I DID IT! I finally met a week’s worth of riding by completing an 80 mile week! My reward? PAIN! Pain in my heel and back! Je ne suis pas amused.
The sensation in my heel is like I’m stepping onto a pebble. This, the interwebs tell me, is likely a prelude to the dreaded plantar fasciitis, which typically develops in runners as a result of hard heel-striking. Given that I am not even touching the ground when riding, this does not make much sense. However, when you remember that the heel bone’s connected to the knee bone which is connected to the hip bone, it starts to come together. That, plus the fact that six weeks ago, I was not riding a bike in any way shape or form, some physical blowback is to be expected.
My back is more troublesome. The pain and swelling are in sections A (trapezius) and D (latissimus dorsi) both on the right side.
I am right-handed, so maybe it’s because I’m holding my book/messing with my iPod/waving at the hottie lifting weights too much? I’ve been icing it and taking Advil but not as consistently as I should. Either way, the quest goes on with there being six weeks left of the challenge.
When I am near the end of my time on the bike (usually an hour and fifteen minutes), and the idea of emerging from the gym into the record heat nears, I close my eyes and picture myself laying on the ground beneath the thick canopy of the Big Sur sequoias, and then everything is good again.
Books I have read on this journey thus far:
Wild
Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity
Little Bee
DQ Trip Tracker:
Miles completed: 220
Miles to go: 449
Images of back and Big Sur Sequoias via Wikimedia
