Thursday, March 5, 2009

Escape from Prison


Well, I can't wait to get out. As much as I have enjoyed watching the first season of Battle Star Galactica (thanks Dr. Howard), while riding the trainer, I am very anxious to get outside on my bike. I had one trial day of going outside prior to this week and that was halted by PT Tom as quickly as it started. We thought we would try clipping out for the first time and that has been the last time since. Turns out, my little chicken leg is still not strong enough to clip out. Actually, the repair is still not even close to being healed, so when I clipped out I felt like I was ripping apart the lateral portion of my ankle. Amazing how the things we do everyday as cyclist become second nature to us, but when we have something go wrong these acts seem very complex if you think about it.  Needless to say, the ankle swelled up like a ballon after that ride and I had a fun time pulling my foot out of the shoe while it was still clipped in at the end of the ride.
  That ride has been a while ago and there is hope on the horizon. which is good since I have been officially told by my therapist that I am not okay to ride with the team at camp next week. Aside from still not being able to stand and pedal, anything that would increase my chances of wrecking while clipped in could lead to bad stuff (like surgery). My foot attached to a wrecking bike would equal ripped ankle. Not good. 
The cool thing is that Spring made a little appearance here and I did get to go outside and test again. This time it was better, or good, or not as bad. Whichever, it will happen more often, but I still have to pull my foot out of the shoe instead of clipping out. I'll take it. The other thing on the horizon is that I'm off to Florida on Tuesday for a week where I can ride the flats solo. I was kinda bummed because I would rather go to team camp, but then I figured I should be thankful for a trip most people would only do once in their life.  Mom and Dad are heading down with me and they will hang out at the resort while I get some base miles back in the legs. I will be thankful to spend some time with them since I kinda neglect them during the busy racing season.  Not a bad deal! I can't wait to see the Gulf of Mexico- its been about 6 years for me and I always enjoy God's handy work.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

When you are ready to train you should do so with tennis shoes on platform pedals. The only risk with tennis shoes is that a foot could fly off at high RPM (wouldn't likely cause a crash). But if you keep the RPM below 100 it won't happen and you get all the bennefit of training. Your foot will have more than full float this way and will be safer in a crash. I have forgotten my bike shoes before and found that I could keep up just fine in tennis shoes. -Sgt