Stop and Celebrate

In a further return to post-injury normalcy, I’m finally back on the road with Phyxius We’ve been working on the trainer for a few reasons – I can make it as easy as I want to, so I can work on cadence even if the ankle doesn’t allow me to push at all, I don’t run the risk or a crash or an emergency that causes me to have to step down onto the bad ankle, I don’t run the risk of a mechanical issue that causes me to have to walk miles back to my car in my cycling shoes.  Which is to say that it make good sense but I’m happy to be feeling better and back on the road.

Those of you who’ve been here since the beginning (I should send you your own medal!) may remember that when I first got my bike riding wasn’t a big problem, but stopping was.  I basically fell over almost every time I stopped.  It was ridiculous. It turns out it was also emotionally scarring.  Even thought it’s been forever since I’ve fallen, it’s in the back of my mind every time I stop.

For those who may be wondering, the problem seems to be that  I was scared to really hit the brakes so I would just slow down to a crawl and then kind of try to stop Barney Rubble style, putting my foot down before the bike was fully stopped.  Then…I would be on the ground.  Not awesome.

Considering it had been a long while since I had ridden on anything but a trainer, on my first ride back my anxiety about stopping the bike started before I even got on the bike. By the end of the relatively short ride I was getting pretty worried – I’ve never actually been injured falling like this, but it’s exceptionally humiliating. As I rode into the parking lot it was full of people.  Frickin perfect.  I hung my good leg off the bike, hit the brakes hard and came to a graceful stop.  I played it cool, but in my head I was celebrating like Rube in Major League 2 when he successfully throws to the pitcher.  Was it an act worthy of celebration? No.  Was I (internally at least) celebrating anyway? You bet your ass.

Now I’ve got some rides in on the road and it’s feeling great to be back out and …knock on carbon…all my stops have been fall-free.

All smiles after stopping successfully at the end of my ride last night!