Dear Diary… Haha, just kidding. It was fun writing a couple diary posts, but that joke could get old. But I have been keeping up with my biking for the most part. Not everyday, but at least every other day. As easy as it has always been to get back into biking shape, there is one major inhibitor this time around: those damned hills!
Alright, I’m sure my advancing age plays a factor in some of aches and near collapses, but riding a few miles around the neighborhood hasn’t really worn me down. It’s that last leg as I try to keep the pedals moving up the mountain. This geographical limitation means that I’ve only been going a couple miles in the morning (averaging 2.5 this week), but on the weekend I was able to take advantage of a nearby park to put in over 7 miles on the bike. Unfortunately there is still no path that allows me to go downhill in both directions.
But at least I learned something new about the human body. According to the Gate-Control Theory, the brain has a way of limiting what pain gets through so that you’re not overwhelmed by everything at once. Thus it wasn’t until after my stomach settled the other day and I managed to avoid vomiting following my foolish 4 plus mile ride that I noticed my lungs were on the verge of collapsing… Hmm, maybe my brain should rethink the order of things. Or do I have to fear wasting half an hour stretching out my strained calves after a ride only to realize HOLY CRAP! I was shot in the arm! Thanks brain, maybe that pain should have taken priority over the leg cramp…
Hopefully you all realize everything written here should be taken with a grain of salt. The last thing I need is to find out someone set themselves on fire or shot their foot while trying out some sort of pain experiment they read on a blog…