 4.3 miles instead of calling it off at 2 or less.

Terii

 

Way to go Terii!!!

I just had eye surgery and will have another in 2 weeks. I won't be on my bent for at least a month! So put in a mile for me!!!

 

Errrk! Hope the surgery goes okay and you get back on the wheels!

Still trying to hobble around as much as I can. Had planned to ride today, but between the rain and lacking the car threw a wrench in that idea.

Technically, it's still summer in this part of Sweden. Not even autumn. Colder in Mississippi. Oh for snow! Can ride in it without getting drenched. It transforms the same boring scenery into a glistening white wonderland. *wistful sigh*

Terii

 

Glad to hear you are back on the Trike again Terii , but hoped you would keep having gentle easy rides for some time.
Sorry to hear that Jon is not able to ride due to surgery - hope it all heals Very Quickly.

My 5 hrs sleep before a hard ride to work, doing overtime and riding quickly home has left me Exhausted.
Was my first time heading out at 3am and the distinct lack of motor vehicles was Great.

 

Thanks Glen!

And I have to agree about getting out in the early hours before traffic. I adore Swedish summers for that! 3:30 am, SUN creeping up over the horizon, birds singing and not another human to be seen. Been ages since I've actually done that though. Not sure why.

This was another 'first' ride as in the first one since my second time to get out of the hospital. I hate feeling so anxious about having another episode, potentially worse) while I'm out riding, but hiding in the apartment while my muscles turn to pudding won't help.

So, out the door we went into gray skies and calm winds. Loke was thrilled to bits. The Garmin read 12 C (53 F) to start, which was just lingering warmth from the garage. After about 10 seconds of rolling it had already dropped to 6 C (42 F). It continued to read increasingly colder as we went. It was still showing a smidge above freezing when I found a small puddle.... frozen! The first one since I can't remember thanks to last winter being silly warm as well.

Finally, the temperature reading on the GPS bottomed out around -2.8 C (27 F). That confirmed my first below freezing ride of the year... maybe 2 years!

Oh! During the ride, the clouds started clearing away, leaving a huge swathe of blue from the south-east horizon to overhead. The blue continued to move to the west, but the sun was running to stay hidden behind the retreating gray. Maybe it's a good thing, given what's happened the last two times the sun has emerged.

It was a hard ride though. A combination of fitness loss thanks to the recent health scares and fighting the thermals. It was like trying to cycle with resistance bands. The muscles around my hips are very unhappy with me at the moment. The last half-mile of the 4.4 mile loop was especially hard, but I made it and will try to get out again in the next day or two.

Terii

 

And out again!

Just the same 4.4 mile loop as last time. It was a tiny bit warmer than last ride. About 31-32 F in the area close to the garage. Today firmly confirmed what my sense of feel has been telling me for years. About half a mile out from the apartment, things get colder. 2-3 degrees colder so there was still ice firmly on the puddles and about 29-30 F. Maybe even more further out into the countryside. Love seeing temperature fluctuations on my Garmin!

The ride wasn't as hard this time with the thermals. Not pleasant for the last half mile and I stopped to get up and walk a little to work out the muscle burn around my hip. It buoyed my spirits that I seem to have a little improvement already.

Also took a short video with my phone, showing Loke trotting along with a stick in his jaws. He carried that thing for more than a mile and a half. Silly boy.

Terii

 

Loke and the stick - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeJBjKqTBrI

Terii

 

Boy, Loke didn't want to let go of that stick did he!!!

 

Nope! He does that every now and again. Once he actually picked up a pine branch. Probably weighed about 12 LBS, 6 feet long with all the needles still bright green and nearly big enough to hide behind. He dragged that for almost 2 miles, looking so very proud of himself. He was much younger, about 3 years old.

I couldn't stop laughing. The startled looks of passers-by only added to it.

Terii

 

I've been having a big problem with muscle fatigue since starting treatment for hypertension. Sitting still, I feel fine. Once I start walking or the like, the muscle burn starts in. Just hanging 4 shirts to dry felt like I'd been lifting kettle bells over my head for hours. A quarter mile walk leaves my legs feeling like I attempted a 20 mile hike over rough ground.

It's been the same with my riding too. It leaves me very reluctant to go out.

This morning though, I felt pretty good when I woke up. Not perfect, but not so bad that just rubbing my eyes made my arms and shoulders ache. So, I started dragging on the layers at around 10 am as I'd promised myself, Jens and Loke that I'd take the furry for a run today. The infrequency of them is driving Loke crazy to the point that he's committed little acts of destruction like chewing an expensive bar of soap we received as a gift.

By the time Jens was driving me to the garage, the day was looking distinctively less gloomy. It seemed almost bright once I clipped in. Had a bit of a rough start the first 3 yards. I'd clipped Loke to the leash that goes from my seat to his collar, but not the one from the bar to his harness. He got excited and with the extra slack, he ended up forward of the wheel and too close. I pinched his foot under the tire. I was terrified I'd broken one of his toes, but after 5 seconds or so, he was stomping his feet at me to get going.

I'd told Jens there was a possibility I'd just pick a direction and ride or I'd just do the River Loop again. It fell in between. As I started, I did end up in a sort of conflict with my body. Things ached, cramped and just down-right hurt though not in the ways I expected. The muscles in feet for some bizarre reason kept cramping in ways that made absolutely no sense for one thing. After a bit of fiddling, it all seemed to come to how I was sitting. It was like if I shifted even a fraction of an inch from 'optimal', my body went to pieces.

It took me a few miles to work that out. Good thing I had incentive! 15 minutes Into The Ride, the skies were clear and the low, December sun made an appearance between and around trees and buildings. Full sunshine and I wasn't in a hospital! The temperature was roughly at 32 F with a degree to either side depending on if I was in shadows or sun.

I still didn't have much confidence in making a ride to Storveta (random little village about 8 miles from home). That combined with the fact that the cycle path to it can be difficult to access by car and lacks places for pick up, I chickened out as I came up to the burial mounds. I turned off there and thanks to the sunlight and clear heavens, I gritted my teeth and pushed on, deciding to make it back on my own. The discomfort was manageable by then. Arrived back at the garage with 7.03 miles. Best distance since the last hospital visit!

A definite improvement and I hope I can push onward! I've got a smile and sense of accomplishment!

Terii

 

you most likely need to eat bananas they will replace the potassium you are losing with your hypertension medicine it is something to ask your doctor.

 

GREAT Thread Folks.....enjoyed it.....

 

Solo today

David,

It's not over yet. Put in about 15 miles today riding an electric Goldrush.
All my fair-weather friends let me ride alone. Just me and my bike. Stopped
by the Greene County animal shelter and walked a 6 month old black
border collie mix. I'd love to have that dog, but My very own bought and
paid for wife informed me there would be no more dogs in our future. So
will go get another recumbent bike.

I'm getting into electric bikes. Rode these TN hills with much disdain and
at times, had knee pain. For those who have contempt for assisted rides,
get over it. I did.