Yesterday went pretty quickly. Bill, Dennis and I chopped wood most of the morning. We were planning to get up to Duluth in time to ride for 3 hours, but my van batteries didn’t want to help, so we left late. We drove up to Hartley Park, which looked like it would be the closest riding to the Duluth Airport.
The riding was just okay. Not enough choices or enough elevation change for me. Towards the end of the ride, Bill caught a sapling with a bar end got launched onto a wooden bridge, head/back first. He was stunned. He laid there for awhile and moaned, which is never a good sign. Now is bad ribs from crashing in Tulsa are officially bad once more. On the way out of the park, my rear wheel decided it was sick of me riding it and rebelled. It is a Easton wheel, carbon. And it’s not mine, it’s Matt’s, TradeWind Energy Matt. It has been making a ton of noise all week. First, the freehub quit engaging. That makes putting pressure on the pedals questionable. Then a spoke broke for no apparent reason. I limped out of the park, glad I didn’t have to walk a long ways.
Trudi was waiting there at the airport. She had flown from Montreal to Chicago to Duluth. I had dropped her off over two months ago in Duluth. That is sort of a strange coincidence. Anyway, she is done working for BMC for the year. Maybe a training camp somewhere later, but done working races. We drove over to Canal Park and walked the dogs and hung. We spent about 30 minutes skipping stones on Lake Superior. My goal is being able to use my shoulder well enough that I can efficiently skip a stone with no pain. Right now it is a real challenge.
I’m up in the air about what is next. I’m sort of in denial about my hand situation. I guess I should address it today. After running a chainsaw a couple hours yesterday and moving a ton, more than a ton of wood, I realize I need to do some strengthening stuff. I’m not much of one to go to a gym. I like real life work that a gym just mimics. But, with a cast on my right hand, some/most of those types of things will be hindered greatly, if not off the plate completely. The sooner I do the surgery, the sooner I can get back to cyclocross, construction, life stuff. Man, this year has been a mess.
Today, I plan to get real sore chopping wood. I did it for another hour or so last night. It is really bad for my thumb, but seemed pretty good for my shoulder. There are always trade-offs for everything. Then, I’m going to walk down to the lake and swim a mile. That is if the water isn’t so cold I can’t stand it. It is about shoulder rehab today.
Bill had laid here for awhile before I felt comfortable enough to try to take a photo. By then he was coherent enough to protest, sort of.
Trudi at the airport with Bromont.
The buses in Duluth have advertising wrap all over them. Somehow that seems wrong.
Dog walking on the board walk.
I watched this kid chase a pigeon for a while.
Lots of stones to choose from for skipping.
As soon as we started back to Cable, these guys were out.
Gonna be some serious sleeping going on here the next couple days.
Bromont trying to take credit for my pile of split wood.
