We Bought Bikes! (and a summary of my back injury)
Phase 3 of our sabbatical is nearing an end, and we’re looking forward to moving on from the Recovery Phase. While trying to remember the progression of treatment for my last back issue, we realized we didn’t write about it and that was unfortunate. So, solely for the purposes of documenting this issue and how it affected our adventures (and certainly not to jinx me with a future herniation), we’re discussing it here.
A little history to lay foundation for the last post: My primary care provider sent me for an x-ray, a neurosurgical consult and a MRI. The x-ray showed mild degeneration in my low back. At that time, my pain was less but not gone and I still had numbness, weakness, sensitivity and nerve pain in my right leg. She restricted my activities to light yoga and light walking, emphasis on light. Ugh, combined with the cold weather and the fact that sitting in a car for hours was not helpful for my injury, that limited our options. Mike and I created a list of things to do in central Oregon while driving back from California but that list involved mostly physical activities that we could not yet do. Thus, Phase 3: the Recovery Phase was born.
The time between doctor appointments wasn’t great though we tried to make it fun. We were both frustrated with being unable to do much. Funny enough, living in a new house didn’t help because there were very few interior house projects needing to be done. In addition to limited walks, we planned and shopped for the holidays, visited Redmond nearly daily for small things like a new magazine, watched all the Harry Potter movies (it had been years since I last saw them, and I enjoyed the movie marathon), baked and ate too much, visited tap houses and breweries (of course), and did light landscaping work when the ground warmed up enough (I sat and picked weeds).
We really enjoyed wine tasting with Mom and Dad at the nearby vineyard Faith Hope and Charity that we’ve been meaning to visit for two years.
By the time of the neurosurgical consult, my pain had greatly improved but the other physical symptoms remained. And Mike and I were bored. The provider was great. She was athletic and understood our desire to do something…anything involving activity. Since my symptoms were improving, she suggested we wait to see the results of the MRI before doing anything else. She anticipated the herniation would resolve on its own. Yeah! When asked what I could do, she gave the green light on cycling. Mike and I high-fived at that. She didn’t let me run yet, which is a big bummer because my plan after the Berlin Marathon was to focus on running during sabbatical and get stronger and faster for next year’s Hood to Coast and potential marathon. The provider did remind us that once someone suffers a herniation (or was it surgery with a herniation—it doesn’t matter because I had both), there’s more likelihood of another herniation occurring. I’ll recover from this injury, strengthen my core and back and then see what happens. I’m starting a lifting and stretching routine already. Hopefully, I’ll get to run after the MRI.
For years, Mike and I discussed learning a new sport or activity together. We really enjoyed learning to kayak together and wanted a similar experience. When we moved to Redmond, we played with the idea of starting to cycle but didn’t commit to the idea. While waiting for the neurosurgical appointment, we researched gravel bikes and visited Trinity Bikes in Redmond. The idea was taking root. Immediately after the appointment, we went to a bike shop in Bend but didn’t understand half of what the lady told us. Cycling has its own language, and we were clueless. Coincidentally, Trinity Bikes emailed us saying they just received a gravel bike in Mike’s size. We returned to Trinity Bikes and went for a test ride. We were both wobbly and uncertain at first but quickly got past it. After the ride, we were jacked!
We bought bikes! They should be here this week, and we are so excited. Now, we need to decide whether to buy a trailer for Iris to ride behind us. Phase 4 of our sabbatical and continuing our adventures is right around the corner.
