Saturday, June 11, 2011

Little Extra Time On My Hands

What's a guy to do with 6 hours on a Saturday?
Woke up this morning and I felt the best I have since the crash. Up until today, it's been constant pain. Today there have just been a couple of twinges, nothing severe at all, and, like I said, just a couple of brief episodes.
I got out for a 2 hour walk this morning. Nice and slow just enjoying the greenway and Lake Calhoun. Was home by 10:30, felt a little tired, and my ribs were tender. Sat around thinking, man! what do people do with all their time on Saturday. I started to get a little antsy, so figured I'd run a couple of business errands and then head over to Minnehaha Falls. I walked around Minnehaha Falls taking images and enjoyed some people watching.

If you've followed my blog for any length of time, I'm sure you've noticed that the images I take are dark and have a lot of contrast to them. I do this only because I like it, not because I think it's artistic, and definitely not because it's the way it should be done. I shoot in the manual mode, with as fast of a shutter speed as possible, and an ISO of 100 to let in as little light as possible and still get some sort of image. I took this image of Minnehaha Falls today and really like it. I love how the whiteness and brightness of the water seems to be coming out of darkness, and then falls back into the darkness, which is that contrast that I mentioned above.

I got home from the falls and played around with some of the images I took, creating what you see above.

The entire day felt so odd, no hunger, no tired quads, no endorphin high...I just felt out of sorts. Then it happened...way in the back of my mind...a whisper. I pretended not to hear it, but it might as well have been a scream. I confronted it, arguing, it would be wrong, it could set me back, it's too soon. But, the beautiful sunny day, delightful temps, and me feeling so much better... Yeah, I took the old steel Schwinn Traveler, pumped it's 32cm tires up to 55 psi, and headed out the front door.
The first obstacle was to get my hairy leg over the saddle without aggravating my ribs. I did it. It didn't hurt. There was a tightness, but it didn't give. No popping. No clicking. No pain.
Next I needed to be able to rest my wrist on the handle bars and not stretch out my ribs too far, while sitting in the saddle. I did it and it didn't hurt. Just felt that tightness again. So far, so good. I'm moving down the greenway at a blistering pace of 7mph, that was, by the way, my top speed for the ride. A couple of things I noticed: ribs felt good, but my wrist hurt. There's been so much pain from my ribs, that my wrist has gone basically unnoticed, except for the beautiful purple and golds that it's been exhibiting. Maybe I'll get a slow 10 in tomorrow, but I've still got a ways to go before I'm on the road bike.
Like I said, it was a beautiful sunny day, but the beauty and sun were diminished some by the fact that I couldn't ride with Amy. 5/??

4 comments:

MrDaveyGie said...

That's a big step. Bravo. Slow healings but a promising day. I was in line at the Gas Mart today, and the cashier asked the guy and gal in front of me, what their weekend plans were. They both said they were looking forward to a lazy weekend. I thought how horrible. That would drive me nuts. Went home and rode away. :-)

tainterturtles said...

Good for you Tom, I was thinking about you today. I just knew you had cycling on your mind despite your body aches from the collision.

As for Amy, I'm sure she will ride your miles and then some. I'm sure you missed her smile today!!!!

mrbill said...

I knew it, I knew it, I knew you'd get on the bike, you're definitely addicted, by next weekend you'll be flying again.

amy said...

I am so happy you could get on a bike! Life won't be the same for either one of us until you are back to normal! I'll be out of sorts too until this is all better. I am glad you found some joy today!