The saga continues; my sports medicine doctor referred me to a specialist and told me no more riding until I saw her. The referral went a bit awry. First the nurse who wrote it up didn't put "STAT" on it like the doctor instructed, instead he put "ASAP", on the "last" page, so the doctors office that received it didn't see the "ASAP" and didn't make it a top priority. To complicate things even more, the Dr. I was referred to, took a vacation. I finally called my sports medicine Dr. to find out why the referring doctor hadn't called me back, and that it when I found the littered trail of confusion that my referral had left behind. To make a long story short. I was rewarded a May 29th appointment to see the specialist, but still had no answer on whether or not I could safely ride. The PALM final cancellation/refund date of May 15th was quickly approaching. I finally got someone at the specialists office to help me, and last Friday I got a call back from her, telling me that the doctor had reviewed my MRI and I could ride without risking further damage to my knee. I am supposed to let pain be my guide. not a problem, not a problem at all. I'm pretty sure I heard a hallelujah chorus when the words, "you can ride," came through my cell phone.
However, the weather was plotting against me. A cold front came knocking, and stuck around over the weekend, producing snow on both Saturday and Sunday. I had advance notice of this event, thanks to the local weatherman, and was prepared. My trip to the home improvement store yielded paint and supplies to repaint our living and dining rooms. I prepped on Friday, and by Saturday, late morning,(I'm only an early morning person, when forced to be.) I was hard at work, trying to see if yellow paint with primer in it, would really cover a darker color.
In my younger days, I would tackle a big project like this and just keep going until it was done, even if that was midnight. Alas, those days are now behind me. I quit when my back told me it wasn't happy, and was grateful that my knee had not complained from going up and down the ladder so much. I hope to finish the task on Tuesday.
This morning I spent 2 hours painting, ate a quick 11 O'clock lunch, and got ready to ride. Temps were in the mid 40's, and mostly cloudy, but are supposed to rise to 55 and sunny by afternoon. Tony and I each dressed in our biking tights, 4 layers on our upper body, plus hats and gloves. A far cry from how we usually adorn ourselves for mid May riding. In spite of the cold NW wind, we were happy to have our feet on the pedals.
Headed into LeRoy, destination; the White Pine Trail. No billy goats grazing around the barn, as we rode up 2 dog hill, not even any dogs to run along the fence line, as we rode past. The clouds were a mix of small white puffs that slowly stretched out into long dirty rags across the sky. As we rode on, more blue sky began to appear between them. The trail was begging for riders, and we were happy to oblige.
Stopped and talked to some horses. The young Sorrel was quite curious, coming up to the fence to check us out several times. The others, mostly ignored us.
As we rode on, cedars perfumed the air. I spied a small patch of trillium, far back in the woods, too far away to get a good picture. 2 cyclist rode past us, going the opposite direction. We found a nice pine forest. The gate had given up it's guard, so I ventured in.
I am amazed at how a pine forest grows as if someone came in and planted the trees in straight rows. (did they?) I didn't have to get very far in before the silence engulfed me.
We took a break, nearby, welcoming the warmth of the sun, which was shining more often, now.
Across the trail was a house with a bright blue roof. I wonder if they got a new one last fall? I don't remember seeing that house there before, but with the blue metal glinting in the sun, it's hard to miss now.
2 more miles passed under our tires before we turned around. No turtles crossed the trail, but I did see a red tailed hawk, patrolling for prey. By now blue skies prevailed and the sun felt warm and wonderful. Tony shed his gloves, but I kept mine on.
Rollin seems to be in good shape, but is still missing his rear mud flap. I need to figure out if I can use the one I salvaged from our old fenders, or will I need to order a new one. Having a compass is nice, we'll probably appreciate it more when we are riding in unfamiliar places.
Not warm enough to warrant an ice cream stop today, plus we didn't really have time, since we had 3 massage clients coming this evening, had to be home early to have supper and take a quick shower. We ate an apple as we rode, put off the temptation to explore this trail into the woods,
and stopped in LeRoy, for a little rest, before tackling the 4 miles of hills, to home
My knee was hurting some, walking around a bit seemed to help, and soon we were on our way. Our odometor showed a total of 26 miles ridden today, and we enjoyed every single one of them. I love how things change so quickly this time of year. Each day God awakens something new.
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