Three weeks ago I wrote about being attacked by a goose and I hurt myself. I am glad to mention that I feel full strength now.

Let"s recap, I encroached on the goose's territory and the goose flew into my head. Then hovered over me flapping his wings. I lost my balance and fell over. I tried to keep the bike up and myself standing, but I could not regain balance. The distance of my fall was not more than two feet from the ground.  The temps were cool and I had tights with a jacket. These protected me from scrapes on the gravely asphalt. Both the bike and myself were able to finish my planned route.

I finished my ride traveling another ten miles. When I got done I took off the jacket and I did not see any abrasion, but I did see some bruising. After I sat relaxing , I could feel soreness and sensitivity in my upper right thigh and lower glute.

This illustration helped understand what was hurting and I could guess my right leg was under a lot of unusual stress while trying to hold me and the bike upright. I did not notice any bruising or swelling on my leg or butt.  I think that would indicate a more serious injury.

​          What should I do to help the healing?
1.  Check with a medical professional. I do not have one in my household, so I ask the internet .
2. Follow the directions and advice.  In this case:

• Avoid intense stretching.
• Gentle mobility with easy movement.  Walk on flat ground if the pain is low.
• Light strengthening, maybe isometric
• Use ice
• Rest.

What did I do besides the rest and ice?  How long should I take?

• See a doctor if the pain does not subside after a couple of days.
• I must emphasize the importance of rest.  The body is designed to heal itself.    Those who exercise regularly are most likely to try to do too much too soon.  I was going off on  a multi-day tour in a few weeks  and I wanted this to completely heal.  It is hard to believe that taking any time off will be good for us.
• The first three days I just walked around the house. I was also careful not to do sudden movement which would use those muscles. Luckily I do not have to deal with steps. 
• On the fourth day, I walked short distances in the mall and used the bike trainer to see how the muscles felt under the stress of cycling. My progression over two days went 2.7, 7.2 miles and my leg felt comfortable to try outside the next day. 
• On the sixth day, I rode outside for less than an hour on terrain without challenging hills.  After three days at this level, I felt that I could get back to longer rides at my pre-injury stress level.  
• I also began my chair exercise routine which would allow general strengthening  and stretching.  I this environment I could easily lighten up on the work load when I felt too much stress.

This plan worked for me in this case.  I hope that you found this useful.  What advice do you have to pass along on injury recovery?

The Adventure Cycling Association created Golden Gravel Trail as part of the 50th anniversary of the organization. This trail is beyond my abilities for a bike tour/ bikepacking. A few weeks ago the presented the trail and if you are interested they are offering the RideGPS files free.  Help yourself at https://www.adventurecycling.org

Adventure Cycling will provide you with great information to get ready for your excursion.  From the pictures you can see the remote areas and you will want to be prepared. This trail was routed with a gravel bike in mind. Best to have wider tires (2.2-2.4"). A tubeless set up is recommended also. There is no single track. There are options for you to do a drop-in ride to just do segments.  They estimated 72 ride days for the whole trail and doing a rest day per week.

Every ride can be an adventure and an opportunity to learn something.  My ride this last Sunday was just that experience.  I hope that sharing my tale can be a lesson for you.

I decided that a Sunday Ride in an industrial park would be quiet. I did not see a single car. I did see many Canadian geese. Do you see them ready to cross the road.  There are many ponds throughout the park.  Several young goslings were evident.  I tried to give them plenty of room as I went by, but one came charging at me! I never had that happen.

I was startled and fighting for balance. I hopped on my right leg, but I could not keep the bike standing upright and I fell to the ground. I got up and I was ok.  The goose had rejoined the family.  My bike was okay. I really did not imagine that the goose would fly  into me.  My past experience always had them walking and especially when crossing the road, very slowly.  The next day I looked up the computer about my experience and below is what I learned.

Even though my distance was what past experience told me was safe, it was obvious by the reaction I was violating their territory. I learned that when a goose is running toward me, they mean business. They usually will try to avoid you and keep a safe distance. 

I should have stopped when the charging began.  Face the goose and slowly back away.  I will be more cautious in the future. What I experienced was a classic case of violating their territory when the little ones are around.

I did end up straining a leg muscle in my right thigh from hopping and  I will have to allow that muscle strain to recover.

The Border to Border (B2B) is a multi-use trail which will eventually  go across Washtenaw County. Last November  they officially  opened the extension going out of Bandemer Park and goes into the Barton Nature Preserve. 

I have ridden on so many trails with black top surfaces. The improvement of trail creation has improved so much over the last 50 years.  These routes are used by walkers, joggers, skaters and many other modes of exercise. When the blacktop falls apart or is elevated by roots that ruins the experience.

What a beautiful spot to ride today.  The river was a great companion.

I was lucky this January, I had one day to ride outside! On January 8th, we had a 50 degree day and I rode outside for an hour and a quarter.  The rest of the month has been snowy and for the nine days it is 15 degrees during the day and near 0 at night.  At times it has been extremely  dangerous to be out and the ski areas closed for a bit.  I am happy to be able to do inside training.

On this last day of January I say, "I am glad to be done with you."  I may sound frustrated, but I was pleased with using the trainer to cover over 500 miles this month.  I finally felt comfortable going longer than 30 minutes in the saddle.  The cold and snow had curtailed my going out of the house, so I had plenty of time to sit on the trainer.

I can always find interesting YouTube videos of people riding to interesting places that I will never ride. This group traveled through forest service roads to stay at a decommissioned fire tower.  The crows nest was set to accept overnight visitors. What an exciting adventure and I did not need to climb all those steps to enjoy the view.

The scene above is from a tour in the country of Equador. A friend was visiting this country and I could ride the countryside and get a sense of the experience.  This tour had four installments. All these rides did not require me to bundle up and watch out for slippery surfaces.  Right now our roads continue to be very slushy along the side of the road.

I regularly do a chair exercise group  that does stretching, uses stretch bands, tests our balance, and gets our heart rate elevated. I chose to stay home and again use the computer to guide me with a video.

As a senior, I am able to take advantage of the Silver Sneaker exercise program and I signed up for sessions. These sessions are on zoom.         silversneakers.com

Walking the mall three times a week was great.  I used the walking exercise from Silver Sneakers too.

I remembered this DVD that I had used several years ago and the separate segments work on the arms, abs, legs, butt and stretching.

I look forward to our predicted temperature of  20s in a few days, but I know the snow will be around for weeks. During the month, I spent 69 hours in exercise and the variety  was a joy. I look forward to hearing any comments or suggestions. Take care.

I am very consistent at getting on the trainer during the winter.  I will ride for an hour or two.  Usually I will be on my tour bike on the stand which holds the rear wheel. 

The unit does have a lever that will add greater resistance.  This is a feature that I do not adjust.  This tour bike has a 10 speed cog and 3 chain drives.  My strategy is to work on a steady cadence that ranges 70-90 rpm. My heart rate usually ranges from 70-100 BPM.  This level of effort is less than when I bike outside.  

During the fall I started walking in the mall three times in a week.  I started out at one mile and now I am up to three miles per session.  Yesterday my average heart rate for the hour of walking was 132, which is in zone 4 (67% of the time) for me. That level of exertion is a good workout.  I think that both the cycle trainer and the walking help keep me ready to bike outside.

It has been a month since I rode outside. We had snow that covered the roads, and the thawing left slippery spots. Plus temperatures were well below my 50 degree cut off.  Today was sunny and 50!  Out I went for a two hour ride and I felt great.

Every time I return from the ride outside after weeks of indoor training I say, "I had a great ride and that indoor work is helping me to start sharp."

Do what works for you.  If you are just starting: set a schedule, make a plan, be consistent and test it out to see if it is enough.  You may need to make adjustments.