Getting prepared

As discussed in my last post, I fly to France in May to join friends on an e-bike ride down the Loire river valley.  I leave Seattle on May 10, spend three nights in Paris, and then take the train to Orléans on May 14.  My seat will first touch the saddle after breakfast on May 15.

May 15, which is just over two months from now.

In my February 26 post, about two weeks ago, I sounded more convinced than I actually felt that the arthritis in my right knee would not trouble my biking.  Even biking of twenty miles a day.  I recalled  that last August, when the arthritis was still less a problem than was my left ankle Achilles tendinitis, I seemed to do fine biking ten miles a day for two days.

But in France, I'll be biking an average of 21 miles per day, with one day requiring 29 miles.

I needed some evidence that my confidence was not unfounded.  And so, on Friday I conducted an experiment.  I rented an e-bike from my neighborhood bicycle shop, and connected to the nearby Burke-Gilman bike trail, which parallels the west side of Lake Washington up to its northern tip.  My goal was to bike from my house to the small town of Lake Forest Park, a total of eleven miles.  With the return trip, I would have biked 22 miles, approximating the average daily ride required in France.

I didn't achieve that goal.  I turned around at the 6.5-mile mark, for a total of 13 miles.  But my knee (and my left Achilles tendon, as well) did great.  I had no pain in either location while biking, or that evening after biking, or the next day.  I met my Waterloo at 6.5 miles, not because of my knee/ankle concerns, but because of a very sore butt!

The rental e-bike came equipped with a very narrow, hard-surfaced saddle, which became increasingly uncomfortable on my un-calloused rear-end.  Also, I was wearing street clothes, just a pair of jeans.  I think I can handle the seat problem with a pair of padded biking shorts, together with a substituted padded saddle.  Plus a little more time acclimating to the experience.

Even more unsettling, although it didn't occur to me until the end of the ride, was the fact that my thigh muscles weren't used to prolonged peddling.  I haven't biked for years, and my daily walks have been severely shortened because of my knee problem.. By the next morning, it was difficult to walk when I first got out of bed, and painful the entire day.  By today, the second day after my ride, that pain has pretty well disappeared.  But I have to be ready to ride six consecutive days in France, so I obviously need to get in better shape.

I have a standard road bike that I haven't used for several years, but that seems to be in good condition.  Except the tires have gone flat with time.  Once the tires are pumped up, I plan to spend some time riding it around the neighborhood, just enough to leave me with a little discomfort in my thighs after each ride.  I've prepared for similar rides in the past -- although not since 2007 -- and had no difficulty being prepared by the time of the group ride.

But I'll be careful,  My nephew and I joined a group bike ride in China in 1998.  One of the members of our group lived not far from my home in Seattle.  He didn't appear for the trip, but his wife did.  Her husband apparently had been preparing for the ride conscientiously, with daily rides on Seattle streets.  At some point, disaster struck and he was thrown from his bike.  No permanent damage, but a severe enough injury to prevent him from joining our China trip.

I'll pretty much stick to bike trail rides, but even there something can always go wrong.  But life is full of risks.  As we like to tell folks scared of flying, their greater danger will be an auto accident on the way to the airport.

Further reports in the future, as events warrant.