Ride # 65: Mile By Mile

Elm St, the gateway to the Princeton Hills
Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Here's the chronology on the return to cycling. Last Thursday I rode for the first time since June 19, 41 days off the bike. The day after that ride, Friday afternoon actually, the knee began to get sore. By that night I was hobbling around again and I was convinced that I had precipitated another episode of whatever it is I've been dealing with. If I woke up drastically worse, I told myself, that would be it, I would shut down the season and get off the bike for the foreseeable future.

I woke Saturday feeling really good, no residual soreness just a little stiffness and that feeling that "it's not exactly right but it doesn't seem completely messed up." So there was hope!

Today was the second test.

Hot, upper 80s. Humid. Booming sun. I loved it. I was instantly moist. Tentative, yes, but slightly more confident than last week. I had a protein shake this morning, part of my focus on re-building some goddamn muscle on this sinewy frame. Fuck. I'm weak as a fucking teenager, it's appalling. But that's the next six month focus. Right now, it's mile by mile, up hills and down.

So how'd it go? Great! Felt weak but full of energy, plenty of stamina. I almost had a go at The Mountain but at the juncture where I had to make that decision, I thought better of it. Stupid to push it on ride # 2 of the recovery period. If I feel okay tomorrow - and that is the crucial IF - then I'll ride Saturday and go for the summit.

Unless I can summit Wachusett I can't see even trying the D2R2. In fact, summitting Wachusett would mean only that I can climb and complete a 28 mile ride. The D2R2 is 180K, that's 107 miles give or take. It seems unlikely I'll be fit and able to take it on ... but I haven't given up hope yet. We'll see how the weekend goes.

I'm actually wondering if I need to be re-fitted for the road bike. In fact, it's been six years since I bought the bike and I'm pretty sure I've shrunk some in that time, maybe as much as a half an inch. If that's the case, the frame could be off. My problems could stem from a bad fit on the bike, the wrong frame size, a poor adjustment of the seat. Perhaps I'm simply riding in the wrong configuration and overtaxing certain muscles, tendons, and ligaments.

The height of summer

Ride Stats: 19.57 miles (31 K), 13.7 mph, almost a 90 minute ride. Plenty of climbing for a short ride. Strava Details.

Road Kill: One large milk snake, though it might have died yesterday. I didn't photograph it.