This morning I decided to try to ride my bike to see if it would even be possible to ride in the Rolling Hills Challenge organized bike ride. My foot doctor said I could ride my bike, so I wanted to test that out. The steroid cortisone torture shot from yesterday was my biggest concern followed by my “healed” rolled ankle. It’s been so long since I’ve been on my bike that I even forgot which foot was the one that I clip out of when getting off my bike. Either way it was going to be the rolled ankle or the messed up foot.
When I woke up this morning my foot felt much better. That was good news but my doc said not to overdo it. The goal for the day was to complete our 4 mile loop in the neighborhood. Peter was not too happy about it. He’s never been enthusiastic about working out, not even when he was in the army. But he came with me and that’s what counts.
We started off by putting air in our tires and greasing up the gears and chains. Then we put on our gear and took off. I was surprised at how comfortable it felt to be back in the saddle and how easy it was to speed up and go up our modest inclines. The work on my legs with the trainer has paid off. The feeling of being free washed over me and I relished in it. Riding my bike clears my mind of my troubles and helps my mind get into that creative zone I need to be in when I sit down afterwards to write.
All in all the ride went well and I feel great. My foot has a little twinge in it but nothing bothersome. It looks like I can do this thing. I’m going to make up my training plan. It will be tight but I can do this. Not sure at this point if Peter is going to do it with me. If he doesn’t, he can be my sag support which is important. I’m really hopeful that my sister can come with me. I’ve been through several organized rides including the MS150 so at least I can help her get into it. We didn’t have anyone to help us understand what we needed to know to dive into the cycling world so it was allot of trial and error. I was never able to find a book on how to get into cycling and what you need to know. Maybe it’s another writing project in the works?
I looked through my files and didn’t find any pictures of our ride in the Rolling Hills Challenge from the last ride and I didn’t find any videos either so I plan on doing both of those this time and posting them on my website. After I get my plan in place I’ll post it. It may help me stick to it. Here’ the link to the Rolling Hills Challenge bike rides information. Who knows? Maybe I will see you there.
http://columbuslionsclub.org/lions/rollinghillschallenge2013.htm