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| Sunday morning, 11:00 45 degrees it rained earlier this morning |
Awesome! Back to booties and tights, under wear, over wear, layered gloves, skullcap, talismanic scarab broach (perhaps), it's cold and vaguely raw, like early March. Except it's the end of April. It should be warmer. The capricious wiles of New England. Allez!
Some more bad news. I'm experiencing A LOT of lower back & hip pain, right side. The same old irritated places, except magnified. Really uncomfortable. As soon as I got on the road bike two rides ago I found myself having to stretch forward to grip the handlebars. Over distance, this proved to be exacerbating. Or so I now conclude after road ride # 3. My fucking parts hurt! First time in a long time.
So today, thinking that I should RAISE the seat (as I had with the Crux), I upped it a half inch and set out. Felt great. For a while. Eventually I noticed that my quads and calves didn't seem to be exerting too much energy or having much impact in the pedaling. The pull and push centered in the hip and pelvis, the lower back. And while one side (the left) could handle it, the other side, the ever cranky right, rebelled. I rode on.
Eventually, in the center of Harvard some twenty miles into the ride, I stopped and lowered the seat. D'oh. That seemed better. But was it? By now the whole muscle band was irritated. I improvised riding positions that offered temporary relief. I relished the chance to stand up and power up hills. Stamina-wise, I felt great, ready to do some mileage. Ah well.
I was going for the high note. The extrapolated breath of Oneness that your body offers up into the void of our imaginary selves. Praise to the enthusiastic embrace of What Come Next!
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| What Comes Next |
Then, riding out of Bolton toward Harvard, I passed the giant sycamore tree that's grown there by the roadside for ... 150 years? 200 years? A massive testimony to gentle perseverance.
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| Sycamore Looming |
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| Trunk of the venerable giant |
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| I Shad and the limbs of history |
Rainy mist at one point, some westerly wind, billowy gray & white ghost skies. A quilt of muted hubris.
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| Flirting with the void of reason |
Ride Summary: 35 miles (56 K), 14.9 mph, two hours twenty minutes. Felt great except for the nagging right-side freak out.
Road Kill: Bad day for small mammals. A red squirrel, a chipmunk, and a gray squirrel (not photographed).
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| Red Squirrel |
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| Chipmunk |
Hmmm ... your pains are tough to read from here. Right side, lower back and hip ...You've been putting some über-mileage on those muscles, seems to me that your rides are longer now that the weather is better. 50+ km two or three times a week? Have you been taking enough saunas? Can you get one anywhere nearby? My brother built one at his summer cottage in MN, and though relatively small (we filled it with 3 adults and 2 kids) it works. Costs I believe a couple k if you do it yourself, which I would not do. Maybe it's the switch to the roadbike. Are the frames identical? Or does the roadbike have longer/shorter tubes somewhere? It took me some time to get through mid-ride backaches, especially nagging during climbs. As I got fitter they became less of an issue and I believe the new bike plus better fitness solved them. I can't recall any back or hip trouble while climbing Ventoux. Will have to see how the leg reacts when I start riding and climbing. Was hoping to get out on May 1 but the weather report is discouraging: around 20 C and rain squals. Maybe your pains are weather related? We are not young and the damp chill may get to us. S. Maximus
ReplyDeleteMy problem, I believe, stems from switching from the Crux Elite cyclocross bike to the Allez Comp road bike. I could tell right away that I had to lean further forward to grip the bars where I generally grip them, and that slight difference has done some damage. It's the same sort of IT band and lower, almost pelvic back area pain I get when bend over a lot like when gardening for too long. I don't DO bend over very well, I guess.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, no saunas. No pools. I'm going to look into re-positioning my handlebars slightly and I've already made a seat adjustment. Tonight I stretched for a long time and am going to slather the painful areas with Tiger Balm. Tomorrow I'll see how I feel.
Great to see you in Paris! Loved those training camp posts. "Training Camp" indeed. If the men of Team Shad get wind of what goes on over there, they'll quickly morph from shad fry to scrod fodder. You'll have more fins than you know what to do with.
Bogged down at ride #33 here. Same stuff for I Word. Hip pain, groin pain and not a lot of power. The weather is depressing. I-Cod must sleep-I and find jah inspiration on the light of day. Training camp en Paris ? Sacre Blu, sign me up.
ReplyDeleteI-Cod-Word.