SPECULATION

Always SOMETHING. Based on the location and nature of the discomfort I am experiencing from yesterday's fall (mid-chest on the left, and difficulty in both deep breathing and in rotating my trunk), and also based on my memory of the feeling from a fall while running in late May 2006 when I broke a rib, I am going under the assumption that I have done the same now. I was told by the doctor at that time that the only way to be 100% positive was to get an x-ray, but that if money was a factor (as it is now), they would recommend against it, since there is no way they can treat a broken rib—you just have to be patient and wait for it to heal. So now, I am putting my riding on hold for the foreseeable future, and practicing my "gift of patience," as Michelle calls it.

144th ride

After riding to work again this morning, and then working a much shorter day than I wished (getting out just before 1:00), I decided to ride straight home in order to catch the Tigers' matinee contest, and do a long ride (perhaps to Dexter, a 26-mile round trip) after the game. The ride home, however, was unexpectedly adventurous.

The fall-o-meter would have to be reset to 0 days, as I fell not only once, but twice. The first, and more serious one, occurred as I was riding south on State, approaching Ellsworth. I was trying to ride between the curb and a waiting semi-truck, and felt I had plenty of room to do so, but I got a bit too far to the right and hit the curb. This sent me flying, which could have been quite disastrous, of course, but I managed to go off to the right, landing in the grass. After a couple of minutes, I was on my way again just fine.

The second spill was as I was almost home, riding on the sidewalk that connects the housing complex next to ours, to ours. The foliage was quite overgrown, and as I was trying to duck my way through it, with obscured vision, I slipped off the walk to the right, and went skidding down.

In both falls my chain became disengaged from the chain wheel—but I am grateful to Doug for the lesson he gave me on how to rectify this situation a few weeks ago (June 3, as a matter of fact), as it enabled me to continue on my way with no more problem than the need to wash up good to remove the grease from my hands once I got home.

I am noticing since getting home, though, that the first fall, which sent me sprawling onto my back, bruised up my left side (back, chest, and upper arm) pretty good—so perhaps, in lieu of a long ride, I'll just let my 5.5-mile round trip to work suffice for today. Or, as a compromise, perhaps I could "only" do the 12.4 mile trip to Saline and back.

143rd ride

I rode to work again this morning, happy from a small victory that occurred just before I set off. For the last two days my odometer has been resolutely stuck on 0.0, so I decided to get out to the bike a few minutes early this morning and see if I could figure anything out. I noticed a small hinged unit on the front wheel, stamped with the brand name of the odometer/computer. I figured it must be a counter for the revolutions of the wheel—but it was opened so that the hinge kept it away from the wheel. So, deciding to experiment, I closed the hinge, pushing it down to the wheel—and was then delighted to find that the odometer had been restored!

At the end of the day, I was able once again to ride a good ride down to Saline and back up, stopping in at Meijer to pick up a few groceries, and then arriving to note that I had down a 14.6-mile ride today, in 1 hour and 17 minutes.

142nd ride

I wanted to ride today (for the first time) on the broad paved path that runs along (well off) the east side of Platt Rd. between Ellsworth and U.S.12 (Michigan Ave.), so I did a new 15-mile route in order to achieve this. The only disquieting thing was that it meant doing a few miles along Michigan Ave. (against which Doug Franklin has cautioned me) on the way home—but I didn't expect this to be problematic, and it wasn't. The road is broad and well paved along that stretch, and mostly straight and with excellent visibility, and broad shoulders which are largely paved, affording opportunity to ride very far away from traffic. This ride of almost exactly 15 miles took me 1 hour and 19 minutes, and I was freshened by a light rain (of, however, very large drops) during the last few miles.

141st ride

After riding to work as usual this morning, I planned throughout the day to make myself do a long ride home (by way of Saline). But when I emerged, about 4:30, after a longer-than-usual workday, into humid 87° sunshine, my resolve began to melt away. Even during the early part of the ride, before I had yet reached the point where I had to make a firm decision, I continued to waffle about it—but then, I felt it would be OK to cut myself a break today, and not try to be a superhero. So I rode directly home, to settle for a total daily ride today of 5.5 miles in 31 minutes.

140th ride

I left just past 6:30 this morning and rode my now-familiar route to Saline and back. Due to the suboptimal lighting at that time of day (not dark, but certainly far from bright daylight yet) and patches of fog which lay in our area, I was happy to have my flashing headlight (courtesy of my loving sister Marianne) and flashing taillight.

I thought I was making pretty good time, as I did the 12.4 miles in an hour and 2 minutes, and I was thinking that my best previous was about 1:08. But I had forgotten how hard I pushed last week, riding it in 58 minutes. Oh well! Today's was still a good ride.

When our worship schedule changes from 10:00 a.m. back to 8:45 in a couple of weeks, I haven't yet decided whether I'll still try to squeeze in a pre-church ride. With my lights, and my fondness for early morning, it would be feasible—just. But I need to do some more pondering on whether it would be prudent.

139th ride

Like last Saturday, I went up to Brighton to ride again with Kahle Strickland, arriving earlier this week so that we began our ride just about 6:50. (Today, however, we found more bikers and runners in the park.) But, whereas on that previous occasion we confined ourselves to riding in the Island Lake State Recreation Area, today we stretched it out a little more, taking a path that goes beneath I-96 and connects you to Kensington Metropark (one of Michigan's most popular parks, a part of the Huron-Clinton Metroparks system). Kensington contains nearly 4500 acres of wooded, gently hilly terrain, in which there is a nice paved path that gives you an 8-mile loop around Kent Lake. So, all told, my odometer showed a ride of 21.5 miles, in 1 hours 52 minutes. The map here, while giving a good idea of our ride, is not precise, since I don't yet know Kensington well enough.