Ride to Redmond
Rode from Sammamish boat launch park to Redmond Town Center to meet up with Justin and his roadie buddies. I got a flat tire just as I arrived to RTC but thankfully REI was close by. Checked out the Redmond Saturday Market. Rewarded ourselves with Fatburger (no bun). Part of my unpaved trail was closed so I had to ride on road for a bit - kind of makes me want a road bike now. But then I remembered why I don't do long(er) rides: my butt hurts.
The Redmond Saturday Market
Trek demo day
I made it my personal goal to 'do something worth blogging about' every weekend. John Luk from my HS days came up to visit Seattle and we (and some other friends) went to a Trek demo day at Duthie Hill. Rode bootcamp a few times, twice on a Trek 29er hard tail. Hydraulic brakes gave me trouble at first but I learned to adjust. The bike felt very fast even though I'm slow as shit.
Went to Pat's BBQ afterward - me and Pat won the cornhole(!) tourney. Pretty fun BBQ game.
Clipped in
Went for a short ride at Soaring Eagle. I swapped pedals and went back to SPDs. After going from SPDs back to platform and now back to SPDs - I can really tell the difference in efficiency of pedaling. Not having my feet leave the pedals on bumps really helps with powering through some trickier spots.
Duthie Hill
Went for a quick ride at Duthie Hill mtb park. Did the bootcamp trail loop a few times. Need to get better and faster - some dudes were not even braking on the fast sections. Lots of fun banked turns toward the end. Tried out Strava. Pretty cool - like glympse but for bikers. App and website is amazing - it even knows when the trail begins and ends.
Aww yeah
Leg still scarred but couldn't wait to ride again. Did better than I have before. Probably a combo of cooler weather and less weight. Good flow; need to remember to keep the arms loose.
The Leg
On June 19th I went mountain biking with G in the Santa Cruz mountains - El Corte Madera trails. Came to a downhill technical rooty section and probably tapped the front brake a little too hard and went falling over the handlebars. I guess the pedal swung and hit my leg but I popped right back up, told some nearby hikers "I'm fine!" and pedaled out of there. Maybe it was the adrenaline- I was able to continue biking for a bit (and pushing some of it uphill)- then my leg started swelling and hurting bad. Leg so hurty.
A few hours after the crash
Later that night
The next day I went back to Seattle. Needed wheelchair service at the airport (awesome!) and went to the ER for an X-Ray and Ultrasound. Contusion and hematoma. No biggie they said. Just lay off it and rest. I used crutches for a few days and since then I've just been gimpin' and hobblin' along. Got a handicap parking placard too. I'm amazed by the regenerative properties of the human body. The circulation is turning the rest of my uninjured leg strange colors. Wiki:
The striking colors of a bruise are caused by the phagocytosis and sequential degradation of hemoglobin to biliverdin to bilirubin to hemosiderin, with hemoglobin itself producing a red-blue color, biliverdin producing a green color, bilirubin producing a yellow color, and hemosiderin producing a golden-brown color
2 days after - turning more blue
4 days after
5 days after - yellow setting in, still hurts a lot
6 days after - comparison
Trying out acupuncture treatment. It may help circulation and speed healing. Results on efficacy are still unknown... I didn't feel any different immediately after. The sessions are relaxing but I'm not sure if it's all placebo.
Day 8
Day 8 - electro acupuncture "Surrounding the Dragon" technique. They ran current between the needles - I felt tingling
Day 8 - colors are very pronounced in a hot bath (been taking a lot of baths with a kindle in a ziploc baggie)
Day 12 - not much better
Now it's been 18 days and I think the swelling is finally going down- it's still crazy colors though. It hurts to stand for more than a few minutes, but if I keep shifting my weight I can use the leg for awhile. Even more if I ice it out for awhile.
First thing I'm going to do is get back on the bike.
Back in the saddle
It's been forever (maybe 2 years?) since I've gone mountain biking. With the weather clearing up and my bike doing nothing but gathering dust in the garage, it's time to make this a regular part of my life again. Went to Soaring Eagle Park in Sammamish. Got stung by nettles. Note to self; tights don't protect against nettles-go back to leg armor. I'm terrible at MTB but like anything, I'll get better with practice.
The aftermath. Parts of the trails were muddy. Fun to just ride through it.
Beaver Biking 7.4.06
We hit up Beaver Lake today, which is really close to my home. It turned out to be a great ride since it wasn't very technical, and there was barely any elevation change. I found the trails to be great flowing singletrack which I enjoyed very much. I'm definitely going to go back again by myself and practice till I can do the trails faster without stopping. Pat found the trail to be boring because it wasn't very technical, but for my level, I think I am better suited to something easier till I build up my skills. I didn't bring my new camera to Beaver Lake today, so most of these are Pat's pics.
Categories
Kevin’s flickr
Recent music
My XBL
Tags
Archives
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- March 2008
- January 2008
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
