My husband took this week off for a stay-cation, an at-home vacation. We were hoping to have a few days of nice late-summer warmth, and we’ve been lucky! The weather has been fantastic all week, apart from a storm last Saturday, and the forecast is even better until next Monday.
We’ve been out on our bikes every day since Sunday, with a hike planned for Friday. That should give our cycling muscles a bit of a rest, before we get back on our bikes over the weekend. We each love nature, and outdoor sports, so it’s no surprise that we choose to be ‘out there’ whenever we can. Even just sitting on our patio, rather than on our sofa ‘-)
There was nothing special planned for today’s ride, but it turned out to be an important one for me. I’m going to ask you to remember the number 10,000; I’ll come back to it in a bit.
When I was first diagnosed with a rare autoimmune and anti-inflammatory disease (CRPS), in May 2016, one doctor told me that I’d probably never ride a bike again. It is challenging, frequently frustrating, and often excruciatingly painful – but I found a way to ride.
I’d bought a new commuter bicycle in August 2015, a third bike. I already had a road, or racing-style, bike. Curved handlebars, narrow almost-slick tires, the pedals that you click your shoes into. (I’ve now given that bike away, because I can’t use the curved handlebars with only one hand.)
My second bike was a ‘fitness cross road’ (FCR) model; it looks like a hybrid, but is built with road bike components; brakes, gears, etc. It also has a rack above the back wheel, so I can attach a bike-pack to it rather than having to ride with a backpack.
The FCR is my off-season bike, because it has wide and very stubby tires. The thicker tires are less likely to slip on wet leaves during the autumn – or on slush or snow in the late fall or early spring. It also means that I can ride the mostly-flat forest trails near my home, without buying a mountain bike.
At the time, I was bike-commuting 3 or 4 days a week; a 40 km (25 mile) round-trip ride. Part of my commuting route was on packed-earth and gravel trails, which turned to mud any time it rained. Those trails were often in bad condition, making it dangerous to ride them on my road bike.
My FCR was better-suited to the trails, but much heavier. Part of my fun, on my rides to and from work, was sprinting on the quieter roads. The FCR is far too heavy for sprinting, so I’d often take a chance and ride my road bike to work.
While my husband and I were on vacation in Ottawa, during the summer of 2015, we rented a tandem bicycle. We’d always wanted to try one of those, with two people riding one bike. We did fine, but when we returned the tandem I wanted to go for a ‘real’ ride; so we rented tourist bikes. The models we chose were considered ‘commuter’ bicycles… and I fell in love with the one I rented!
The rental looked a bit like my FCR, but was much lighter – a smoother ride. It also had flat bars, a pack-rack, and tires wide enough to handle gravel or packed-earth trails, but the resemblance ended there. My FCR is a men’s bike, with an added handlebar extender for my long-ish arms, because I couldn’t find a model that fit me properly.
The bike I’d rented was a women’s model, and the geometry felt fantastic. We’d planned to ride for only a half-hour, but ended up doing a 50+ km ride ‘-) I didn’t want to get off the bike, but we hadn’t brought any water or food, and weren’t dressed properly for cycling – we did have our helmets, though!
The day we got home, I headed to our local cycling shop to order the same model of bike for myself. The current (2015) model was out of stock, but we were able to order the following year’s model for me; like cars, new bicycles are released by the manufacturer before the end of the calendar year!
By August I had my newest ride; A Liv Alight 1, made by Giant:
Alight is comfortable for a daily commute and sporty for longer rides. Women’s-specific geometry and sizing gives Alight a stable, confident ride quality. And thanks to integrated dropouts, it’s easy to personalize with racks and fenders.”
“Pedal to work, meet for coffee, or build your fitness out on the bike path. Alight fits right into a healthy lifestyle.”(1)
The cycling season in our area ends each year with whichever comes first; either our local roads become covered with snow and ice, or the temperatures fall – and stay – below 0 C (32 F). By the time I put my new bike away for the winter in 2015, I’d ridden it 1,127 km (700 miles).
Before CRPS, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, a ‘good’ weekend ride for me would have been 100 km (62 miles) or more. Often on both Saturday and Sunday. Then another 120 km (75 miles) or more of bike-commuting during the week. My husband doesn’t bike commute, instead he rides before work on the scenic roads close to home.
By this point, you may have gathered that my husband and I both love cycling. Part of that may be due to the fantastic cycling routes in our area; we can ride through forests, past vegetable farms, and along the shores of a river and two different lakes.
We’d planned to ride a lot during our retirement, to put our bikes onto a car-rack so we could ride in different areas of Canada. Newfoundland was at the top of our list, along with hiking in Gros Morne National Park. We’d looked into train travel with bicycles, and it seemed reasonable for longer distances. And more environmentally-friendly than driving…
Then “A big wrench got thrown in the plans we thought we had”(2), as the Thomas Rhett song goes. In March 2016 I slipped on a patch of ice and snapped the larger bone in my forearm clean through. That Colles’ fracture healed well, but it triggered CRPS which was diagnosed at the end of May 2016.
That’s about the time I was told that I’d likely never ride a bicycle again. Although I do manage to go cycling now, the longest I can manage is about a 50 km (31 mile) ride. That’s with frequent breaks, to rest my arm from the vibration of tires on the road. I haven’t been able to do 50 km rides on two consecutive days (yet), though, because my hand and arm are too painful after the first long ride.
On a good weekend, I might get in 100 km (62 miles) of cycling. No more bike-commuting; I tried and fell, twice, so realized it wasn’t a great idea to be riding in an industrial area with a lot of truck traffic! And no more plans to cycle-tour during our retirement. I’m happy to be riding at all, so just go out and enjoy each ride. I don’t really sprint anymore, don’t try to beat my time with each ride.
My cycling is really just for the fun of it now, and to stay healthy. Riding also helps me manage the chronic pain with which I live each day; not only being outside in nature, but the physical exercise itself.
Whether it’s neurochemicals like endorphins or neurotransmitters like anandamide, norepinephrine, or serotonin, I definitely feel a bit less pain during – and sometimes after – aerobic exercise. Stationary bike or riding outside, the pain benefit seems to be the same. But the outdoor rides are happier ‘-)
Do you recall what it is that I asked you to remember earlier? It was a number. Ten thousand. Or 10,000 if you prefer the numerical version. Why is that number special to me? Because at the end of my bike ride today, as I was coasting up the driveway to my home, the odometer on my Alight clicked over to 10,000 km (6,213 miles).
I’d already logged 1,127 km on this bike, before being struck with CRPS. That means I’ve ridden 8,873 km (5,513 miles) with CRPS. After being told that I’d probably never ride a bike again, back in May 2016. I’m just going to let that sink in, with a great big smile on my face…
As always, thanks so much for reading. Have a happy day!
References:
(1) Liv Cycling Canada. Giant Bicycles.
https://www.liv-cycling.com/ca/alight-1-2016
(2) Thomas Rhett. Life Changes. 2018. Song lyrics.