2011/08/27

Lolo Pass

Sunny day, lots of company, challenging ride. I had done this ride only once before. At the time, my bike had a standard crank. This time I was using a compact, and it was much easier. The weather was better this time too. It was on the warm & humid side, my sweat glands sure got a workout: I wound up consuming almost six full water bottles.

The scenery was breathtaking:

DSC00238

The climbs were pretty tough but there was just about no traffic on most of the roads (ecept 26 of course) and the severe climbs were done mostly through the forest canopy.

Here's the route and some of my metrics. I discovered that the speed sensor on my GSC10 is dead so the metrics aren't 100% accurate.

This was a fantastic ride, I am planning on doing it again at least a few more times this year. I would rate it as a more enjoyable ride than Larch Mtn.

2011/08/21

Back in the Saddle up Larch Mtn.

After six weeks off of the bike, today I turned myself inside out on Larch Mtn. I bonked so hard that I could barely pedal downhill, but it felt good.

This ride was a NW BOB Meetup, there was a picnic afterwards. Mark Hashizume and Paul Johnston manned restpoint at the Women's Forum Viewpoint and Larch Mtn. parking lot. Due to the heat of the day, these watering holes really made a difference and were greatly appreciated.

I checked my ride history for this exact same route and I was only off about 11 minutes from my best time. Interesting enough, most of that difference was in the downhill portion which goes to show just hard I bonked. Did I mention that I bonked?

During the ride I consumed a little over three full waterbottles, but that was not enough. I didn't realize how dehydrated I was until I finished the ride. After the ride I consumed a quart of Darigold's chocolate milk, a full waterbottle w/GU Brew, 2 beers and a bottle of plain water. After all that, I hardly urinated. I had a mild headache all afternoon and evening too.

This year I've been including chocolate milk in my post-ride routine and I feel it's really made a difference. We usually buy a flat of the Darigold mini-bottles at Costco. They're also great as a light snack, especially with a few fig newtons.

The post-ride picnic was great. I didn't socialize too much since I didn't really know many of the riders there, but the food was excellent.

 

2011/08/20

Diary of a broken collar bone (clavicle)

Day 1: Broke collar bone. Pain was very intense, Percoset made me dizzy but barely blunted the pain. Miserable train ride back home, both physically & emotionally. It really hurt to see some STP riders getting in to Centralia as I rode by on the train...

Day 4: Very little pain (if any, really). Impressive bruise where I presume the bone actually broke. Still taking 1 Aleve every 12 hours, mostly for the pain in my left hip.

Day 7: Finally got the courage to look at my left hip. Huge plate-sized bruise. I am still experiencing stiffness in my left hip.

Day 9: Got on the stationary trainer (rollers will not be on the menu for a while). Legs felt great, it felt nice to sweat.

Day 14: Only taking Aleve at night. Switched to figure-eight support purchased from Brace Yourself. I regained use of my left arm, but experience much more pain & discomfort while driving due to jostling and movement, twisting my torso to check blind-spot and just generally trying to stay aware of my surroundings.

Day 16: Replaced my helmet. Got the same brand & model, Bell Achera, as my previous helmet.

Day 17: Unrelated but I dropped the bike off at the repair shop. The left shifter needs repair and I'll have them rebuild the right shifter, as well as a new headset and a few other things that I'll have them take care of while it's there.

Day 20: Off all pain meds completely. Able to sleep on my right side a little bit, obviously I won't be sleeping on my left side for quite some time. I can still only use my left arm for very light manipulation and need to go very slowly when performing major movements. My left shoulder was very itchy the other day, the type of itch you get when there is internal healing going on so I consider that a good sign. My left hip is still occasionally complaining. A few days ago I twisted my leg as I was going down some stairs. The movement shouldn't have been an issue but the left hip socket filed a greivance and it has been sensitive since. The discomfort is in the ball socket area and the surrounding tendons.

Day 22: Slept on my stomach last night. Wow, finally.

Day 25: I signed up for a few rides, one on the 20th of August (17 days away) and one on the 27th. Hoping to be up & at 'em by then. I'm still wearing the figure-8 sling but I notice that the bruising in my shoulder area is the same or maybe even worse. I might be wearing the sling too tight so I'll leave it entirely off today to help the circulation. The bruise on my hip is completely gone. My new helmet is on the shelf behind me as I type this, it is taunting me.

Day 29: No longer wearing any sling or support. I've been using my left arm much more than recent. I'm experiencing some mild pain, but it's the pain of not using it for several weeks and let's wake it up. Now that I think about it, the tendons probably also suffered some damage. The break doesn't hurt unless I do something I shouldn't, I'm also getting some discomfort in the gneral arm & shoulder area.

Day 31: First time I was able to get a T-shirt on since before the accident.

Day 35: Five weeks. The bone is not completely mended, but I don't have to utterly baby it either. Right now it seems that I just need to be aware of it and not do any hard labor with my left arm and everything will be fine. I'm still getting the kinks worked out of the various muscles, ligaments, and tendons that were tweaked. I also suspect that the shoulder healed with a slightly different alignment so it will take a while to grow into it.

The bike will be repaired early next week so I'll hop back on it after I pick it up. I'm also planning on doing a group ride up Larch Mtn. next Saturday.

Day 42, 6:30am. It's exactly six weeks, literally to the minute, since I fell. I picked the bike up from the shop yesterday. I only had a chance to do a quick ride around the block and all of the repairs really made a difference. In an hour I'm leaving for a group ride and I can't wait.