Bicycle thread

[Richard]

Richard Never mind my question. I caught your Thursday post on the other site. Broken ribs, bruised lung, (3-4 day?) hospital stay and bags of drugs. That sucks! Heal quickly.

Thanks. Just an overnight. I've managed to skip the heavy drugs. I have a follow-up appointment with my insurance company/ healthcare provider doctor tomorrow. This has certainly set my 2024 riding back a good deal.
At this point I figure once I can get the bike off the hooks, I'll be up to cleaning it up completely and setting up the indoor smart trainer. And go that route until I'm better, or cleared or whatever it is.

Right now I figure the doctor visit will dictate what and when. The real thing in all this is that a 70 year old on a bicycle here is in all doctors minds a vision of an old guy on a beach cruiser in cargo shorts and socks with sandals type thing. Middle of the feet on the pedals, knees akimbo. wobbling along at just about walking pace.
My expectations are for enough recovery to get back to light effort training within the next four weeks. That based on how much coughing and sneezing hurts. How much I can sleep and flexibility.
I am definitely not lifting much with my left side. My goals remain to drop weight, increase my aerobic fitness, maintain balance as well as increase all of that still aiming to do a self-supported 100 mile day. I know from what I've been able to do with multiple 60+ mile days in a month.
Just a process of linking the days back to back and getting into the routine and maintaining that.

Simple.

I'll be back in no time with more of those ocean view ride shots.

 

[ZoomerP]

The real thing in all this is that a 70 year old on a bicycle here is in all doctors minds a vision of an old guy on a beach cruiser in cargo shorts and socks with sandals type thing. Middle of the feet on the pedals, knees akimbo. wobbling along at just about walking pace.

That can be a problem. I know an 80-year-old that wore his knees out over a lifetime of work. His medical staff thinks a return to normal is about Matlock, not hammer drills.

It sounds like your challenge is similar, with slowing down to heal being harder for you than finding the motivation to meet the minimum rehab requirements.

I'll be back in no time with more of those ocean view ride shots.

Looking forward to it. Hang tough, not so old man.

 

[DJ_MI]

Thanks. Just an overnight. I've managed to skip the heavy drugs. I have a follow-up appointment with my insurance company/ healthcare provider doctor tomorrow. This has certainly set my 2024 riding back a good deal.
At this point I figure once I can get the bike off the hooks, I'll be up to cleaning it up completely and setting up the indoor smart trainer. And go that route until I'm better, or cleared or whatever it is.

Right now I figure the doctor visit will dictate what and when. The real thing in all this is that a 70 year old on a bicycle here is in all doctors minds a vision of an old guy on a beach cruiser in cargo shorts and socks with sandals type thing. Middle of the feet on the pedals, knees akimbo. wobbling along at just about walking pace.
My expectations are for enough recovery to get back to light effort training within the next four weeks. That based on how much coughing and sneezing hurts. How much I can sleep and flexibility.
I am definitely not lifting much with my left side. My goals remain to drop weight, increase my aerobic fitness, maintain balance as well as increase all of that still aiming to do a self-supported 100 mile day. I know from what I've been able to do with multiple 60+ mile days in a month.
Just a process of linking the days back to back and getting into the routine and maintaining that.

Simple.

I'll be back in no time with more of those ocean view ride shots.

I'm wishing you a speedy recovery. I'm definitely expecting to see some good additions to your KTM adventures in '24! 👍

 

[Richard]

The review with my doctor at my healthcare provider went well. I'm doing the right things. What happens next is just more healing. The cold I caught will wear off. Middle of February I'll get a chest x-ray to clear me. I'm free to get back on the bicycle when I feel like I can.
All good.

So, about a seven or eight or more week delay to my beginning 2024. I've got to be a good bit careful doing my inactive recovery here to not swell up like a tick. That is the present goal between now and when I can get back on the bicycle.

A few more weeks I'm sure. Easy does it.

 

[blue72beetle]

We had a 4 day weekend plus 2 snow days so I spent the time building up a couple frames that I've been hanging onto for a long time.

 

[CTG]

The review with my doctor at my healthcare provider went well. I'm doing the right things. What happens next is just more healing. The cold I caught will wear off. Middle of February I'll get a chest x-ray to clear me. I'm free to get back on the bicycle when I feel like I can.
All good.

So, about a seven or eight or more week delay to my beginning 2024. I've got to be a good bit careful doing my inactive recovery here to not swell up like a tick. That is the present goal between now and when I can get back on the bicycle.

A few more weeks I'm sure. Easy does it.

So... easy Z1 on the trainer in a couple of weeks and lots of green salads with a bit of protein... avoiding carbs like your famous pizzas. lol

No riding for me this week. I'm on my way home. A few days in Nevada now that is relative stone throw away from you. Lots of flying to get this far, too long in a cramped cockpit gets painful and I go for a run every chance I get.

 

[Richard]

So... easy Z1 on the trainer in a couple of weeks and lots of green salads with a bit of protein... avoiding carbs like your famous pizzas. lol

No riding for me this week. I'm on my way home. A few days in Nevada now that is relative stone throw away from you. Lots of flying to get this far, too long in a cramped cockpit gets painful and I go for a run every chance I get.

Welcome to the US. Such as it is represented by Nevada. We have rain this weekend. A light but steady drizzle and light breezes. A guest cat/kitten is making lounge life hard for the two resident cats.
No pizza as that level of effort is beyond what I can manage with my ribs. I am able to chop veg and get it steamed while the potatoes and meat roast, but standing even for the few minutes it takes leaves my body aching. Hot showers and stretching help, so we do that.

Salad and fruit for lunch today and soup for dinner with salad. We have a lot of soup to work through after making more than we need and freezing beginning over the holidays. The freezer is stuffed full as is the fridge, so we'll work our way through it all to begin the cycle again.

 

[Stormdog]

Welcome to the US. Such as it is represented by Nevada. We have rain this weekend. A light but steady drizzle and light breezes. A guest cat/kitten is making lounge life hard for the two resident cats.
No pizza as that level of effort is beyond what I can manage with my ribs. I am able to chop veg and get it steamed while the potatoes and meat roast, but standing even for the few minutes it takes leaves my body aching. Hot showers and stretching help, so we do that.

Salad and fruit for lunch today and soup for dinner with salad. We have a lot of soup to work through after making more than we need and freezing beginning over the holidays. The freezer is stuffed full as is the fridge, so we'll work our way through it all to begin the cycle again.

Interesting that standing bothers your ribs.
My experiences have been the opposite.
I was most comfortable when I was as vertical as possible.

 

[CTG]

I like the mid western deserts. Lots of space and not too many people. Dad had land with an air strip and a few hangars and would come here to play. I am here to see what needs to be done to recover a couple of aircraft.

Regarding your ribs... I have nothing.

 

[Richard]

Slow, sort of progress in recovery. Bones feel connected. My cold symptoms have subsided. Just feels like muscle ache now. Which feel like a wrench was left between a couple of ribs in my back and side. I'm guessing my short stem will be back to fitting for a while, once I can get back on the bicycle. I'm being real careful about stretching. I think I over did exertions more than a few times now, so managing that is a priority. Almost 8 hours of sleep last night. Which is great for me.

 

[ZoomerP]

Almost 8 hours of sleep last night.

That's a big deal. Do you have a watch that tracks your sleep quality and length? I don't know how accurate mine is for quality when it comes to different stages of sleep, but it gets length right. I also can feel the difference between nights with good and poor sleep scores. I use the score to help keep me maintain good sleep habits.

 

[Richard]

That's a big deal. Do you have a watch that tracks your sleep quality and length? I don't know how accurate mine is for quality when it comes to different stages of sleep, but it gets length right. I also can feel the difference between nights with good and poor sleep scores. I use the score to help keep me maintain good sleep habits.

Yes, the Apple Watch "tracks" sleep. What it does really is begin when you say you're going to sleep, (a set schedule) then monitors HR and derives breathing and what not from the pulse data I guess. The health app can supposedly tell between awake, deep, core and REM. my routine is to begin winding down around 8 to 8:30 or so to be in bed, reading by around 9. Then put the book down and shut off lights by 10. It has taken a lot to get my body to sleep past 6am. With the rib pain I've had to take a single 500mg Tylenol but, that is getting better as I'm more careful about how much I exert. Lifting too much or once pulling heavy blankets when making the bed.
Oddly tonight my ribs feel pretty good. Far better than last night. I'm hoping this is progress. I am very bored with this chair, drink water, walk to the bathroom, get more water, sit in char, drink more water... repeat, routine. I'm catching up on lots of reading at least. One more book finished up yesterday and I'm close with another.

 

[CTG]

Home again... after forty something hours of flight time. Theoretically I'd do that in three days, but I needed to make some stops along the way.

Someone missed me.

The only exercise I have had is running at every opportunity and that never seemed enough. Today I finally got on the bike and was full of energy. We thought we'd have an easy morning. No... 76km in 2 hours. A very fast mountain pace. An hour long swim tonight.

 

[Richard]

I felt good this morning so, I lifted the Roubaix down off the hooks and cleaned off the grit from that last ride.

Not bad for nearing 14 years of age as long as you keep your distance.
I can feel the ribs after moving things to get at the bike and bucket and stand. All the bending and stretching gets me moving. Our nearly 70°F weather was hot in the sun. enough I sweated through my shirt and board shorts while washing up then sweeping leaves. I may get in a gentle cafe' ride this weekend in the predicted warmth. I'll definitely get the garage sorted and the smart trainer set up for some indoor work. We to have another atmospheric river storm series beginning mid-week. I'll play it safe and clean indoors.

 

[Richard]

First indoor ride in the books. It was not pretty. The HR monitor battery died right after starting. Then I couldn't upload to Strava, manually added the ride to Strava then Kinomap uploaded. Yeah.

Anyway, replaced the battery after a short walk to the store to pick up 2025 batteries for the Polar monitor. The old Wahoo TickR that died used 2032 batteries like the powermeter pedals use. And the few other tiny devices around the house. Retested and got an automatic upload even though I deleted the test ride it uploaded to Strava. Big fun.

Short 27 minute ride and not a lot of work. I've got a way to go, but we'll get there. The weather predictors say we're looking at maybe four days of rain in the next week and a bit, so a month subscription and riding indoors is what I'll be doing.

 

[Richard]

Day #2 fighting with Kinomap. I gave up trying to auto upload. It never worked. I emailed the zip file to myself hen was able to unzip it and load the TCX file to Strava manually. This stuff used to work well. Now it doesn't. It was a nice half hour workout at any rate. I can up my time to 45 minutes, but I'm not ready for an hour. With this set up on the indoor trainer I have to pedal all the time. No coasting like the real world. More like racing.

We have storms coming in beginning tomorrow evening so getting this setup sorted is good. Plus the first days riding left my ribs sore, probably from the extra deep breathing I had to do. Today felt better as far as rib pain. Though I'll know more when I crawl into bed tonight.

Easy does it.

 

[Richard]

Tuesday I used Zwift. Hmm. Still a cartoon, but it worked me. Didn't auto upload to Strava, so I resorted to manually loading the .fit file.
Left my ribs a bit sore thanks to longish climb. I managed 33 minutes and given what was left was mostly a descent back to the S/F, I probably could have done that.

Ribs were sore enough I had trouble sleeping. I'll get a rest day on Thursday.

 

[Richard]

A second day on Zwift today. Similar route. Auto upload worked to Strava. Next hurdle is Apple Fitness on the watch. I think I have that figured out, but testing will have to wait for Friday's workout.

 

[Richard]

35 minutes on Zwift today. No real rib pain. I'll take it. Figured out the link to the watch so that is sorted.

 

[CTG]

That is sounding better.

Two full days doing what needs to be done in Ukraine this week. Nothing there. Travel either side so two days of only half efforts. Bike on one of them. Getting back into the routine with 3 hours and 100km this morning.