The weather was becoming consistently nice, Susan and I were having some down time to catch up with ourselves before the next batch of trips, some riding buddies were available to do a couple of rides with me.
Kathy arranged what she has come to call her ‘birthday ride’ as she often does do it on her birthday. Jo joined the two of us for a ride into Snohomish for lunch on a leisurely, relatively short and beautiful country ride. I didn’t get any photos of the countryside and farm animals, but Kathy snapped a picture of me and Jo at the lunch stop.
On another day, Shelly and Lizette offered to lead a ride on the Eastrail that they are quite familiar with and have had a part in the development phases.
It is an unpaved trail but nicely hard packed dirt and light gravel that any bike can ride on comfortably. We made a stop to have a look at the remnants of the Kalakala ferry. Old is the operative word here — 1930s old.
Along the trail there are a few whimsical and artful things for a rider’s enjoyment.
A frog made from washers.
Then we came to a big highlight of the newly finished spiraling bike/ped bridge that kept us continually away from auto traffic.
That’s me in the somewhat distance circling along the bridge.
Jo joined me for one more ride as we were both free and ready for a ride in Snohomish country side with Cascade Bike club. Turned out we were the only two to join our leader, Cassie, for her ‘Cemetery and Ice Cream” ride. Weather sunny and nicely cool for our bike ride. We ventured into a little known cemetery that is tucked behind some stores in a small mall.
The old house is unoccupied but looks as it may be available for small group history outings or something – or maybe is being prepared for such.
The headstones are dated in the 1800s and Cassie gave us more information than neither Jo nor I were able to retain!
Heading out from the cemetery we had to stop at the entrance from the driveway to the road. And here is where my month of July would take a huge turn. We were stopped for traffic from our left to clear before making our right turn. Traffic cleared and my two buddies were starting up – my turn to start riding. I had been anxious to get going and was ready —- but missed my right pedal and went down hard on my right side with bike on top of me.
I stayed down a while (mainly trying to get the breath that had been knocked out of me) before standing up with help from Jo and Cassie. Our leader Cassie said we can go back now (we had ridden about 5-6 miles), but I moved arms and body, stretched up and sideways, and took a few steps and determined that nothing hurt enough to cut our ride short.
On we went to the next cemetery.
We rode only a little through the grounds there, found a back way (to add a couple little miles) to continue our route back to the starting point and our vehicles. As we rode along, the littlest bump jarred my sore body and by the time we ended our 19 mile ride (13 of them from my fall), I was very sore and moving gingerly. My two riding buddies had to put my bike into my car as I could not lift anything.
Not wanting to call Susan as that would just make her worry, and even if she came for me I would have to drive home, I drove myself home. By the time I got into the garage, where Susan was beginning to pack for our trip to Canada, I was too sore to do much and even needed a little help out of the car. Looking at me, Susan said immediately that I was going to Urgent Care which is where we spent the next four hours.
There they did a chest X-ray and a CT scan from head to hips. Basically the scan did not show any fractures but the ER doc said he was quite sure that I had hairline fractures in some ribs that were causing my horrendous pain. They cleaned and patched up my few scrapes on knee, elbow and shoulder, told me to take Tylenol and Ibuprofen, prescribed a lidocaine patch, told me to check back with my own doctor in a few days, and sent me home.
Susan has been taking good caring and loving care of me.
Yesterday (Wednesday, the fall was on Saturday) Susan went with me to see my Doc whom I do so love! She went over everything, gave me stronger pain med (oxy) for bed time as I have been unable to sleep due to the pain, and talked with me about my bicycling question. ER doc had told me no bicycling for a MONTH!! Oh no. I have a long history with my doctor who knows me and my bicycling addiction very well. She shrugged at that news and said, you will know when you feel able to ride. The ER doc does not know you and thinks of you as an old lady who just toodles around home on her bike. You can bike whenever you feel ready. Have I mentioned how I LOVE my doctor!?!?
Susan and I have had to cancel our 10 day trip to Canada to meet our friends who came up from California. We are sorry to miss the trip but there is nothing we (I) can do to carry through with it. Now I sit to recuperate, take a (very) short daily walk around our cul d sac, do my breath exercise machine, called a spirometer (avoiding fluid build up in my lungs), and try to build my patience for healing well enough to move on. So far — still plenty of pain. I am more than fortunate to have Susan who has been way more patient and understanding about all this, and family and friends who check in by email or face book. They have lifted my spirits.
As someone once said sometime ….. I shall return. 😌
Adventures with Nancy 