First Time on the Trainer

Today was the first time that I "borrowed" Brad's bike trainer. I think that the steady downpour, flood warnings, and howling wind are enough for me to decide to ride inside. I did ride inside on Friday, Julie and I used Thorbecke's virtual bikes and that was fun. You could tell when you were heading up a hill and I could "gear down" and pedal away! Of course, we discovered real quick that there is no coasting when you ride indoors, it's pedal uphill and down hill!

Today I figured a few things out as I rode. The first thing is that I need a fan! Brad moved the trainer inside (he's been riding it out on the porch) and I really missed the feel of the wind, it also helps to cool a person off as they ride along. I had time to think, there isn't much in the way of dogs and cars to watch for on the trainer and I started thinking about my knee surgery last March.

My Orthopedic did a large amount of work that he hadn't expected to do when he went in for the surgery. We knew that I had torn my meniscus, but I had actually torn it in three different places. I had also managed to chew my cartilage up in that knee. I also have/had arthritis and I was close to bone on bone at that knee joint. The Orthopedic ended up cutting a large amount of my cartilage out as it was frayed and a mess. When I came back in for my after surgery check up, he told me that I was a good candidate for this stuff that they inject into the joint. I can't remember exactly what it was, but I remember that it was natural and blue. It cushions the joint and relieves the pain from having your bones grinding together. He also told me that the surgery and this injection would put off the knee replacement surgery that I was headed towards by about six years.

I had forgotten this entire conversation until today as I pedaled away in my dining room. I never went back for any blue stuff to be injected into my knee. I very rarely remember that I've had surgery on it unless the weather is doing a drastic change and then it just has a twinge on the inside where most of the damage was.  I don't take any pain relievers anymore. I don't need them and they are hard on my system, so why take them?

I remember deciding after the surgery that I was not going to have a knee replacement, it really wasn't in my reality and it still isn't. I have thought about running again, Brad is against that idea as he was there when the Orthopedic told me that my running days were over. I am not so sure about that! For now though, I will continue to ride and strengthen my knee. I do take a supplement for my joints, Procosa, and I take Calcium as well. These supplements are both from USANA. I am a firm believer in nutritional supplements as I can tell the difference in both the way I feel and in my performance as I work out as well.

I noticed that my heart rate is doing so well! When I ran before, I would walk to try to get it to come back down, but it never did. My average heart rate would be up over 187 and I don't think that is very healthy! I know that a large part of it was my Copaxone as a side effect was a rapid heart rate. I was pleased today that my training rate was up around 146 and that when I decide to bring it down, I can watch it drop as I move to an easier gear to pedal in. When it got down to around 130, I could push it back up. It almost fascinated me to watch it and realize that is what it's supposed to be doing!

I will be ready for all of the rides that Brad is talking about us doing this summer. I will be ready for my fund raising, information spreading, and hope inspiring ride of a 1000 miles next August. Be watching for me to ride past!

Learning About Hills

Today I thought that I had planned a challenging training ride. I rode from my house (well the top of my driveway) up Marttala Road, to Tennessee Road, and turned around at Pleasant Valley Road. Tennessee Road has some big "roller coaster" hills in it and I thought riding them twice, once each way, would take some time. I was wrong.

It's fun when you realize that you've gotten better! I only had to gear down to my lowest gear on two of the hills, that's a big improvement. I should have realized that when I got to what I thought was the "flat" part of Tennessee Road and was cruising at 23 mph, that it wasn't really flat at all. It took me 16 minutes to get to Pleasant Valley Road, it took me 24 minutes to get back to the top of my driveway. That flat part was uphill when I turned around!

I really didn't think that I would need to be looking for more mileage to ride. I was trying to wait a few days before I went over Hale Hill again and thought that this would be a good alternative. I surprised myself!

I am learning about hills as I ride. If you look at a hill you begin to see that hills have a flow to them. They don't go straight up at the steepest pitch of the hill. They seem to climb steep for a bit, then they let off (still going up hill, but not as steep) and then they climb again. I am beginning to be able to pick out the spots that seem to not be as steep and I tell myself that I can make it to that spot and my pedaling won't be as hard. It's a bit of a rest (though I don't stop) before the pitch becomes steeper again. My timing still needs work as I gear down to low to soon at times. That's why I had to use my lowest gear the second time, I went to far down. I underestimated my ability to ride up the hill!

I will be ready come August for the big ride. I am excited ... Bike MS and the 1000 mile ride here I come!

1000 Miles for MS

Yesterday I rode with Julie and it was a nice ride! We took a route that we haven't ridden before, it followed along the Newaukum River, it was a beautiful ride. It had some nice rolling hills, nothing major, but it was a good start for Julie as we've been riding the Tenino Trails. Poor Julie, she is riding a crossover bike, and she gets a workout compared to me riding the road bike! Brad tells me that it's not fair and I should ride my mountain bike when we ride together. I think he just wants me to have a better work out.

Julie is in! She told me that she is planning on riding the full 1000 miles with me for Bike MS! I was so excited to hear this as I really enjoy riding with her! Brad told me last night that he, too, is thinking of working it out so that he can ride the full 1000 miles with us as well. Julie said that we should name the ride "1000 Freakin' miles" but I don't think that name will go very well with our purpose, but it did make me laugh!

I need to work on my fear of dogs while riding. I think that I am attracting them to me as they do scare me! We rode past a house, I have Julie lead as she is on the harder to pedal bike so I let her set the pace, and two dogs came out. One was a young dog and I was keeping my eye on him. Julie rode through fine, but I think that I made my first mistake when I slowed down. I made my second mistake by watching the younger dog as the older dog come up on my opposite side and bit my ankle! I let out a very surprised "ow"! I think that the dog was just surprised as I was that he had actually bit me.

It didn't break skin, just startled me and then the dogs both ran back to their yard. I know that animals can sense things and I need to get this fear of the dogs out of my system. I also need to learn to NOT slow down and give them a chance to catch me LOL!

Tomorrow I ride with Brad and he knows the dogs on the route. I will begin sending out thoughts that there will be NO dogs running out at us long before I ever get to where they might be ... if I believe it strong enough maybe I'll change the vibes that I'm sending out. You never know! I'll keep you posted!