My doctor told me yesterday morning that if stay off the saddle for 4-6 weeks, my saddle sores may heal enough for me to ride again. So, I’m driving my SUV as a second support vehicle. I told Melissa I would take the first day myself to get a feel for how it would work with the group, and she will alternate with me driving as second support.
Lindsey joined the adventure last week while I was gone, and a couple days later she got sick with a stomach bug, and Carol was sick with the same thing. I have room to carry four bikes on my car, so we started the ride to Dinosaur with my bike on top, and Lindsey’s and Carol's bikes on the back rack. We took off and I stopped to buy some yogurt for Carol, and then caught up with the riders at the first rest stop. On the way to the next stop I found Mark and Susan working on a flat tire, so I stopped behind them, providing a bit more safety to them while they worked on the flat. At the second stop Lindsey decided she felt well enough to ride, so I pulled her bike, and she was ready to go.
After the sweeps arrived and left, I took off ahead of the van, passed all the riders, and decided to stop at 10 miles out primarily to be there for Lindsey, in case she found herself not well enough once she started to ride. I happened to stop near the top of a hill and got out as the riders approached me to cheer them up the hill. As it turned out, Lindsey was ok, but Nicole’s knee was hurting, so she joined me in the car. I loaded her bike, and after the sweeps passed we continued to the 60 mile stop. Our next stop was only 15 miles ahead, leaving about 12 miles to finish the day. At the last stop, Lindsey was feeling bad, so she got in the air conditioned car to cool off and rest. When Melissa and the sweeps came in, she was through for the day, also feeling bad, so she put her bike in the trailer (since I had four bikes on my car) and got in the car to cool off.
Without the support of my car with bike racks, we would have had to stack the bikes, one on top of the other in the trailer, which is difficult, and hard on the bikes, and gets the Therm-a-Rests black from bike chain oil (we try to protect the bikes by putting the ‘mattresses’ between the bikes). So instead of 5 bikes stacked in the trailer, we only had one, which made me feel good about the entire day in my new support role.
The downside to the day was when I jumped on my bike after settling in, and rode three blocks to get ice cream. After about three pedal strokes my sores immediately started hurting. So, I am now finished complaining about that area of my anatomy, and I’ll let my three readers assume from now on the reason I will be riding short distances, if any, is because of the saddle sores.
Had a great malt tonight, with a rating of 9! It got extra points because the closed shop was opened for the six of us as we drove up in the car. People are great.
Peace ...
No comments:
Post a Comment