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Tour De Perry and reality

 

Post #13: I have been wondering about what and why I ride a lot lately.  I have been struggling with my health as of late, so I have been pondering things.  On April 10th, I received a single dose of Johnson & Johnson (Jansen) COVID-19 vaccine.  In late May, I started having troubles breathing when my heart rate was at 150bpm or above.  It was not painful, it was not a panic attack it was restricted breathing.  Fast forward to 19 June.  I develop a blood clot while I was slightly dehydrated and after a four hour car ride.  Combine all this with me having a DVT in 2014.  On the 21st of June, I went to Urgent Care, then the ER, and was placed on blood thinners for the blood clot in the left leg I had developed.  Tuesday, I get blood thinners for my leg, but come Friday my breathing becomes noticeably improved.  

       Whoa Dave, TMI and stop being a conspiracy theorist and what the hell does this have to do with the price of tea in China?  Well, the blood thinners I am on, are doing their job, so that means I will bleed easier and bruise easier, and heaven forbid I hit my head.  (See where this is going).  This has me pondering what to do in life?  Do I abandon cycling and sell off the bikes in case I have a crash?  A crash I could normally walk away from, but now, maybe not.  Do I quit my job and live the life I dream of?  As of now, nothing changes except how I ride.  I think I am done going to races to be a rider and strive for PRs and such.  Those days are done, instead I think I will avoid group rides and do my own thing and go on adventures instead.  Maybe I will do a blue dot tracker event?  But Dave you said you are done racing.  You are correct, I am done with mass starts and large bodies, I am going to do more self paced races if at all.  I feel I can control Dave, but Dave can not control the person on his wheel and their habits.  

        Why does this matter?  I drove home 14 hours back to Western New York, and I split the drive up into two days and refueled the car every 2 hours and walked the dog, making sure I was moving for 15 minutes to keep the blood flowing.  Since being in the land that made me the weird soul I am.  I have fallen back in love with cycling.  I am intentionally seeking out roads I have never been down, or abandoned rail beds that are snowmobile trails.  This is what cycling was for me all along, it is a tool I use to explore and see things at a slower pace.  And some how, people here on the back roads of Wyoming and Livingston Counties have figured out how to keep their dogs loose and on their property. Magic is happening here I tell you.  But as I traverse the glacier deposits via chip seal roads, I am loving it and realizing that gravel is just back road exploring, and maybe since it is just that, I am warming up to the phrase back roads or adventure riding.  

      Finally, I am riding my Santa Cruz Blur in a road ride this weekend at the Tour De Perry, it is a 53 mile ride, and well for $32 and a Saturday morning, maybe I will meet some new people and have a good morning with them.  Yeah, I am already ignoring what I wrote above, but I figure it is a road ride, and I have my full squish bike, I will be by myself shortly after the start ;)  

Cheers and Godspeed to all your endeavors.

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