All I can say is wow! I can't believe an entire year has passed since my bike and I took our epic flip and fall. And I have to include the bike in that description since I've been told I was still attached to the bike when I finally ended up on the ground...
I had hoped to celebrate this anniversary by riding my bike to work for the first time since the crash. Unfortunately I woke up this morning to temperatures in the lower 40s and the forecast of afternoon rain. I briefly thought I'd ride anyway, but then I decided to hope (and plan) for an after work ride. I headed in to the office early enough to put a full day in and to leave early enough for a decent ride. And surprise! The morning coolness gave way to the nicest afternoon of the week. By the time I headed out on my bike it was in the mid-60s, and the clouds that were threatening for most of the day were gone. It was absolutely a beautiful afternoon for a ride.
Touring plans? I've been tossing ideas for tours around in my head as I work towards reclaiming what I consider to be good riding shape. When I foolishly asked how long it would take me to recover, the docs all gave me a timeframe of 6 to 12 months - and that really told me that no one really knew. It's been 12 months now, and I feel like I'm not quite back yet. Why do I feel this? Well, it's because the couple of times I've managed to do back to back 30+ mile days so far this spring, I've felt really tired on the third day. I can't say whether this is because I still have some recovery to do, or whether I should be blaming this on our very cool and wet spring getting in the way of my working up to the longer riding distances that I expect to do on a tour(50+ miles a day, figuring on 1 rest day a week). I suspect it's a combination of the two. But the funny thing is, when I look at the miles I've ridden so far this year and compare it to my pre-crash mileage from 2004 - it's almost an exact match. (Yes, you're right. I'm one of those crazy gals on a bike who insists on logging all of her mileage.) Maybe I should listen to my friends and family when they tell me I'm being too hard on myself.
And yes, I do know that it might make sense to try to plan a tour with lower mileage days!
Right now, all I can say is that I'm planning to tour somehwere this year. Well, hopefully two somewheres. I think a 4 or 5-day ride would be a great start, and I'd also like to do a longer tour later in the year. (And by longer I only mean 1 to 2 weeks since I still have to fit it in to my vacation time.)
When? I'm leaning toward the end of June for my re-introduction to touring, and the date for the second trip will likely depend somewhat on the location. Right now August or September feels like a possibility.
Where? I'm still undecided, but there are ideas percolating in my head. One of these days - hopefully soon - I'll make a decision!And in the meantime I'm hoping that the weather wizard will start to bring me good weather for riding so I can get more mileage under my tires before I finalize my plans.
It's still time to dream, but it's time to plan too...
