Bike Flight
I took my mountain bike with us when we went horse camping. The trails there are notorious for being muddy until August. I figured I’d be able to scout out the better trails before saddling up.
I haven’t been cycling much in the last few years, and my first interaction with the seat reminded me of one of the reasons why. Another reason is that cycling on horse trails isn’t the moist pleasurable experience I have known. There is a lot of soft ground with a lot of hills and constant gear shifting, and sometimes you miss the gear you wanted because the derailleur didn’t shift as quickly as you needed it to.
I was on this trail for about a half hour and I was getting tired. Suddenly my front wheel went down in a rut and the back wheel came off the ground shooting me through the air like a catapult. My left shoulder took the biggest portion of the impact with the ground. I heard snapping and thought I had broken something, but it wasn’t so bad, but now my left shoulder was in as much pain as my left knee was from a fall two months earlier, which was waning until this second fall reactivated the damage there.
I am ruining myself. I really don’t like the idea of not doing things because of the risk of an injury, but damn, this stuff is starting to catch up with me. I just don’t recover as well as I used to. Add to that Bextra is no longer available or safe to use, I’ll just have to live with my lumps.
All things considered, I don’t take falls as well as I used to, but it seems I can still fly through the air as well as I could when I was in my 20s.
posted by The Guy Who Writes This at 4:00 AM
5 Comments:
Well, our bones aren't made out of rubber like they were when we were in our teens - be careful!
maybe your body is trying to tell you something.
maybe you should listen.
Lynda, I'm glad I checked your profile, I thought you were someone else who never comments here. Anyway, fortunately no breaks so far. Funny how things change after 50. I should really be more careful, but in my mind I'm still can't accept the aging process. Guess I haven't injured myself enough yet.
Weese, But I don't want to get a walker yet. Though I understand Syd has some cool ones.
God Speed your bodily recovery Guy.
I would recommend something ridiculous like Vitamin C or Feng Shui as "help" for your ailments but I'm sure you already have that available to you.
I am old enough to understand your plight. If you dont push the boundary of safety a little when recreating there is no adrenaline and you might as well be in a rocking chair at the gym.
You have to fight through your injuries and stay active, continue taking risks. Because if you shrink into safer sedentary tasks like gardening as a substitute you will never get your nerves and reflexes back.
Its not like riding a bicycle. You can forget how to enjoy doing the ballsy stuff. Case in point I used to be an experienced skier. I say used to be since I stopped skiing for 15 years and then went back to the hill I could no longer even look down black diamond runs that I used to carve up. I was freaking scared. That took all the fun out of it. Get back on your magic pony!
Gettin' old ain't fer sissies!! Every year I find something new I want to do but no longer can(safely anyway).
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