New roads, old roads

Today I once again took my bike to the bank and to the INSIDE of the bank. Once again the door was held open for me. Really, they don't mind, or at least they haven't fussed yet.

To go to the bank is to go about a half mile or more westward from my normal route, which means I have to double back to catch my regular route. Today I decided to take a different route home because I was getting slightly bored with my old route. Plus, part of the route would take me on the bike lane on Santa Monica Blvd. between Doheny and Kings Rd. That is actually the whole of the bike lane anyhow, but I'd never done it, and today I did it. It was not bad at all. I only encountered one car in the bike lane that was blocking traffic, and he was a bit of a pain about it, but I was eventually able to move around him. A large portion of the ride is actually pretty flat, but there's a slight hill going up to La Cienega, but I didn't have any issues at all with it.

I was also carrying two bottles of coffee creamer in a sack off one side of the handle bars and two tins of coffee off the other side, and that gave the front of the bike a bit more weight than normal.

Fun to do a new route. Will do it more often.

Los Angeles Tour de Fat - 10/8/11

Today saw several new things, one of which is relatively trivial - that of using the ATM at my bank to deposit a check with NO deposit slip. It was something I had been avoiding doing for a long time, and I don't know why, but today push came to shove because I needed to deposit the check during off-hours due to my biking plans for the day.

At about 8:45 a.m. I left the house on my bike, fully geared, to join up with the West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition at Poinsettia Park for a ride downtown. I had a supply of my own food (partially to avoid buying expensive food from food trucks at the event), including some peanut M&Ms, my favorite tropical turkey salad sandwich from Pavillions, a banana, apple, fig newtons and about 75 ounces of water.

I knew for sure there would be a few of us, but 7 of us turned up, and so at 9:30 we left the park and began an approx. 10-mile trek to go downtown. We mostly rode the sharrows of 4th Street and later connected with the new bike lanes on 7th street that took us downtown - where the bike lane abruptly ended and dumped us into to true city traffic. I was glad I was in a group because with 7 of us, we took up a whole lane, which made riding safer.

There are a few firsts for me this day:

1. First time riding my bike downtown
2. First time riding with a group.
3. First time riding with a HUGE group.
4. First time taking the subway in Los Angeles
5. First time taking the bike on the subway in Los Angeles
6. First big ride since the bike crash on September 5.

I knew we would be meeting up with a lot of other riders for something called "Tour de Fat" - which is not about obesity, btw. However, I sort of got it confused with another event called CicLAvia - which is where some of the streets are closed off in downtown L.A. and opened up to riders, skateboarders, rollerbladers, etc.

The ride to downtown was a lot hillier than I'm used to on my daily commutes and even to get to the beach, which is a walk in the park by comparison. I huffed and puffed up a few of the hills, but never once did I have to get off and walk the bike, so that is a big YAHOO for me.

We met up with a much larger mob of cyclists in Los Angeles Historic State Park just north of downtown Los Angeles and a little S.E. of Dodger Stadium. Music was blaring, bicycle bells were chiming to the beat, and I began to understand that this was not the CicLAvia event but that Tour de Fat was something else entirely. It was sort of a costume party on bikes - a party that would take the mobs of cyclists on a route through downtown L.A. were the streets had NOT been closed off. Tour de Fats are held all over the country and are sponsored by New Belgium, a brand of beer. I'm not a drinker, so I didn't partake of that, but I did enjoy being with other cyclists, including meeting members of the Santa Monica Spoke, the bicycle chapter from Santa Monica.

We had only been at the park for a short time when the mob took off for the ride downtown. The route was relatively short but the ride became extremely congested in one area, and for about 3 blocks of 7th Street, no one was riding much - just sort of half on and half off their bikes and scooting along with one foot on the ground. It was extremely slow going. I know there was at least one accident with a car but I didn't see it. There was some police presence, but mostly because the current Batman movie was filming down there.

While most of the bikes were regular bikes, there were some tricked out, funky ones too. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of the ones I saw during the ride through downtown because I was concentrating too much on not getting killed by other cyclists and the traffic.

Although I could have ridden my bike home, I really wanted the experience of riding the subway and taking the bike on the subway. One of the West Hollywood riders was ready to leave the event early as well and was going to take the subway, so he showed me the ropes on how to do it from Union Station. $1.50 and 11 subway stops later on the "red line", we got off at the station in Hollywood by the Kodak Theater (where the Academy Awards are held), then walked our bikes for about a block (we were in the very touristy and people/traffic congested part of Hollywood) to a quiet side street that helped to get both of us home.

So, 24 miles and about 50 oz of water later, I'm slightly sunburned and heat exhausted but feeling good that things got accomplished.

Same Song, 2nd Verse

Tonight I just happened to have a lot of quarters on me as the woman I work for gave me all her loose change quarters since she knows I always need them for laundry.

So there I was, less than two miles from home, at the south side of the San Vicente/Orlando intersection, and of course I was heading north. It was starting to rain a bit - those big, pelting drops that soak you very quickly, and I got to the little triangle area where I always push the button to trigger the crosswalk. Triggering the crosswalk allows more time to cross the intersection as it is actually quite wide. There was a man standing there in the rain, no coat on. He wasn't a homeless fellow, but he asked if I had change for $1 because he needed meter money. Well, of course I did have change, and it was in my pannier, which to access meant I had to dismount the bike. As soon as I started to dismount, I lost my footing and the bike and I went over, this time on my left side. Whomp! I muttered some "s-word" expletive as I went down. I seem to mutter that a lot when I nearly get doored or winged or any other near miss. My left hand braced my fall, and I now even more strongly suspect that I have a cracked bone in my wrist from the crash 4 weeks ago, because I just added insult to that injury which still was hurting before this latest fall.

The man helped me up, and I dusted myself off. No damage or anything. He gave me his $1 and I gave him four quarters, and he went his separate way after I assured him that I really was quite fine. In fact, I was apologizing to him for my lack of balance!

Honestly, I feel like my biking mojo is totally screwed up. Two falls in less than 4 weeks. What the heck is wrong with me?

Thankfully, the peanut M&Ms, fig newtons and Ritz cracker sandwiches that were crammed into the pannier survived unscathed - as did the 5 Wee Forest Folk that were in their boxes and tied to the handlebars in a grocery bag (see pic above).

Status quo update

The knee continues to mend and is very tender in certain spots. I need to be careful rolling over in bed because the shifting of the pressure of the fluid in the knee can be very painful, so I have to toss and turn with great tenderness and purpose, all the time protecting the knee.

That being said, I managed to do 42 miles on the bike last week, and I'm on the bike again this week. I'm not going particularly fast nor do I desire to. Well, fast on a hybrid - which isn't saying much. Still, I'd rather just ride easily and keep the knee moving and the fluid pumping out rather than building up more pressure.

One thing I've not mentioned about the crash is that my left hand also sustained bruising on the heel. This bruising never surfaced, but it continues to be sore two weeks later, and I'm wondering if I might have slightly fractured one of the wrist bones. It can get very achy just holding onto the handlebars even for short trips.

On Saturday I contemplated biking a 37 mile round-trip adventure that I've been planning for some time - to go from West Hollywood eastward to San Gabriel. It's all city traffic to get there, and I've studied my route for a long time. The problem is, I just couldn't get mentally geared up for it. Somehow my courage is still a little fragile after the crash. I'm also not great in traffic, which is why I tend to take the side streets. I know that one day I will make that trip, but Saturday was not that day. Then, on Sunday, I thought of riding to the beach, but somehow my courage continued to fail me despite having made the beach trek many times, and I opted to stay home. I may just need to be content with the daily 10-milers for a little while longer.

Back in the Saddle Again...

After I got home from work, the bike seemed to be calling me. I have been walking without pain, but to touch the front of the knee or to bump it accidentally can make howl with pain. Even rolling over in bed becomes a huge ordeal because I can't do it - I have to lift my body up, set the bad knee down gently into position and then try to settle the rest of my body comfortably in whatever contorted pose I have. I thought last night that I'd try to roll over, and my knee gave me a searing, ripping pain that lasted for several moments, and I knew I better not do that again.

But the question was.... since there was no actual joint pain, could I ride? I suited up, discovering that my riding gloves are really getting to be in tatters and it's time for replacements, and I took the bike outside. So far, so good. Next question - could I swing my leg with the bad knee over the bike? Again, no problem. So, I got on the bike.

The original intent was just to test it by riding around in the neighborhood, see how my knee felt. Although there was no joint pain, the knee was stiff and tight and didn't want to make the rotations. Keep in mind, the knee and upper shin are still very swollen, and this no doubt accounts for a lot of the tightness. I thought I'd go a couple of miles to loosen it up, and then two miles turned into 4 miles, 4 into 6, and then 6 into 10. 10 miles. 10 slow miles. I didn't want to push my knee too hard.

It feel good to be on the bike again... and by the time I had finished, my knee didn't feel so tight. I did find myself feeling overly cautious and overly protective of my knee. Had I fallen again on that side during this critical time of healing, I would have ended up in the emergency room.

I'm hoping my ace bandages arrive on Wednesday because I'll start wrapping the knee then. Giving it support might even enable me to roll over at night without feeling like I'm ripping open something.

First Aid Station

As I continue to heal from the crash a week ago, I am forced to re-evaluate some things. First of all, I had no first aid kit with me whatsoever. I had planned on getting one in the future, but that future has turned into now. Just got the one on the left for about $3 - including shipping - and it's coming from China. It's very basic, and that's fine for what I currently need. I also ordered some 6" wide ace bandages, and I'll keep one in my large pannier at all times... because you just never know. I will use one of the 6" acers to wrap my knee and stabilize it because the soft tissue damage in the front is actually pretty severe. I also think I have torn a tendon on the outside of the knee.

Walking without joint pain is still not a problem. There is no joint pain, in fact. The pain is in the soft tissue, and a wrong movement will make it feel like it is burning or tearing all over again. So the ace bandage should help with that to stabilize it. I should probably be on crutches so that I'm not really moving it much at all, but that's hardly practical for my life. I have to go to work, I have to drive my car, I have to walk the dog. Life goes on.

Who knows, though. Perhaps my having a first aid kit on hand will allow me to help someone else in need, should the occasion arise. In the meantime, I am still off the bike due to the continued severeness of the soft tissue injuries under the skin in the front of the knee.

Battle of Wounded Knee rages on

So, here I sit, four days after the little mishap and realize that it wasn't "little" after all but quite serious. Now, that being said, I do not believe that anything is broken. However, there is extensive soft tissue damage and probably some nerve damage. It is extremely sensitive to touch and although there is improvement in some ways, in other ways, I just am constantly made aware of how bad a fall it was. When I fell, it felt as if I had ripped all the skin off my knee area. The pain was searing and immense. On a scale of 1-10, it was about a 20. Of course, I looked at it, and there wasn't much external damage, certainly not enough for a pain area that broad, but it was what was under the skin that was causing the pain. Muscles may be be crushed and torn. Not sure. But on the left side of the injured knee (right side in the pic), wrong movements will reinvigorate that searing pain, like tearing, ripping, burning. I'm taking more Ambrotose. Hopefully that will help my body with the information it needs for faster healing. Also light touching of the really damaged area sends nerve shockwaves to the other side of my knee. Not painful waves... just a weird feeling. Discoloration from bruising is still rising to the surface.

So, I'm still off the bike. I could ride it, I'm sure, but I think the knee needs more internal healing time. I'm ready to go, but my knee is not. Walking is not painful unless I've just had a little tweak of retearing something. Then it's just burning/stinging, like a fresh scrape, only you can't see the scrape. Meniscus tear? I don't think so.

I'll rest it all weekend as much as possible and spend time studying.