On the Bike Again II

This was a successful first training weekend. As I’ve already written, I had a very nice 17 mile training ride on Friday. Saturday I road the Red Rock Dam trail, a 26 mile round trip. The ride went very well, but was a study in contrasts. I was weak, but I recovered rapidly. I needed to climb a few hills in my easiest gear, but I felt fine immediately afterward. I concluded that having already biked 2,800 miles this year does have its conditioning benefits.

I had manageable discomfort in my shoulder.

Today is very hot and humid. I believe the temperature was 94 degrees with a 110 degree heat index. I was a little stiff and sore from the last two days training rides and I didn’t want to stress my healing bones with a ride in these conditions, so I rode my resistance trainer for an hour. I rode 56 miles for the weekend. It’s a good start to regaining my strength and endurance.

My next concern is sleep. I’m trying to shift from sleeping in a recliner to sleeping in the bed. This isn’t going well. I can’t yet sleep on my right side, much less on my left side. Even on resting on my right side pulls on the distressed bones. That leaves sleeping on my back. I’m hoping an extra sleeping bag for padding, a wedge pillow to raise my head and ibuprofen will improve the problem. I also still have 11 days to heal. As it is, every day now I have less pain, more mobility and more strength.

I’ve also made a safety decision, which is to not do anything differently. While biking this weekend, I tried to be more careful and conscious of risky situations. I learned this really isn’t possible. I observed that I regularly do a good job monitoring for potential problems. Therefore I’ve decided that I need to be as careful as I’ve always been and let go of what I can’t control.