Our Amazing Bike Ride: The Good & The Bad


The Good stuff is that yesterday Princess Leia and I set aside some time to ride on the Pere Marquette Rail Trail. Our goal was to see how far we could go. We figured we had about three hours, so we decided we'd turn back after 90 minutes or when half-tired, whichever came first. We rode the 1 mile from home, meeting the Rail Trail at the Emerson Park entrance. We ended up going all the way to North Bradley (see map), where there is a little B&B called The Buttonville Inn that Dale and I may check out some day - it's right on the Rail Trail. (HEY! According to their address, they're in Coleman, which is actually 6 miles farther down on the Rail Trail ... but I think we really only went to North Bradley; Coleman must be the "big city" nearby address. LOL! If you check out the map, you'll notice some bathrooms marked in between. They were NOT "real flush toilet" bathrooms, much to our dismay. Fortunately, we didn't have to go bad enough to have to use them. We went thru a neat old railroad bridge and over the Salt river and past the Tittabawassee River. North Bradley was actually a little past the 90 minute mark, but it was a nice Milestone. I was proud of Leia, she rode well and promised to tell me if she got too tired or anything. We had a lot of fun, and were very glad to get home, 3 hours and 15 minutes -- and a whopping twenty-eight miles -- later. The Bad didn't come until bedtime -- I thought perhaps my tired old quadriceps might be stiff today. They aren't! But oh, my knees ache with a sometimes very intense ache. It's not a sharp "I hurt something" pain, but a deep and distracting ache. Bad enough to be "pretty bad" and keep me from sleeping part of the night, and slow me way down today. Last night, trying to ward off any discomfort, I ate some yummy fresh pineapple, which contains bromelain, said to help heal tissue damage ... except I also found out I'm allergic to bromelain and get a tingly numb tongue and itchy mouth! But the worst part about this knee thing is they don't just hurt when I walk or move, but even just when I sit. It's awful. If this is anything like what people with "bad knees" go through, I really feel for them. I am hoping and praying mine feel better soon and that this is short lived, and serves as fair warning for me not to overdo it. Although it's discouraging, too - other than a mild ache while we rode, I didn't think I was doing any damage (other than the stiff muscle potential) and I would love to continue to go on long rides with Leia. But I am not sure whether, like stiff muscles, my knees will adjust and be stronger, or if I am doing damage to them when I ride, and if so, where is my limit? It's such a pleasant form of exercise, and I certainly need that! One nice thing is Dale bought us some pretty Adirondack rockers (although one came broken :-( ... we have to wait for it to be replaced) so if they do keep aching, I can sit on the back deck and rest in style.

Posted: Mon - June 28, 2004 at 10:08 PM          

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