Monthly Archives: April 2015

Coming Back from Illness

This entry was posted in Comments about Cycling on by .

I never quite understood why you feel so crummy riding a bike after you have been sick.  It seems like you should feel good because you rested everything up real good and should be fresh.  Plus, it seems like you come back a full level lower than before you were sick.  Did your muscles just atrophy while you were laying around?   I don’t have the answer to that.

All I know is that I don’t have a fever now but feel like crap spinning my legs around in circles.  Actually, I should correct that.  I don’t feel that bad, crap might be too harsh of a word to use.  I just don’t feel comfortable, which is depressing in itself.

I have about 150 miles in the past three days.  And I seem to be just be getting more tired, even though I haven’t ridden over 60 miles at any one time.  And I’ve been sleeping okay.  At least long enough, I think.

I think sleep is super important in recovery.  Especially as you age.  Getting a good nights sleep is more important than the training you do many times.

There are lots of things going on here though.  I was sick, with the flu I guess, for nearly a week.  Plus, the pollen count has been on and off the charts pretty much all April, which makes for bad allergies.  Plus, they are still burning the fields completely surround Topeka.

I can’t tell the difference between allergies and being sick.  Seems like it is all the same.  If you feel bad for allergies, then it’s not much different that actually being sick from something else.  I’ve taken a lot of your advise and started using Flonase a few weeks ago.  I think that is helping a ton, but getting the flu kind of ruined the experiment for a little bit.

I probably couldn’t hardly tell if I had allergies if I didn’t ride a bike and do such extensive system checks.  When I’m not racing, or in training, I don’t really care how I feel when I wake up.  But when I’m trying to get into race form, I pay a ton of attention to how I feel at all times.  That is more intense when I’m racing.  Funny how that is.

And, I don’t have any control of the burning.  I do have control, by being not-here when they are doing it, but this year I am sort of stuck, so I just have to deal with it.  Bill said that when he was coming back from the MS 150 on Monday, the Flint Hills were burning like crazy.  The wind has been coming from the North some recently, so that helps a ton.  As soon as it gets back to a normal southwest wind, it is going to be horrible once again.

I’m going to try to do the M-W-F rides with the group this week.  That way I don’t have to be in the wind the whole time.  Yesterday Bill and I rode 58 miles and it was windy as usually.  There isn’t much rest doing this.  It is good training though.  The wind here makes you strong, except when your too weak to fight it.  I’m not that bad, but am struggling some, which makes for long days on the bike.

There are more fires in Eastern Kansas that the rest of the country combined.

There are more fires in Eastern Kansas that the rest of the country combined.

The temperatures are nice, but the pollen is really high.

The temperatures are nice, but the pollen is really high.

Earth Day?

This entry was posted in Important Society Issues on by .

I guess today is Earth Day.  Whatever that means?  I guess it is a way for us humans to try to tell other of our species that we need to pay attention to our environment.   We not really doing a very good job.  Telling each other or with the environment.

The problem is that most of the human population on this planet is in pretty dire straits.   At least compared to what we think is minimum standard of living.  And when humans are in dire straits, then their environment is always going to be in a bad situation.  That is a fact.

I was just returning from walking Bromont and saw two girls in a car smoking.  First the driver, then the passenger, threw their cigarette butts out the window.  Both still smoldering.  I hate it when people do that.  I’m not sure how it became somewhat acceptable for people to do that, but someone needs to tell them it is wrong.  I guess you tell them by giving them citations when they do it.  But, that doesn’t really work.  Most cops have no interest in writing a littering ticket.  It needs to be everyone condoning the problem, not just people thinking it is wrong.

When they are burning the ditches around here, I am amazed how many discarded bottles and cans there are.  Nearly all are associated with beer.  I understand the issue.  It is against the law to have an open container in the automobile, so why not just throw it out the window when your done drinking/breaking the law.

In Iowa they have had a bottle/can deposit for a long time.  I don’t remember whether it is a nickel or a dime.  But it is enough that most people don’t what to throw their empties away.  I think there should be National mandatory bottle deposit.  It is a sad state that we will not throw a bottle out a car window and pollute for a dime, but that is the way we Americans do things.

Anyway, Earth Day.  I think that we’re doing about everything we can currently for temporary enjoyment of this planet.  I really don’t know if it is going to come back and bite us in the ass or not.  One thing for sure, it it does, it is going to be biting us humans harder than we think.

The animals aren’t celebrating Earth Day, it our holiday.  Everyday is Earth Day for them.  We are just screwing those days up.

Seems like today is a good day to start eating vegetables out of the garden.

Seems like today is a good day to start eating vegetables out of the garden.

Bromont was wandering around some today.

Bromont was wandering around some today.