In Which My Brain Causes a Brief Biking Hiatus

March 24--I was released from the hospital Thursday, drove to work Friday due to a snowstorm, and rode six miles on Sunday. Back in the saddle again!

It’s turning out that 2024 will be a more new and interesting biking year than I thought. On the morning of March 20, I rode my bicycle to work, intending to bike home that night.

And I didn’t. Because I ended up in the emergency room. In the afternoon, as I detailed on one of my other blogs, I suffered a mini-stroke, what they call a TIA, and had a resulting overnight stay in the hospital. By Friday, I was able to go back to work but a morning snowstorm prevented any bike ride that day..

Well, what’s ahead on the biking road can’t always be anticipated. After my hospitalization, I’ve been told to engage in any physical activity “as tolerated,” and I can tolerate riding a bicycle. For now, my wife has informed me she doesn’t want me to do any solo 50-mile rides, and I think she has a point.

March 24--Going deliberately slow, using my mountain bike due to some snow left on trail. Put in a bit more than 6 miles on first ride in a few days.

So, we’ll see how this year shakes out. Since my last biking report, despite an unexpected hiatus, I have ridden more than 80 miles. This Easter weekend, I’ve enjoyed several rides with a 6-year-old grandson, doing two short rides with the Tag-A-Long seat. The weekend was grand, but so full of family fun that bike time was rather constrained.

I don’t feel myself, 100 percent. I’ve had a headache since the medical event, nothing serious, but irritating. I don’t know if I’m just tuning into aches and pains more, but I’m strapped to a 24-hour heart monitor, and I’ve had several “events” to report. Nothing serious, but some lightheaded moments.

Well, biking friends, when I saw my doctor’s PA post hospitalization, he was pleased that I had already been out on my bicycle. I intent to continue rolling—it would be a serious mistake to pull back too far on exercise, given my health issues.

March 27--Rode down the Lindale Trail for some extra distance on the way home. Weather getting more into spring, deer by trail keeping an eye on me.

But this past fortnight has had its share of reminders of reality and mortality. If we’re lucky, we grow old. That inevitably has an impact on our bodies and lives. And yet, if we’re also lucky, those bodies will be all the better because we choose to bicycle.

In other personal biking news, Team Joe, my RAGBRAI team, has made a big decision. We’re going to do joint rides the week of RAGBRAI, but not RAGBRAI. The route this year is very hilly and very southern Iowa, and doesn’t go through our towns. So we'll enjoy our own rides in the Des Moines and Cedar Rapids areas.

I still want to train and gain miles as the weather turns to summer. How far will I go? Nobody can tell for sure, but I hope to roll many more miles. Hope to see you out there on the trail, Lord willing, the creek don’t rise and my body holds up.

In March, my miles totaled 291.63. I’m sure they would have been more than 300, but for, well, you know. Still, I have 647.31 for the year. I don’t have Spring Break in April, but school ends a couple of weeks into May, so by the time spring is rolling into summer, I’m hoping that I can have rolled more than 1,000 miles. We’ll see!

March 28--Family is coming home for Easter weekend tonight, and I have Friday off work, but I ride to Cedar Lake in the afternoon on the way home. Warm, pretty afternoon, starting to feel a bit more like myself.