Forecasting rain

Gone are the hopes and delusions of two hot and sunny days this weekend. Reality has taken it's place, with a weather forecast of a decidedly mixed nature. We will have rain. We will have cloud. There is a slight chance of sun. How very typically Northwest.

So yesterday I finally got some fenders. It wasn't as straightforward as I hoped because my bike wasn't really built to have fenders installed.

Consequently, most fender designs just don't work. I did manage to find some plastic ones that will at least give me some coverage though. Today I am going back to get some rain pants and a breathable cycling jacket. Possibly get any other last minute odds and ends too.

I was out for a quick ride this morning, just to make sure I still feel good on the bike. This week has been pretty relaxed though, without much riding so that I can be well rested for this weekend. To that end I managed to get a photo of this guy today. There were a lot of herons out, I guess because the tide was low. This was the best photo I got since most of them were pretty far away from the seawall. Either that, or the photo just turned out blurry.

The ride is this weekend!

I was on the phone with my parents this weekend when a strange but delightful thing happened: my Dad gave me a hard time for not blogging more regularly. He was subtle about it but got his point across - he gets bored waiting to see if I have updated things or not. I suppose if I wanted to I could introduce him to the wonders of RSS feeds but that might be rushing things a bit. I gave them a lesson on how browser tabs work recently - maybe I should see how that goes first.
In other news, the taser graffiti artist strikes again! It seems I am a bit behind the times in reporting this one - the office staff went out for lunch at a local eatery and noticed this on the way back - but some of them were blase about it since they noticed it a few weeks ago. Why I was not informed is still under investigation. More on this as it develops.

Oh, remember that little tree I posted about last time? Seems we have had our first garden casualty. A local squirrel decided to dig it up and make a midnight snack out of the chestnut that was 'planted'. Perhaps it was the same squirrel who planted it. This leaves a grand total of zero plants in my garden this year. At least I have been out on the patio to barbecue some tasty meals (well, manage the BBQ while Holly cooks something amazing.) You can see Louise strategically positioned to make nice with our neighbors, who like to reach through the fence to pet her. They often are cooking up something tasty and Louise remains hopeful although it hasn't panned out for her yet.

Oh, and yes my ride to Conquer Cancer is this weekend. I've been trying to get the last few things together in preparation. The anticipation is certainly building and I'm getting nervous about forgetting something. I'm sure I will, I just hope it's nothing too crucial.

Packages arrived

Today has been a good day. It has taken me several rewrites of this post, but here it is. My enhanced driver's license arrived today, courtesy of CSIS (the Canadian version of the CIA, in case you don't know). I was worried that it would not arrive before my bike ride to Seattle. This would have been a minor problem as one of the main reasons for me getting the card was for that trip across the border.

In short, it's smaller and more weather resistant than your typical passport document, something I didn't want to have to bring if not needed.

In addition to my EDL, a package also arrived from the Cancer Foundation - my check in kit, along with the ride jersey was here! I had to restrain myself from geeking out too badly - my first impulse was to fasten the rider card to my bike, slap on a sticker and try on the jersey - but I remained calm. (I did try on the jersey though.) Now all that is left for me to do, aside from ride my bike as much as possible in the next week is to get medical insurance and decide if I will stay in a hotel or in one of the provided tents. I feel somewhat guilty about tenting it as I know my snoring will probably keep up everybody around me. Oh, and making the arrangements for Holly to make the trip too - that is also yet to be done.

So: like the little tree? We left some dirt outside over the winter (mostly sand used for the paver stones) and I think a squirrel decided to bury a chestnut in it. Now we have this little sapling, growing like a weed.

Weak link in the chain

Two days ago I installed a new chain on my bike. Regular maintenance, it was working fine but starting to stretch. I figured a new one before the big ride was only prudent. I changed it, went for a 10 km ride, all was good. I was happy.

The next day I rode over to ICBC and back - about a 2km round trip. On the way back the chain broke. I can't recall ever breaking a chain before. Luckily it was a short walk back to the house, and even luckier, I had not yet thrown out the spare links from my new chain.

I am not 100% sure why the chain broke, but I have suspicions. I connected the chain correctly but as you can see in the photo the link appears to be stretched. That would certainly explain the pin working it's way out. So I am not sure if I picked up a crappy chain, did something wrong or just had a bad link. I was able to replace the broken parts and things seem to be working ok now but the new join does seem a bit stiff. It's only noticeable when the stiff link goes over the reverse cog on the derailleur though, and only under no load (ie. pedaling backwards while coasting).

Needless to say, I'm packing my chain tool and the rest of my spare links to take with me on all my rides for the next while.

A week later and still, iHurt.

Looks pretty nasty, doesn't it?

I was actually surprised when I went into the hospital and they decided to x-ray my wrist instead of my elbow. I guess they were able to determine that the injuries to my elbow were tissue only and not bone, but weren't so sure about the wrist.

The good news is that despite the size of this bruise (possibly the biggest I have ever had) it really doesn't hurt much anymore. More than anything what I notice is a loss of strength in the arm but that is due to the combination of this bruise and the one on my thumb. Otherwise, the arm is healing nicely.

My hip continues to give me grief though. I have a bruise on it also, but my biggest complaint is that I pulled something on the inside of my thigh so while I can walk comfortably (and ride, luckily) I cannot run at all without pain. This is the biggest area of concern I have right now because while I can still train, another wipeout will only make things so much worse. I figured that much out this afternoon when Holly and I were rushing to get off a bus and I mis-stepped, forcing me to catch myself with my sore leg. I pulled it again a bit, and it took about an hour to get back to 'normal'.

Oh, and I thought I would add a photo of the accident site, as I saw it. I was attempting to turn left here when I had to stop (too suddenly) to avoid hitting the truck that came out from that tunnel. Oh and let me just say again, thanks to the driver for stopping and being so helpful. I really appreciated it.

Wipeout

Nothing starts a day quite like an accident. As usual I was out for my morning ride, doing laps around Stanley Park. I was moving along the connecting road to start my second lap when it happened. Coming around a corner I noticed a truck approaching and I had to brake hard to avoid it, which, I did. What I did not do was control my breaking and weight distribution well enough to avoid going over the handlebars.

I hit the pavement hard enough to knock the wind out of me. This has only happened to me once or twice in my life so I recall noting the novelty of the experience. The other thing I remember thinking is wishing that all of this had been caught on video. Yes, I was thinking of how well it would do on youtube. The driver of the truck stopped and made sure that I was okay. He helped me off the street and offered me some water, which really helped to catch my breath. After about five minutes I felt a little banged up, but well enough to at least ride home. I thanked him for his assistance and got back on my bike (which doesn't seem to have any new scratches.)

I didn't go far without realizing that my right arm hurt more than the rest of me. Specifically, the bottom of my thumb (near the wrist) and near, but not quite at the tip of my elbow. I couldn't put much of my weight on the arm while riding so I figured I better get it checked out. But not before going home and getting cleaned up.

As it turns out, Friday morning at the Emergency Ward can sometimes be kind of quiet. I was lucky in that there wasn't much of a wait, although the way processing works I found that I still had ten to fifteen minutes to wait between each stop along the way.

The doctors wanted to take a couple x-rays of my wrist to be sure nothing was broken there. Once they confirmed that I had nothing more than a serious sprain, they sent me on my way.

Somehow I'm sure I will be paying more for this after a good night's sleep.

Riding with back pain

For the record, suffering from mild to moderate back pain has been a lifelong affliction. This is nothing new to me and to be honest, I am surprised that I went a few months on the bike without any problems at all. My back pain is directly attributed to the fact that I have an office job and haven't really spent a day in my life strengthening my stomach muscles. Add to that one weekend of lifting the dog incorrectly (not bending my knees) and you find me complaining around the house and office about a sore back.

However when I was out riding this morning I noted that my back felt fine while on the bike. Being able to support my weight with my arms helped to take a load off my back and it actually felt good riding. Sure, my wrists got sore quicker but that was a small annoyance more than anything else, especially since this was just a short early morning ride and not a marathon session.

So I won't complain. At least not much, and not too loudly. It's still a joy for me to be able to ride like this and when I look at how much the people I know have donated for this cause, well it feels good. Thanks again to everyone who chipped in, you all helped to propel me to over fourteen hundred dollars raised for cancer research - and this is before the anonymous donor makes a donation large enough to match what is raised. Truly exciting, at least for me. I just hope I didn't pester you too much!

The utility of cycling

Yep, that's right. I'm ordering pizza pick-up orders now instead of delivery. I can get to the pizzeria in under 5 minutes so it just doesn't make sense to wait a half hour to 45 minutes anymore. The 'za is still hot by the time I get back.

Of course, none of that matters when I get home and find out that what we have is not what we ordered. A quick call back to the store and I was off for a second trip to pick up a second pizza - this one free of charge, and this time made with the right ingredients. But hey, at least I'm getting the miles in on the bike, right? It's kind of like eating for free as I practically race home.

Not that I'm at a point where I am counting calories - unless it's something truly sinful like a DQ Blizzard or a hamburger and fries - if I'm going to go hog wild with junk food I will make informal calculations like 'it's probably going to take me thirty kms to burn this off.' But hey, if it keeps me motivated to spin the wheels, it's kind of justified, right?