Update: Going on 3 weeks since the crash happened (July 5). I've done a few hikes and two rides.
A week (plus) ago Monday was the Cognative Intermediate ride I like doing. It's a slightly faster pace and I'm usually in the back but I sometimes show them a thing or two about rocks ;P Well, obviously I wasn't riding but Steve went and I wanted to say hi to everyone. So while they went to do Middle & Lower Black on the ride, I decided to "hike" up Thrift (that's a gravel double track kind of climb trail that goes to the intersection of Middle/Lower). I figured it's an easy out and back and I can test things out. I managed to do about 4 miles round trip. Fitness-wise I felt good but I did have some mild constant pain in my ribs and back. Pretty much what I was expecting. I did have to stop and concentrate on taking deep breaths but, overall, I felt like I was on the road to recovery. I got back to the lot a few minutes before the group and tried to stretch things out a little because my legs felt tight from not doing that much hiking lately.
So Tuesday, I decided to take the bike out for a very short ride in Dupont. My route was park in Lake Imaging lot, go up Jim Branch (JB), turn onto Isaac Heath (IH) and then come down Lake Imaging Road back to the lot... Less than 4 miles total. I figured go slow and really listen to my body. Even if I was feeling good, I didn't want to do to overdo it. First, I can't push down on the clamps on the bike rack so the bike rack came off and I put the bike in the back of the car. (Side-note: I've had lots of weird "I can lift this heavy-ish thing but I can't close a drawer" type of pain/movements.) I get to the lot and take the bike out carefully. The hard thing is actually pushing the QR axel to get the front wheel on. Whatever. Get on the bike and slowly start riding. Stop before getting to Jim Branch because there's a turtle on the trail. So I move him, tell him to be safe and keep going. At the start of Jim Branch is a rock armored kind of section... two actually. The first part is the only was to get into the trail. It's very short. The second part goes up a little bit more and is a challenge for a lot of people (humble brag- yes I can clear it) but there is a B line to the left that I planned to take that day. I do the bottom rock section and I nearly turned around right there. But that's the only real techy thing on my planned route so I take a deep breath and keep going. For the most part, JB and IH are fairly flowy but there's a few small sections I either avoid or go a little wide on to make the bumping along easier. The short punchier climbs take a bit more out of me but, at the bottom of IH, I am actually thinking I might be able to do the women's ride on Wednesday. All I have to do is the gravel double track Lake Imaging Road back to the lot and I'm done. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Yeah... that hurt. It's a bit washed out and I had to do a lot of moving around on the trail to either make room for people climbing or to avoid washed out sections and bad transitions... and I felt it. Got home and chilled out but was pretty sore and I realized I need more time before hopping back on the bike.
You'd think I'd just call it quits and stay home after that. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Nope.
Wednesday is the women's ride I like to do. After Tuesday's ride, I didn't want to ride again so soon, but I did want to see everyone. So I went to the group ride to say hi but did a hike at Cat Gap instead. More challenging than the Thrift hike and I had to stop a few times to concentrate on taking deep breaths, but, overall I was feeling better and it was good to be out. Same minor rib and back aches... kind of like the start of a side-stitch or something. Constantly there but not stopping me from moving.
Over this past weekend, Steve and I did a hike together on the North Slope. His back was bothering him but I wanted to do something and since we weren't riding, we figured we'd do an easy hike. Aside from getting a little rained on, mostly uneventful for me with the exception of the same side-stitch constant soreness that's been hanging out in my ribs and back and still needing to stop once in a while and really concentrate on taking deep breaths.
We've had a lot of rain lately and this past Monday's Cognative ride was cancelled so I just took the bike path into town and just wandered around. On the way back, weather looked like it was turning so Steve came and picked me up over at Aldi. Tuesday, again more rain so nothing. Wednesday (yesterday), they decided to do a mostly gravel ride at DuPont for the women's ride. I figured I'd go and use that to see where I'm at. They all know I crashed and haven't been riding so they knew there was the possibility of me bailing if I wasn't feeling it. I stayed in the back and tried not to push too hard. For the most part, I was ok. But as the ride progressed, my back was hurting more and I was getting a little jostled with some of the roots and stuff on the single track we did at the end. I did have to stop and walk over one rock that's a bit punchy with roots because I took one look at it and knew that would just hurt my ribs too much. I never would have even thought twice about hitting it before. (sigh) But I did manage to do the whole ride. Sore but nothing I can't live with. I was uncomfortable sleeping last night. And right now (sitting in my chair at "work") my upper back is a little sore with some tightness in my ribs, but, again, nothing I can't live with.
So, overall, I think I'm going to be trying to do some rides again. For the faster Monday Cognative rides, I think I'll go to say hi to everyone but will have to do a ride on my own for a few weeks. I don't think I'm up to keeping up with them just yet. I think I'll be fine on the ladies Wednesday rides since it's usually a chiller pace with more stopping/regrouping. I can probably even take the time and offer to sweep so that the normal sweeps get a break (and have an excuse to be "slow"). But we are getting a lot of rain here in the upcoming week so there probably won't be much in the way of riding for a little while anyway. If there's a break in the weather but the trails aren't great for riding, maybe I can do some more hikes to get my body moving. There's also just walks into town on the bike path if I have to... take the very long way to get a coffee and almond scone.
A week (plus) ago Monday was the Cognative Intermediate ride I like doing. It's a slightly faster pace and I'm usually in the back but I sometimes show them a thing or two about rocks ;P Well, obviously I wasn't riding but Steve went and I wanted to say hi to everyone. So while they went to do Middle & Lower Black on the ride, I decided to "hike" up Thrift (that's a gravel double track kind of climb trail that goes to the intersection of Middle/Lower). I figured it's an easy out and back and I can test things out. I managed to do about 4 miles round trip. Fitness-wise I felt good but I did have some mild constant pain in my ribs and back. Pretty much what I was expecting. I did have to stop and concentrate on taking deep breaths but, overall, I felt like I was on the road to recovery. I got back to the lot a few minutes before the group and tried to stretch things out a little because my legs felt tight from not doing that much hiking lately.
So Tuesday, I decided to take the bike out for a very short ride in Dupont. My route was park in Lake Imaging lot, go up Jim Branch (JB), turn onto Isaac Heath (IH) and then come down Lake Imaging Road back to the lot... Less than 4 miles total. I figured go slow and really listen to my body. Even if I was feeling good, I didn't want to do to overdo it. First, I can't push down on the clamps on the bike rack so the bike rack came off and I put the bike in the back of the car. (Side-note: I've had lots of weird "I can lift this heavy-ish thing but I can't close a drawer" type of pain/movements.) I get to the lot and take the bike out carefully. The hard thing is actually pushing the QR axel to get the front wheel on. Whatever. Get on the bike and slowly start riding. Stop before getting to Jim Branch because there's a turtle on the trail. So I move him, tell him to be safe and keep going. At the start of Jim Branch is a rock armored kind of section... two actually. The first part is the only was to get into the trail. It's very short. The second part goes up a little bit more and is a challenge for a lot of people (humble brag- yes I can clear it) but there is a B line to the left that I planned to take that day. I do the bottom rock section and I nearly turned around right there. But that's the only real techy thing on my planned route so I take a deep breath and keep going. For the most part, JB and IH are fairly flowy but there's a few small sections I either avoid or go a little wide on to make the bumping along easier. The short punchier climbs take a bit more out of me but, at the bottom of IH, I am actually thinking I might be able to do the women's ride on Wednesday. All I have to do is the gravel double track Lake Imaging Road back to the lot and I'm done. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Yeah... that hurt. It's a bit washed out and I had to do a lot of moving around on the trail to either make room for people climbing or to avoid washed out sections and bad transitions... and I felt it. Got home and chilled out but was pretty sore and I realized I need more time before hopping back on the bike.
You'd think I'd just call it quits and stay home after that. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Nope.
Wednesday is the women's ride I like to do. After Tuesday's ride, I didn't want to ride again so soon, but I did want to see everyone. So I went to the group ride to say hi but did a hike at Cat Gap instead. More challenging than the Thrift hike and I had to stop a few times to concentrate on taking deep breaths, but, overall I was feeling better and it was good to be out. Same minor rib and back aches... kind of like the start of a side-stitch or something. Constantly there but not stopping me from moving.
Over this past weekend, Steve and I did a hike together on the North Slope. His back was bothering him but I wanted to do something and since we weren't riding, we figured we'd do an easy hike. Aside from getting a little rained on, mostly uneventful for me with the exception of the same side-stitch constant soreness that's been hanging out in my ribs and back and still needing to stop once in a while and really concentrate on taking deep breaths.
We've had a lot of rain lately and this past Monday's Cognative ride was cancelled so I just took the bike path into town and just wandered around. On the way back, weather looked like it was turning so Steve came and picked me up over at Aldi. Tuesday, again more rain so nothing. Wednesday (yesterday), they decided to do a mostly gravel ride at DuPont for the women's ride. I figured I'd go and use that to see where I'm at. They all know I crashed and haven't been riding so they knew there was the possibility of me bailing if I wasn't feeling it. I stayed in the back and tried not to push too hard. For the most part, I was ok. But as the ride progressed, my back was hurting more and I was getting a little jostled with some of the roots and stuff on the single track we did at the end. I did have to stop and walk over one rock that's a bit punchy with roots because I took one look at it and knew that would just hurt my ribs too much. I never would have even thought twice about hitting it before. (sigh) But I did manage to do the whole ride. Sore but nothing I can't live with. I was uncomfortable sleeping last night. And right now (sitting in my chair at "work") my upper back is a little sore with some tightness in my ribs, but, again, nothing I can't live with.
So, overall, I think I'm going to be trying to do some rides again. For the faster Monday Cognative rides, I think I'll go to say hi to everyone but will have to do a ride on my own for a few weeks. I don't think I'm up to keeping up with them just yet. I think I'll be fine on the ladies Wednesday rides since it's usually a chiller pace with more stopping/regrouping. I can probably even take the time and offer to sweep so that the normal sweeps get a break (and have an excuse to be "slow"). But we are getting a lot of rain here in the upcoming week so there probably won't be much in the way of riding for a little while anyway. If there's a break in the weather but the trails aren't great for riding, maybe I can do some more hikes to get my body moving. There's also just walks into town on the bike path if I have to... take the very long way to get a coffee and almond scone.
