First Ride of 2013

[Andrew 1973]

Last year around this time, I was officially diagnosed with Graves Disease and had spent most of 2012 off the bike. Today I ventured out for my first ride of the year. I covered less than 7.5 miles, but it felt so freeing to be back on the bike.

 

[Eric Winn]

Back on the bike

Hi Andrew,

Glad to hear you are back on the bike and you had good weather to ride in. I may need to consider moving back south, it is 8F outside right now. Looks like you had about 60F weather today.

What are you riding?

-Eric

 

[Andrew 1973]

Weather is the best part.

Hey Eric. Thanks for the reply and indeed, the weather is my favorite part of being in the South. Having spent most of my life in Pittsburgh, I have seen my fill of snow and cold temperatures. I do miss the city and the unique culture, however.

As for my bike, its a early '90's Schwinn LeTour. Yeah, I know, not a Cruzbike...yet!

 

[kenhardwick]

Andrew

Hope your health continues to improve and you are able to ride regularly in 2013.
Appreciate all your input on this forum.

 

[BobD]

Great to hear you are out and

Great to hear you are out and about again on your bike Andrew!
You have been an ongoing source of support and assistance to so many of us.....

I look forward to hearing about more of your enjoyable rides in '2013!

 

[Andrew 1973]

Thank you all

I don't get choked up too much, but this has been a very hard day for me and my family. My father, who will be 90 in August fell in the house and broke his hip. Being 9 hours away from him is hard, but he has already undergone surgery as of this afternoon and his doctors are confident in the success of the operation.

I had a host of other things happen with which I won't burden you all, but hearing the positive messages on this board almost brought me to tears. Ugh...I must be an emotional wreck to have that happen.

Thanks again.

 

[John Tolhurst]

It might be all remote and

It might be all remote and cyber connected, but these relationships are real, and they are important. Best wishes for your Dad, it gets harder as the years mount up.

 

[Andrew 1973]

Thanks, John

A friend and I were discussing that very thing around the holidays. There are so many people we "know", even though we never met face-to-face. The interesting thing is that these relationships are no less significant than ones we develop in real life, for want of a better term.

The good news is that my father underwent a successful surgery yesterday in which his split caput femoris was replaced with an artificial implant and today he began the slow road to recovery with physical therapy. My father has not been physically active since his retirement in 1985; trust me, his physical therapy is done with much protest.

I want to thank everyone for their well-wishes, thoughts and prayers. It is truly appreciated.

 

[Romagjack]

Hi Andrew,
My father in law

Hi Andrew,
My father in law suffered a fall and had a hip replacement when he was 90. He wasn't expected to live for long post surgery due to pneumonia and a staph infection. Well, he bounced back and had a good happy life until he turned 94. We had 4 great years to enjoy his company.

 

[Andrew 1973]

Biked to Work Today

Over the weekend, I picked up a fixed-gear bike from Target for $35.00 on clearance. I couldn't wait to try it out, so I decided to bike to work today, a 27-mile round trip route. After spending most of last year off the bike it feels amazing to be able to ride once again. Sure, I am a lot slower than I was before getting ill, but I can feel that I will progress quickly. My goal is to do my second Assault on Mt. Mitchell this Spring.

So yes, I am still riding an upright and luckily my body hasn't protested very much thus far. This weekend I was at an estate sale and I found a prisitne condition Bike-E for $100. I was ready to buy it when the man at the register informed me that the woman he was just talking to might want to buy it, but she had to ask call her husband about it. Meanwhile, she told the man that she was going to look around the rest of the property. I was ready to buy without hesitation and let him know that if she wasn't taking it, I would buy it on the spot. After waiting almost an hour, she finally confirmed that she wanted to buy it. I'm not upset at her, but the people running the sale should have been willing to sell it to the first buyer who was ready to make the purchase.

Anyway, I had to rant. The Bike E would have made a fun commuter bike, but probably not much more than that.