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June 29: Today was my virgin ride outdoors, under some pretty stringent guidelines with respect to my HR zone. So my big dilemma today, as I’d explained in the blog yesterday, was which bike was I going to ride? I have all these straight bar mt bikes to choose from. But after muscling that gnarly duel suspension 29er up and over mt passes in NV, I just couldn’t stomach the thought of getting on a fat wheel bike and putting down the paved trail on one of those. So, against better judgement I took my X fixie out, knowing full well I’d damned well better be extra careful with my dismounting and riding. One of the things Doc Blackburn had said to me when I asked him if I could begin riding outdoors was, “yes, but please don’t crash!”

Now I might not be fast anymore, but after 40-some years of riding a myriad of different bikes in a myriad of different situations, I do kind of pride myself in my bike handling abilities. Yet still, having had your sternum sawed in half six weeks prior, there’s a bit of pressure and anxiety in getting out there on a bike, any bike, and trying not to do something stupid - let alone worrying about someone ELSE doing something stupid to take me down. 

So I chose the fixie, called Judy and had her meet me down in Stow on the Bike & Hike trail. My issue from the get-go was the work they were doing on the trail in Hudson, thereby closing the trail for a section. I had to take to the roads right from the start to go 5 miles to get to the trail that’s all open. I just had this bit of anxiety about riding roads knowing that there’s always a chance of some asshole taking me out. I mean hell, even when I was pre-surgery for the past years, I’ve just ridden less and less on the roads because of all the traffic and the angry/non-attentive drivers out there. It’s a whole different world now riding on the roads. Back in the 70’s and 80’s it was just easier and way less aggressive with respect to the vehicles. Today, with all the cell phones and interactive devices in cars, it’s just a minefield out there. 

Anyway, my first foray back on the bike and I have to hit the roads right off the bat. Well, mounted the fixie and got it going up Barlow to the light. Dismounted on fixie ok, as muscle memory was doing just great. Then rode out to Terex Rd and got on a nice bike lane. Only issue there was going over a really bad RR crossing, where I just lifted my upper body pressure off my arms and let the arms act as shock absorbers so as to not jolt my chest area. No problem there. Then hit Stow Rd where again there is a nice bike lane. So I got to the trail with zero issues. 

Now at that point I went up a small incline, which I really felt as I was riding along. Felt the HR go up and up on that puppy, but not enough to make me think I was going above High Z3 - my upper limit right now for cycling HR. It really made me conscious of how out of shape I really was what with having been off the bike for 2 months, AND having undergone 5-bypass open heart surgery! Shit, the latter alone just had me shaking my head at the fact that there I was, just 6 weeks off the operating table, riding a fixie down the bike trail. I need more of those “lucid moments” when I get down on myself for being such a putz right now regarding my fitness. 

Turned and rode onto the trail, and wouldn’t you know it just as I did a guy on a mt bike crossed from the other side in front of me. And those of you who ride the bike and hike know what that can sometimes spell: dude or dudette immediately goes faster such that you cannot pass him/her. What’s even worse is when they continuously look back to see if you’re gaining on them. So I was thinking to myself, “look dude, you MUST just keep it steady and NOT even try to pick it up on this guy.” And I did. I just tried like hell to keep the same cadence and HR on that stretch of trail between Stow Rd and Young Rd. And the whole time the dude is looking back at me like we’re racing. I mean shit!

Now the funny part was that I just maintained the same distance from the guy the whole way to Young Rd, despite the fact that the dude had shifted down a couple times. Heck, my speed is totally controlled by the fact that I only have ONE gear, so on the flats I just maintain the same speed at the same cadence in that one gear. And honestly, I did not try to gain on this guy. Thankfully at the Young Rd crossing he kept going on the trail and I turned off to meet up with Judy. 

Judy and I met up and got back on the trail to head out to Kent. Now Judy was just doing the Mother Hen thing constantly asking me how I was feeling, constantly telling me to keep it mellow. Got off the trail and did a road stretch to the Portage Bike & Hike in Kent, and this little punchy climb on Hudson Rd had me climbing out of the saddle in slow motion so as to NOT get my HR past the High Z3. Well, I took my pulse manually over the top and I actually think I did exceed it for 10-20 seconds after I topped out. I’m doing the six second count of the pulse X 10 method, so could be some big discrepancies there.  

See the problem is that I have all these old Polar HR monitors I used in the 1990’s, four actually, that are all just relics of the past. They’re all wrist monitors, and one was a top of the line monitor in the mid 90’s…BUT I have no accompanying chest straps that are any good - they are all like 17-20 years old and dead to the world! So without the chest straps - no HR monitoring. Thus, I’m left right now to do the manual radial artery method. 

So I got over that puncher climb and Judy tells me I did it way too fast, and I’m like, “hell, I’m on a fixie and I was doing the thing in slow motion so as to not get my HR up!” “Go slower,” she countered. So I noodled down Hudson St into Kent where we had to cross Rt 59 to get on the Portage trail. Well, normally I just do track stands at crossings on the fixie while waiting for traffic. NOT today, and NOT for a few weeks! Nope, all I needed was to biff it and then explain to Doc Gladden, my sister, and Doc Blackburn who had preambled me not to crash, that I was just doing a simple track stand when all of a sudden I biffed. So I dismounted and waited for traffic to clear - I mean big time clear. 

Rode the Portage trail up to Towner’s Woods Park and then we flipped it. I wanted to just go 2 hrs today - yea just two hours when I was 6 wks out of surgery? Like in the old days - about 3 months ago - 2 hrs was a loosen it up ride. Today, it’s my endurance ride! I was feeling it in the quads, but way more especially in the neck, shoulders, traps, and triceps. Man, that upper body was just really feeling it. My chest felt fine because I was doing the light arms routine on the tops of the handlebars so as to keep any bumpy stuff high heavily weighted stuff from translating down into my sternum. 

So the out of the saddle to accelerate stuff felt good and the OTS stuff on rollers and punchy climbs felt good on the sternum. I’m thinking that meant it was really healing well. Took it back to Hudson on the same route. Finished the ride with 2 hours, but again, I really had to consciously dial it back to keep the HR in the right zone. So right now, what with my severe state of deconditioning and my intensity restrictions, I’m just doing a pretty sedate rec riding pace. BUT, I’ll keep within my directives and not get stupid about all this. 

I’m going to finish the blog today with my pasting this note Doc Blackburn had sent to my sister yesterday. That last sentence gives me hope that all this patience and persistence will pay off months down the road: 

“Met with Peter yesterday.  All went well with the exercise test and he is going to come in here for a few supervised sessions before transitioning to self-supervised activity. Still have a hold on UE resistance exercise/off road cycling/drop or aero handlebars until sternum fully healed. He did agree to reschedule an early July tour as well. Enjoyed meeting him and I’m very aware of his passion to resume his former lifestyle.  I see no major barriers for him to return to that lifestyle (with a few minor adjustments) long term.”