Shut up and ride!

I really wanted to get a decent ride in today (Sunday)but the forecast was for thunderstorms.

Now you know how thunderstorms are. Very localized. Sometimes they just don't happen.

It was looking kind of dark and in fact, it was raining a bit when I set out.

But I just set myself to do it and I'm so glad I did. It turned out to be a beautiful day, almost perfect, in fact.

It start to rain a little heavier and I thought I was in for it.

Last year I got in the habit of carrying a ziplock bag to put my wallet and cell phone into if it rained but I haven't done that yet this year. However I have started carrying disposable latex gloves in case my chain comes off (it did) so I just stuffed my wallet and phone into them.

But the rain never amounted to anything and I didn't get any more for the rest of the ride even though it did get dark and threatening at times.

I didn't see a single other rider until 2 hours into the ride. Then I saw lots. I don't know if everybody started out later or what.

I had a little friendly competition. 2 guys came up behind me and one of them passed me. I picked up my pace so the 2nd guy didn't get by and I passed the 1st one. We leapfrogged one more time and then I didn't see them again but this really got me going and I hammered it the rest of the way home. Felt great, of course.

The moral of the story is: when in doubt, ride on out!

Oh, here's my route. It was almost 39 miles and took me three hours.

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Chest Pains!

Thursday, while putting makeup on my zits in front of the bathroom mirror, I had a sudden sharp chest pain.

I have had these pains before and since I have survived them and had EKGs and stress tests in the course of normal checkups with no negative indications, I usually don't do anything about them. Notice I didn't say I didn't worry about them.

This one worried me more for some reason. Maybe because I was starting my workday out with it (usually they occur later in the day or at night after going to bed).

It hurts more at the top of a full breath than anything.

In any event, I went to work and it didn't go away so at 2PM I called my doctor and while he didn't think it likely that it was heart related (my checkups have always been good)he thought it was best if I check into the emergency room.

The town's major hospital is quite literally across the street from where I work. So I took a leisurely stroll down to the ER.

Long story short, I'm perfectly fine, it's non-cardiac chest pain, probably something muscular like a cramp (isn't the heart a muscle?) but I'm glad I went. So now I know.

Because of my age (61) they still want me to do a full cardiac workup, echo, stress test, etc. I'm hoping I can wrangle a free maximum heart rate determination out of it! ;-)

One of the doctors who talked to me asked if I exercised and when I mentioned cycling, it turns out he rides in my area and wanted to know where I rode and what hills I ride and how recently did I ride them. Since I rode a pretty good hill just a few days ago without chest pain he thought it unlikely that I was having heart pain now. I thought that was kind of cool.

My only regret is that I didn't get a nap out of the whole affair. They just don't leave you alone in the ER plus it's noisier than the greyhound bus station downtown!
(Cost me 50 bucks too!)

Hey! I took a nice ride today with buddy Charles. 30 miles up into Thatcher Park and the Helderberg Escarpment. Beautiful day (Memorial Day): low traffic, 70-ish, no wind, gorgeous scenery (sorry, no pics). We went up to the dread "Pinnacle" but took the easy way, my choice. Next time ... Beaver Dam Road ... mwah-hah-hah-hah! Oh the pain!

Here's the route!

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