Easing Back In

 

It'll be six weeks on Wednesday and, yeah, the shoulder still aches, especially when my right hand is on the bars. Last week I cautiously joined a few of my regular group rides anyway. I mean, at this point you just have to do as much as you can tolerate - and maybe just a bit more. On Monday I went out and met the Mellow Monday ride for the first time in over a month. There was a bit of an easterly wind blowing, so once the group made the loop at the armory and the speed picked up, I dropped off the back, eventually rejoining them on the way back from the lakefront. The legs felt fine. The shoulder, not so much. No surprise.

On Tuesday I opted for a solo levee ride, not wanting to get sucked into anything faster than I was ready for on the lakefront. Wednesday morning was rained out, not that I had any intention of doing the WeMoRi. I was kind of stuck at home because of the weather and a meeting uptown, which worked out well because around 4:45 pm the rain stopped and I was therefore able to sneak out on the 'cross bike for a few levee miles. Then on Thursday I decided to go out and meet the 6 am group. That went nicely except that Lakeshore Drive was still flooded just east of Elysian Fields where it's always flooded because of the clogged up storm drains. The group decided not to wade across the pond, and so that shortened the ride considerably for most. On the plus side, I was able to get in a few miles of faster riding that I really needed. I ended up riding solo out along the fairly wet Lake Trail just to log some miles and quite predictably flatted thanks to the wet bike path.

I'd have liked to try Friendly Friday, but unfortunately Friday was rained out, and by rained out I mean it rained pretty much nonstop all day and into the night. 

Hope springs eternal

So on Saturday I went out to Starbucks to meet the Giro. I was still pretty unsure about my fitness, and not yet willing to endure the steady ache of the shoulder, so the plan was to drop off the back when the pace picked up on Hayne. I took the Bullard shortcut to Chef, and almost, but not quite, met up with the group again. I saw them turning onto Chef just before I got there. A few miles later I found the whole group stopped on the sholder fixing a flat, so at least I was able to ride with them the rest of the way to Venetian Isles. Somewhere along the way, Kenny B appeared in the group. Christian L was there from Oxford as well. When the speed ramped up about a kilometer before the Goodyear Sign sprint, I backed off, and a minute later passed Kenny who had pulled over onto the shoulder. I didn't know it was he as I asked, "you ok?" Anyway, the rest of the way was a rather long solo ride for me. Lakeshore Drive was still flooded in the usual spot (we had bypassed it on the way out), but since I was alone and I hate riding on Leon C. Simon, I took Lakeshore Drive anyway. As I slowly ride though the flooded part, which was about a foot deep, I saw two of those big vacuum trucks that they use to clean out storm drains. Spoiler Alert!  It was still flooded on Sunday. Also, after my Sunday ride, I pulled both tires off and drained a significant amount of water out of the rims.

So on Sunday I finally threw caution to the wind and decided to see if I could stay with the Giro the whole way. Sundays are usually just a bit slower, at least in theory. There was some significant wind, which definitely helped me, since I spent the whole time near, or on, the back of the group. I did find that I was no less uncomfortable on the drops than I was on the brake hoods. Anyway, I was happy to have stayed with the group, unless you count that segment between the bridges where I just stayed on VJ's wheel as he unsucessfully tried to close a big gap. I eventually caught back up along Leon C Simon when the front group finally eased up.

The sholder still aches whenever I have to extend my arm in front of me, as in riding the bike or even brushing my teeth, but I guess it is very slowly improving in that regard. I can still feel the broken ribs when I lie in bed, which is no surprise at all, of course. On the plus side, I think I'm OK getting back to my regular morning ride routine as long as I don't do anything crazy and am willing to tolerate a bit of discomfort.