First Bike Ride

After going to the gym again on Saturday and riding the stationary for bike for 20 minutes I felt ready to give the real road bike a try today. Kirsten and I went out for a warm, breezy 11 mile ride. After a little fiddling with a new bike seat, we settled down into a slow but steady ride. I could feel a little bit of pressure in the hip, right in the socket, but it is not painful. At this point in recuperation it is more painful to lift my leg at the knee than it is to put weight on it. I thought that might be a problem on the bike, but it's not. Gentle peddling pressure is no problem, pushing harder starts to cause a little pain, but it's a gentle ache of a pain, not a sharp one. And I can start to see that it won't be long before I can throw my leg over the seat to get on the bike instead of stepping over the crossbar as I have been doing for the last few years. Cool! Not quite yet, but soon.

I was surprised that it was my heart and lungs that were the limiting factor in getting up the hills rather than than my leg and hip strength. My legs felt great. I couldn't do Ride the Rockies again any time soon, but the legs and hip felt great. Kirsten has been riding a bit while I've been recuperating and I wasn't quite able to keep up with her. I think that is terrific. Hopefully if we both ride and train together at this point we can continue to do so from now on.

I don't want to get too gushy about medical technology. Grandpa always said that God sends the cure and the doctor sends the bill. But, it is less than 6 weeks since a total hip resurfacing and I'm out on a fun 11 mile ride! Wow. And, as a friend of mine says, I mean that forward and backward.