To sum up today’s ride in one word… Lousy. I headed out of camp not really knowing what to expect and did manage the whole 111 kms at an average speed of well more than 30 kph. Those 2 statements probably don’t fit together very well but that’s because it’s not my legs that are causing trouble it’s that shoulder. I got bandaged up a bit this morning but without the correct kind of tape it didn’t really do what it was supposed to as far as keeping my collarbone in the right place. The leaning on the handlebars isn’t much trouble at all but when I want to move that hand around on the handlebars. I have to support it with my shoulder and that’s not something I can do very well. That means every time I want to shift gears I have to reach across the bike and shift with my other hand. I also have zero ability to stand out of the seat and the bumps in the road don’t really make me smile either. I had to give up on my first riding group of Bob Terpstra, Sarah Terpstra and Stephanie Webb and joined Eritia Smit and Jess Fox for the rest of the ride as I couldn’t manage getting off my bike at one of the pit stops. The big tailwind today was nice and even though I was cruising along quickly I have to admit I did start debating the merits of getting a ride, When those thoughts get in your head the prognosis isn’t so good for a successful completion and I just decided I had to get out of there and get to camp as soon as I could. I made the big effort to get in a different gear and upped the pace by a full 10 kph and headed towards camp at more than 40 kph. Upon arrival in camp there were about 5 people drafting me. “We drafted the cripple here for the last hour” was the announcement made to a slew of riders as we climbed off of our bikes. I threw some ointment on the road rash which made it all start to ooze orange fluid as we waited for the gear trucks to show up. Eritia has the photo of that… and I stole it from her blog:
I’m quite sore, and riding with not much mobility but I did get the go ahead to take more Ibuprofen than the normal dose so things may be looking up. I’m giving up on my other drugs, the painkiller one, because it doesn’t seem to do anything for me. Plus it’s “habit forming” and I’m not super keen on putting that kind of stuff in my body unless I have to.