All posts by Mike

Crash injury update

Personal stuff

Two weeks, two days ago. Seems more recent than that. Don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing! I’m getting around better and better, able to go small distances without any crutches at all, and generally finding a single crutch easier than two. Except navigating stairs. Going up or down, even with two crutches, is not a whole lot of fun because it’s really, really slow.

A couple days ago I decided to try something… set up a woman’s cruiser, the type with a super low center bar, put the seat low, and tried pedaling around in the parking lot. I expected it to be painful, but it felt… great. No pain whatsoever. Actually the best I’ve felt so far. But doc says no, I’m not supposed to do that, it could set back my healing. It’s a bit odd, given that what I can do is supposedly limited by pain, meaning it’s not likely I can do something bad because I’ll really hurt while doing it. But this didn’t hurt. Therefor the doc must be wrong, right?

I was hoping to at least vicariously experience a bike ride this morning, making sure Kevin got up in time to get out for the Thursday morning ride, which would be his first since the crash (he went down too, but no injuries). Unfortunately Todd decided not to go, and it’s not a good idea for Kevin to be out there on his own due to his epilepsy. Todd had been concerned about rain, but of course, from 7am until 10am, it stayed dry. Go figure.

Sunday will be interesting, as I fly to Sioux Falls for a bicycle dealer meeting. Not worried about the SFO end, but transferring at ORD (Chicago) from the C gates to F, on crutches, is going to be tough. Really tough. It’s been strongly suggested that I contact United about their services for passengers in need of assistance. Maybe I’ll get to go on one of those VIP carts! I certainly don’t want to be pushed in a wheelchair. Film at 11.

The importance of routine. Especially coffee routine.

Personal stuff, Tdf trip planning

It was inevitable; sooner or later someone would come in and say “You’re still able to go to France aren’t you?” Thankfully, worse-case scenario, I should be back on my bike and ready for my first century in early June (the Sequoia), a level of shape that defines the minimum needed for France.

But… why? What is it about the place that keeps drawing me back? How, after so many trips, can there always be something new?

This past July, there were two “things new”. First, we shared the trip with a friend, Lee, who joined us for the last 5 days. He got to experience a kind of “greatest hits” version, every day seeing the race, no downtime. In fact, within two hours of him stepping off the train in Lourdes we had whisked him off to Pau, by train, to see his first stage. It was fun getting to experience the event through the eyes of someone new to it. And second, after many attempts to find decent coffee in Lourdes over the years, which we’d finally pretty much abandoned after twice being fooled into discovering an actual coffee shop one year which lay abandoned the next… well, what do you know but they make a pretty decent paper cup of double espresso at the train station cafe next door to our apartment! That quickly became our morning, pre-ride routine.