Took it easy over the weekend. The week started out awesome. Labor Day I rode to Altoona with Brad O. Had my hundred for the week by Thursday. Two major Hy Vee raids. But something happened to my left leg. Thursday morning it hurt to move. Friday morning was worse. Still rode to work and hit Hy Vee again. Tried to drink away the pain that evening but I was too tired. With the weekly goal met I decided to lay low until the leg healed.
At first I thought I blew my knee out. Isolation the pain was not accurate or easy. Every time I got up it hurt like hell. Sore, stiff, useless. Had to lean the bike severely to get on. Yet riding was ok. Don't push too much. Ride a bike with gears. Getting up and down was the worst.
I think it happened Wednesday night. From my bed I got up and leaned forward to get something off my dresser. The first motion I recall now was accompanied by a "shit that hurt" pain in the upper left thigh. Overstretched. And now that I have thought about it, my leg felt like it does after doing 6 sets of 17 stories of stairs at the Qwest Building for mountain hiking training. Always two days later the legs refuse to move. But I did not think of that at the time. Nope. I ignored the pain and tried to take it as easy as possible.
So Saturday's ride was an easy one. Took the light weight carbon racer and 30 gears up Ingersoll to Zimm's and watched the Iowa/ISU game. Stephanie Shearer's idea. But every time I got up the leg hurt and was stiff. Beer was no help.
Sunday morning was the worst. REAL STIFF. The 1/2 mile walk to Church was slow, long and painful. Kneeling was not bad but getting up and down was. Time for serious drugs and maybe a doctors appointment.
Quin wanted to treat Mary to breakfast at Mullets. So while changing clothes I decided to take a skeletal muscle relaxer. I need to say this now, aspirin, Tylenol, Motrin, Aleve and band aids are never available in my house when I need them. I have to use the heavy artillery and then go purchase what I needed 3 days prior. So I took the monster that previously would leave me sleeping on the floor and took the single speed to Mullets.
The first full pedal stroke HURT. When my left leg was at the apex of the cycle IT SCREAMED. This lasted for 3 rotations. I made it to Mullets a little slower than normal.
We met Craig Lein there. He still looked like he was on the road to the game, Hawkeye flag on his 520. Craig had the meatloaf, Mary and I the breakfast burritos and Diet Coke. No beer needed now.
Since there were three of us now, I had a sufficient amount of people for my latest video project. We rode to the East Village and filmed ourselves using the artsy fartsy bicycle racks. At first I liked the idea of artist designing places to park and lock my bike to. However, most of these suck as if the artist never rode a bicycle yet alone parked one. My videos can be found on YouTube, "East Village Bike Rack Test" by Pyrtwist. I probably pissed off some people for this but it had to be said. My only regret is that I need to go back to The Locust Tap and reshoot the scene. I have some good ideas. If interested leave me a note.
Craig suggested that we next visit the 9/11 memorial at the Statehouse. We rode up Grand. Leg was fine. Camera captured the scene and children bitched at the bandwidth I hogged while up loading. YouTube, "9/11 Memorial at Iowa Statehouse" by Pyrtwist.
Since we were in BFE and I only had serious medicine, Mary and I rode to Walgreens for Aleve. Here I received a phone call from Brad O. "Wanna ride the Jordan Creek Trail?" "Give me 30 minutes so I can get home and swap bikes. Meet at Mullets." Agreed.
To get to the Jordan Creek Trail we took the Gray's Lake Bypass, Riley, Walnut Creek trails. A quick stop for beer at Giff's 5th St Pub and then side path action.
This was the 3rd of 4th time I had done this trail. The first time was years before the mall was even conceived. Last year Mary and explored it and decided that if we ever did it again it would be with the largest Sharpie money can buy. The trail was poorly marked and confusing. We'd find ourselves miles off course in someones backyard. This time was much better.
The trail is now marked. Salute to Central Iowa Trails or whoever placed the Central Iowa Trails signs/posts/markers. Easy to read and we never got lost. We circled the mall and headed home. A 32 mile journey from Mullets.
My only complaint is that the intersections are rough. They should smooth out where the trail meets the road. Also, much of this trail is a side path along EP Tru. I was very tempted to get off the trail and take the road instead, sparing my bike and body constant abuse. This is one trail that the cheap hybrid with the cheap RST front suspension fork would be the weapon of choice. I lived, we all lived and the bikes did not break.
Monday morning came too quickly. But when I rolled out of bed my leg did not scream at me. I could still feel pain in the upper left thigh but I was no longer limping. Guess a xanax, 6 Aleve, 2 Fat Tires and 40 miles is therapeutic.
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