Are there any activities that you loved to do as a child, and have continued to do well into adulthood? Activities that define you, even if only to yourself? That’s what outdoor sports are to me. They’re not something I do, they’re who I am.
As a youngster, living in Montreal, I was lucky to have 2 completely different sets of sporting activities (just like the Olympics!); summer and winter. Until I was about 10, my family would move to my grandparent’s cottage near a lake for the entire summer.
My sister and were involved in every water sport available in those days. The town didn’t allow motorized boats on the lake, so the only water sports we didn’t do were those that involved motors; like water-skiing.
After my grandfather passed away, and my grandmother sold the cottage, my sister and I would more or less live at an outdoor municipal pool – along with all our local area friends. I competed with the diving team (solo), the swim club (solo, relay, and team), the synchronized swimming team, and the water polo team.
I also biked with my dad; our usual route was 40 kilometres (about 30 miles) return trip, cycling on a brand new paved bike path along the Lachine Canal. We’d ride from our home to the beautiful and touristic Old Montreal area. By the time I was 10, I was doing that ride alone a few times a week while he was at work.
The only water sports I’d continue during the winter season were diving and the swim club. Even before the outdoor pool closed, I’d be at the arena almost every morning for figure skating, as well as time on weekends. When the snow started to fall, I’d be cross-country skiing as well on weekends.
By the time I was 13 I had also gotten interested in target shooting, through the Air Cadet program, so started doing biathlon competitions; a combination of cross-country skiing and (rifle) target shooting.
When I was in college I joined a gym, to stay in shape for my beloved outdoor sports. With full-time courses, homework, and my job in library I was now much less active than I had been. To find the time to work out, I’d get up at 0500 to exercise before school or work.
All these years later, I still do the same thing! Whether it’s a summertime bike ride before work, or the gym during the winter months, I drag my butt out of bed between 0500 and 0530 so to exercise.
At this point, on the days I don’t exercise – because of an early morning meeting, for example – I feel as though I drift through the entire day without ever really waking up. So when I broke my arm (a Colles’ fracture; I completely snapped the radius) in March 2016, one of my first questions to my family doctor was: What kinds of exercise can I do, with this cast on my arm?
He understood that completely, as he’s also dedicated to exercise; he and I happen to train at the same gym, but on different schedules! I’ve been going to that gym for over 20 years; he joined a few years after I did.
We agreed that I could use a stationary bicycle at the gym, and that I’d be careful not to get too warm and sweaty; he was concerned that my old-fashioned plaster cast could degrade if it got damp on the inside. I was concerned about mould or mildew forming inside the cast, so that was fine with me.
He also gave me permission to do my regular weight training for my legs. He warned me not to do squats or other movements requiring balance, as the cast would probably interfere with my balance – and neither of us wanted me to fall onto my fractured arm.
So I biked, at the gym, during the 6 weeks that I had a cast on my arm! A few months after the fracture, when I was diagnosed with a rare – and very painful – disease, I kept going to the gym.
Doing exercise is the best way for me to deal with stress and other difficulties in my life, so it would have been the worst time for me to stop exercising. I asked my new specialist (an anaesthesiologist at my local community hospital) when I’d be able to start biking outside, and he kept telling me: I think you should wait a bit longer.
So I waited, and waited… until he went on vacation! While he was away, I went out on my bike. It felt so good to be out on the road again, that it was worth the extra swelling and pain. My regular bike route is along the shores of two different lakes and through two nature parks, some farms, and a couple of forests.
It’s as much a nature ride as it is a bike ride, really. I also pass an orchard, as well as a new vineyard. It’s a scenic and very calming area, with almost no vehicle traffic. So I very slowly worked my way up to longer rides. I’m still nowhere near the amount of riding I used to do, but I tell myself that each kilometre – or mile – that I ride is better than none!
In October 2016, my medical care was transferred to one of the large university-hospitals in the downtown area of Montreal. It was further from my home, but with more experience treating my rare disease. They specialize in chronic pain conditions, which is how CRPS is classified.
When the medical team there was evaluating me, they were stunned to find out that I was cycling: “How do you ride a bike, with CRPS in your hand and arm?” I told them they were asking the wrong question.
The question to ask should be “How could I not ride?” These outdoor sports are so much a part of who I am, that not doing them just isn’t an option. It doesn’t matter whether I’m hiking up and down a mountain, riding my bike, snowshoeing, or even trying to cross-country ski.
The benefits to me, of these outdoor sports, is immeasurable, unquantifiable. No chronic pain questionnaire, index, or scale can capture or measure this.