Therapy - back in the saddle again

Ahh...I'm surprised to say it, but it was fantastic to be on my bike again.

You see, last week I missed it. I took the week off to recover from RAGBRAI and be ready for the triathon on Sunday (yeah, poor planning on my part), but as many of you know, I took a hearty tumble from a tube behind a friend's boat last week and tore a ligament in my knee. Thankfully, it wasn't a bad tear and the ortho doc recommended biking as my therapy.

Damn the luck!

Fridays I get off work at lunchtime, which leaves wide open trails (or pools) without much traffic. Today, I opted for a lap around White Rock Lake to test out the knee and see how it would hold up. A lap is about 9 miles, depending on which offshoots you take.

I took it really easy the first lap, avoiding the hills (okay, truthfully, I missed a turn) for the most part and just enjoying the ride. Suprisingly enough, I must've gained a lot of strength on RAGBRAI, as my average speed ended up at 15.8mph...again, I wasn't pushing it at all! The few hills that used to bog me down a bit were mere speed bumps now. It's amazing how perspective changes, isn't it?

So it felt really good that first lap so I decided to try a second round. This time I went ahead and tried a few of the "stronger" climbs and didn't feel a thing. Nice! This lap was a bit slower, but still, it wasn't bad considering.

The therapy was for my knee, in theory, but also for my soul. Nearly 2 weeks with little to no exercise left me edgy and craving more.

This ride helped, and thankfully, it didn't hurt.