Not There Yet

A cool front pushed through overnight and after checking the temperature I decided it would be wise to hunt through the "winter clothes drawer" for the knee-warmers.  Ordinarily I might have just suffered through the first hour of chilly legs, knowing that once the Giro Ride got going I would warm up quickly.  Since my collarbone is clearly not there yet, however, I knew I'd better dress warmly because I wouldn't be riding hard enough or long enough to really get warmed up.  I was glad I did.  I headed out to meet the group straight into a pretty strong north wind, and for a little while even wondered if the two jerseys, arm-warmers and knee-warmers would be enough to keep me comfortable on this first truly chilly ride of what passes for Fall around here.  Since the Voodoo Fest was in full swing this weekend, and I didn't want to have to deal with any early-rising Metallica groupies, I decided to take the Canal Blvd. route instead of my usual route through City Park.  As I was making my way down Canal, Woody and Eddie came by, so I latched onto them for the rest of the trip to Starbucks.  I shouldn't have been surprised to find a fairly long line waiting for coffee this morning.  The other thing I was surprised to find there was Ben, who had gotten his broken jaw un-wired earlier in the week and was out for his first post-crash cautious ride with the group.  This was good because I was planning on riding just to the end of Lakeshore Drive.  The collarbone is still a pretty long way from being ready for action, and it will be another week or two at least before I'm comfortable doing fast group ride.  Ben was being equally cautious, and I could tell that he was feeling every little bump in the road.  The sky stayed overcast the whole time, so I was glad I'd piled on the clothes this morning.

So the collarbone seems to be progressing normally, which is to say that it is getting kind of frustrating.  There was a lot of noticeable improvement between week 2 and week 3, but that has slowed down a whole lot this week.  I guess part of it is that without the brace I tend to try to do more with the arm and pushing the "range of motion" envelope, usually unintentionally, results in a more consistent dull ache, especially when I'm doing things like typing.  I probably should have invested in some kinesio tape last week to ease the transition.  Oh well.  Maybe next time.....

This afternoon I'll be heading up to Baton Rouge with Mark to officiate the track races at the Baton Rouge Velodrome tonight and tomorrow morning.  I'll be bringing a lot of warm clothes with me for sure!