Unstrapped

When I woke up this morning I unstrapped myself from the x-brace and headed out for my first ride without it since the collarbone broke. For the record, it's been 4 weeks and 2 days. It was quite a relief to be riding without it, although I needed to be really careful along Carrollton where the bike path is covered with leaves, and up on the levee whenever I'd pass a pedestrian, most of whom were walking dogs, sometimes unleashed. Although the collarbone would occasionally remind me it wasn't fully healed, generally any time I moved my left hand on the bars, it was otherwise not much of a problem. Thanks to the smooth and level asphalt on the bike path I was pretty comfortable cruising along at 19-20 mph when it was clear, slowing dramatically whenever I'd encounter pedestrians or Levee District trucks or Jefferson Parish police.  They have been adding a ton of dirt to the city side of the levee out around Jefferson Playground and the bridge, and on Monday they had it blocked off there with traffic barrels and tape. This morning the signs were there but the barrels and tape had been moved aside and there was no sign of any work going on, so I was able to ride unimpeded out to Williams Blvd. and back and what was probably the fastest speed I've gone for a month. It's also about the slowest speed I would normally go, but regardless, it felt pretty good. The temperature was in the 60s and the wind was light, so it was a perfect morning for riding. Out around River Ridge I saw both of the Bald Eagles around their big nest. I wonder if there's a baby eagle in there this year.  Coming back I saw them again and thought to myself how great it was that I didn't even feel the need to stop and take a photo since I see them so often. It was probably a bit over ten years ago that I first started seeing eagles around here, and back then they were really pretty rare.

So I'm thinking that I will ride out to meet the Giro Ride on Saturday morning, staying at the back and turning back before things fast. Right after that I'll need to head up to St. Francisville to help get registration set up on the computer and then will be spending all of Sunday officiating. I figure that if all goes well I'll start trying to get back in shape on Monday. I may even have to find the heart rate monitor to keep me honest after such a long stretch of easy riding. I figure that the collarbone injury will have cost me about 850 lost training miles by then.  I guess it will be another three to four weeks before I'm back in good enough shape to race or even ride like I normally would. I guess that's about normal, though.  Last time I broke a collarbone it was 5 weeks before I went out to meet the Giro and 6 before I did a whole Giro Ride, so I'd say I'm about a week ahead of schedule this time.