Denise Goldberg's blog

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

Friday, January 16, 2009

Introduction

...plans are apparently made to be changed

I spent a fair amount of time dreaming of biking during the winter months of 2004. And of course I was planning bike tours in my dreams. Should I use all of my vacation time in one fabulous trip, or should I take a couple of shorter trips? I went back and forth between one large trip and two shorter trips, changing my mind often. But - I did finally make a decision. 2004 would be a three trip year - a long weekend in Nova Scotia in mid-June with a final day ride around Acadia National Park in Maine after the ferry returned me to the states, a week in Alberta traversing the Canadian Rockies from Jasper to Banff and then on to Calgary in late July, and a week in Hawaii in late October. I enjoyed riding around the Big Island so much in 2003 that I decided to do a variation of the same trip. I made all of the reservations for my dream trips, and I continued to wait for biking weather.

The weather finally turned into spring after what seemed like a longer than usual bad weather delay, and I started the biking season by commuting to work by bike. As of the third week in May, I had worked up from a bike commute of 1 to 2 days a week (weather permitting, what a baby!) to my summer 3 to 4 days a week.

And then May 20th happened. It was a bad day for me, and as you'll find out if you continue reading, I have absolutely no memory of May 20th, or the day after that...

Those vacation plans? Well the first two trips were immediately off, but I kept hoping that I could still ride in Hawaii in late October of 2004. It was time to wait, time to hope...

This journal is a bit different from my other journals. It is about biking, but it's not about a biking tour. It's about an accident I had on my bike as I was commuting to work one morning, and it's about my journey back to being able to ride and my journey back to preparing to tour again. If you're interested in my different kind of biking journey, please keep reading!