Denise Goldberg's blog

What do you mean I can't ride my bike?
The journey back --- from crash to recovery

Monday, September 6, 2004

It's time to dream

...of next year as I continue to recover

It's hard to believe that it's been almost four months since that day in May when my bike and I went for a different kind of ride - and not the kind of ride that I'd like to repeat! I had hoped to recover enough to head off on a bike tour this year, but I think it's a smarter decision to allow my body the time it needs to heal.

My next tour? My heart is set on at least one tour in 2005. I had 3 short tours planned for 2004 that I had to cancel, so the easy way out is to use this year's plans for next year. But it's highly likely that I'll dream of someplace else to add to my touring dreams.

It's time to dream...

A holiday weekend

...means 3 days for riding & resting

Another week of working and not biking (on the week-days, that is) was capped off by a beautiful weekend with what I consider perfect cycling temperatures. I vote for more weather like this, and more 3-day weekends! I continued my habit of walking an hour to an hour and a half each day, and I'm definitely noticing the change in daylight. I wish we could keep the summer daylight around for a while longer, but I guess I'll have to adjust to walking in the evening as the daylight is disappearing, and to walking after it has disappeared, too!

It was a good week from a dizziness perspective. Maybe I shouldn't say anything - after all I don't want to jinx myself! But - while I still have times when I feel dizzy, I had no (all day) dizzy days last week, as contrasted to one the week before, and three just two short weeks ago. I think - I hope - that I'm moving in the right direction.


Ah, there are still some late summer blooms out there...


Beautiful sky as the sun is starting to slip away


Saturday dawned as a beautiful day. I needed a change of pace, and the weather was definitely cooperating, so I loaded my bike into the car and headed for the coast. I found a free parking lot in Seabrook Beach, New Hampshire - so that became the starting point for my ride. It was going to be an out-and-back ride, so I needed to guess what my body would be happy with as a mileage total for the day. If I was still full of energy when I got back to the car I figured I could continue to head south for a bit further, and then turn around again. That turned out not to be a problem though. I rode 14 miles north, and then as the road started to wander away from the coast I figured that was a good point to turn around. A total of 28 miles was good for the day. I always enjoy riding next to the ocean although riding through Hampton Beach once in a day is really enough. It's a typical beach town with a fair amount of traffic, and it was on my route twice - out-and-back, no way to avoid it! The ride was definitely a nice change of pace for me. I'll have to wander off on different roads more often...








It's too bad that this sign and the resulting totally free bike lane only existed for a couple of miles of my route today. It would be awesome to have a dedicated bike lane / open shoulder along the entire coastal route. But I guess I have to be satisfied with a couple of miles as a start.


I'm sure the sea gulls think they own this building!


Sunday and Monday were beautiful days too, with temperatures that were just about perfect for riding, in the high 60s. I could live in this weather indefinitely - too bad the weather doesn't listen to me! I stayed close to home both days, riding loops, putting in 22 miles on Sunday and 23 on Monday, and wandering down some new roads too. My energy level still isn't supporting expanding my rides into longer rides and I know I have to accept that for now. I'll keep riding every weekend though...

It's funny, people who don't bicycle think my little 22 to 28 miles rides are long. When I was chatting with my neighbors earlier today they were very surprised when I told them that at this time in a normal season I can happily ride 50 to 75 miles without even thinking about it. They were somewhat shocked and told me that they consider my current ride length to be long. I know I'm doing what I can physically handle right now, but I still think in the overall scheme of things that my current rides are pretty short!