Cycling week 35
This was a week of mostly just having a sore leg and groaning about that. Sorry in advance.
Monday
This was a good ride to work. But my leg was sore. The soreness is difficult to explain, as it moves around and emanates from different places, like Josh's voice in The Blair Witch Project.
And there was a Funny Noise going on in my back wheel – a rhythmic scraping whistle. I decided to ignore it for now, and concentrate on my sore leg instead, since it's more interesting to me.
At lunchtime I cycled into town to get acupuncture on the leg. I've read about people finding relief, with acupuncture, from leg soreness related to disc slippage, so it has to be worth a go. The thing with acupuncture is you have to lie there, staying very still, for 20 or 30 minutes while the needles do their business. And while you lie there, with nothing to distract you, you'll start thinking and worrying about things. A line from a Lorrie Moore story came into my head, about two people lying next to each other in bed 'like sewing needles'. For a long time I'd remembered this line as 'like hypodermic needles'. But no, it's sewing needles.
Afterwards I cycled back to work, going slowly up the Terrace, with my leg feeling ... something. Better? The same? Better? The same?
It was hard to gather myself to ride home, with energy flagging and the air suddenly chilly, but I got there. Leg felt better. I think.
Tuesday
The morning ride: yes, the leg felt better. Incredible! The day: blue sky, no wind, mild traffic. The Funny Noise has gone away on its own.
Saw a family of quail running around in a driveway on Disley St. It's been a while since I've seen quail, and these ones were classics of the genre – confused-looking and diagonal, and with a sort of fraught group dynamic, as if someone proposed a short cut earlier and the rest of them have just realised that the short cut was a bad idea.
By the time I got to work, my leg was sore again. It might be time to accept that I am the cause of my own downfall, here, with my insistence on cycling around.
After work I cycled into town for a book launch – the air freezing on the zoom down the Terrace. The ride home afterwards was dark and cold, and I cursed myself for wearing unyielding jeans. I wish there was a little cycle hub, or something, where you could pull in and get changed into more yielding (?) pants and then set off again.
Traffic was close and pissy all the way through Aro and the hill stretched upwards endlessly.
Wednesday
The leg has renewed its protests, but my only option was to ride. Blustery northerlies on the way to work. When I was waiting to turn right onto Upland Rd a car pulled up close beside me, on my inside, also indicating to go right. I glared at it. Then the car did a ludicrously close pass further down the road. I was overcome by rage and did the fingers. Then I felt terrible.
More wind on the ride home, so it was very unenjoyable slog, especially up parts of Moana where the wind likes to collect in a crazy funnel. These were the kind of buffeting winds that I always imagine as being shaped like giant haybales falling off the back of a truck and collecting anyone in their path.
Thursday
Rain on the ride to work, which necessitated a change of clothes. This rain was the aggressively sharp sort of rain, like being flicked with a thousand tea towels. Little rivers gushing down the road. Pants soaked, undies soaked, socks soaked. Got stuck behind a slow bus and tried to exercise patience and restraint and just 'be in the moment'. This was futile.
At lunchtime I rode into town – the rain had stopped – for more acupuncture, optimistically, on the leg. Afterwards, leg felt exactly the same, or perhaps a bit worse. I felt guilty about the amount of money I have thrown at this leg over the past few months. After-hours, an orthopaedic guy, physio, massage, the ridiculous QL Claw.
Rode home to finish the day. This ride was hard as I'd run completely out of puff and the wind was blasting. Considered riding back in for a launch in the evening, but took the bus instead, and was glad I did. I had to do some public speaking at the launch: doing anything in public can eat a lot of physical energy. Also, the problem with cycling home after speaking in public is that, along the way, you'll start ruminating on the things you did badly. What is the mechanism at play here? Maybe the action of the legs somehow unspools the brain. Or winds it up into a big knot. (These are working theories only.)
Friday
The morning ride: a sort of drizzly grey. Jerry came for a walk with me to the top of the hill. It's interesting watching his reaction whenever I get my bike out. He seems to panic slightly, and starts jogging around, as if to see which direction we're going to go – up or down. He seems most excited when we go up. The driveway is a great adventure, no two trips ever the same – sometimes there are dogs out walking, sometimes there's another cat, always there are plants with their smells. I always feel a bit bad once we reach the top and I have to leave Jerry and ride away.
Fled into town after work, headfirst into a chilly wind, for highly necessary beers. During the ride home it took a long time to warm up, but finally, about 20 minutes in, I felt quite cosy as the wind blasted around.
This week I booked tickets to Frankfurt in October, for the Book Fair. This is exciting but also terrifying, because – as we can see – I'm a creature of habit and I overwhelm easily. But, naturally, I have been plotting some rides to do there. After Frankfurt I'll spend a few days in London and ride around there too.
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This is a low-key blog about my bike rides each day, and sometimes the things I think about while cycling.