July 5: Pretty sedate day from the rehab dept. After yesterday’s ride where I felt like I was just a bit trashed from the prior 5-6 days of cycling, I almost took the full day off today. But then when I decided to do some grocery shopping, I figured I’d do a complete Z1 noodle to the Indian Grocery in Cuyahoga Falls, just to spin the legs out a bit.
Humidity was just terrible today, so I really concentrated on the Z1 noodle so as to not be dripping with sweat when I got to the grocery. Got on the Bike & Hike heading towards Silver Lake. Legs were still a bit on the muscle soreness side, but the cardio felt about like it should. I opted out on the HR monitor today, figuring I’d just go about as slow as I could and not worry about where the HR was. Honestly, I just did not want to see HR’s today. I mean I’ve been so independent from the HR monitor for the past 16 years that it still kind of feels like a pain in the ass to do. It’s kind of like my fixie - in that I just love the simplicity of cycling at this point in my life.
That simplicity involves no gears, no super light weight carbon frame, and not thinking while cycling - other than enjoying the ACT of cycling. Same with the HR monitor. Been there done that. Over the years I’ve evolved to love the “less is more” philosophy. Shit, I have like 12 bikes, and some damned nice ones, BUT the only bike I really ever ride with any frequency is my fixie. So anyway, I know it’s important now to keep track of my HR in this whole rehab process, but today, seeing that I wanted to go total Z1 and relax, I just didn’t want to deal with a HR monitor. So my HR monitor friend, you stay at home on the desk!
Got going late for the humidity today, leaving at like 11:30 AM. But knowing the grocery opened at 11, I figured I’d give them a bit of wiggle room, since I’ve found in the past they can be a bit liberal in their opening hours, sometimes stretching it to past noon. Wore a tank top cycling for the first time since my surgery. And damn did I need it today. I was just on the brink of really sweating up a storm even noodling along at Z1. I’ve been better and better about wearing “revealing” shirt attire over the past couple of weeks. At first I just didn’t want to display that nice vertical zipper than runs down my chest, but I’m getting to care less and less about this, to the point where now I just don’t give a shit!
That tank totally revealed the first 3 inches of the scar, but had I worn anything else, I’d have been soaked for sure. At least I was able to give the upper body a chance to cool down with the sleeveless gig. Been riding a lot more now with my hands on the handlebars. When I first got going on the fixie, I’d do a ton of my riding no handed to keep the road shock from translating up to my sternum. Today, I’m able to ride much, much more with hands on, with no shock issues on my sternum. Only exception to that is when I’m riding on really crappy road surfaces like west Barlow Rd etc.
Rode the trail to outside of Silver Lake, then did the Silver Lake loop down to the Falls Corp line where I headed toward the grocery. Got all my goodies at the grocery: Nigella seeds, cumin powder, red chili powder (thai chili), yellow mustard seeds, fresh cilantro, fresh mint, fresh red chili peppers, and asafetida. Got some of this stuff to make some Bombay Potatos for a dinner side dish!
The ride back was sweltering, so I tried extra hard to just keep it totally easy. And that was pretty much my day. I mean I’m at home working upstairs and I’m cooking dinner and doing light cleaning with zero problems. So I’m getting closer to living a normal life again without all the assistance. And today is the 7-week mark from my surgery, so I’ve one more week before I can begin an upper body resistance training regime. I’m movin on up!