Sometimes I'm Up, Sometimes I'm Down...


Sometimes I'm almost to the ground...Pain, unbelievable, almost unbearable pain. And yet, still, I ride...

Wednesday...I think it was Wednesday (everything blurs together) I did a full ten miles. Up to Highland Park Reservoir, down Highland and over to Cobbs Hill, and around the reservoir there three times. I clocked it on my car Tuesday night to see how far that would be. One loop around Cobbs Hill Reservoir is eight tenths of a mile, and to make a full 10 on that ride I have to loop three times.

But that was a bit much for me, I think. Thursday was cold -- 57 when I rode, with a bitingly cold, strong headwind. I thought I had dressed for the cold -- sweatsuit and a jean jacket. I just went up to Cobbs Hill on Thursday, and just one loop around. It was too cold for me to keep going.

Friday I skipped the ride. I was worn out, and I had a lot of things to do. Then yesterday I went out again, again to Cobbs Hill only. I was moving pretty slowly and I was in pain the whole way. Normally I am in pain when I start, but that clears up after a while, and I get relief while I am riding and for some time afterward.

I can't remember if I did two loops or just one. Two, I think. But I was wiped out. I was thinking maybe I had come down with something, so I took my temperature when I got home. 94.5 -- now, that's hypothermia. That much exercise is supposed to heat your body up. So it didn't make any sense at all.

I took a hot bath to warm myself up, and take my temp while I am in the tub, watching it slowly climb to normal. Pain went away. But then, as soon as I got out and started cooling down (verified by the thermometer), I start hurting again.

So I'm starting to wonder if possibly there is a correlation between the pain and body temperature dysregulation.

I'm going to try to keep some records on body temperature and pain level.

Anyway, I rode again today. Got up to Highland and decided I should sit a while. Best not to push myself too hard. And I had seen an interesting animal feeding. Someone said it was a badger, but I have looked up images of badgers on the 'net, and no, that's not what it was. Actually it looks more like a beaver, but a furry rather than a flat tail. Here are some pics...





not the greatest, but this guy (gal?) was hard to shoot. Very shy.

Thing was, as I was leaving the park on my bike, coming down Pinetum...very fast, of course, either this one or another (there were several) darted out into the road and I yelled and screeched on the brakes, but apparently I scared him and he slowed down, and by god, I nearly hit him.

Poor thing. Poor me, too, if I had fallen off my bike at that speed, which I nearly did. Anyway, at that point I knew for certain I wasn't going to make it to Cobbs Hill, so I rode up into the Divinity School on the other side, and then, uh oh, suddenly my gears aren't working right. The smaller gears won't kick in and suddenly I have only three gears out of 21.

Managed to make it home, put my bike into the trunk, and dash off to Towner's Bike shop to see if I can get it fixed. Yes, they are open on Sundays, but no, my bike won't be ready for me until Tuesday after four.

TUESDAY???? Oh, my god, how will I manage getting through two whole days without riding? Maybe, maybe they'll have it done in time and I will still have some light on Tuesday. Told the guy I couldn't stand it, so please please please try to get it done sooner!

As I write this I am in pain again. But I am so proud of myself. Today I got into my size 16 jeans. I can't stop now.

Posted: Sun - October 2, 2005 at 05:34 PM          

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