Just “Winging It”

First, a little biology …​

​Finally inspired to fire up the ‘puter, log in and share a few words. Haven’t posted since back in November ’22, but that doesn’t mean S*&% hasn’t happened. Au contraire, a LOT has been going on, and ’23 was “remarkable”, to put it mildly.

The first 1/2 of the 2023 was jammed packed with lots of great riding … as it typically is in the Finger Lakes / Genesee Valley / Western New York region. 
Nothing particularly novel worth writing about, as my regular followers have “heard it all” by now. And mixed in with all the riding, I was killin’ it at the gym and feeling pretty ripped … for an old guy, anyway.

I was on track for yet another 10,000 miles of biking for the year until “It” happened. Most all of the riding was much like years past: Big mile solo rides on both pavement and trail, plenty of riding with the bike club, and even another great overnight camping ride down the Genesee Valley Greenway to Sonyea State Forest to hang out in the Keshequa Creek gorge.

That’s when “it” dramatically changed the trajectory of the next few months, and potentially the coming 2 or 3 years of my life.

On our way home from camp, almost back in town, I experienced a bout of something in the dehydration / heat exhaustion / heat stroke spectrum that landed me in the hospital for 3 days. Once recovered enough to go home, I spent the next month managing severe neck, back and shoulder pain that I HAD to see my doc about, in addition to serious brain fog.

I’ve recovered from the pain aspect, and it seems I’m mostly recovered from the fog now many months later. But there is a lingering result. Since September of ’23, I’ve had to do daily physical therapy (and will for several years) for a “winging scapula” … a result of nerve damage to the brachial plexus that innervates the subscapularus and teres minor muscle groups, and the long thoracic nerve that innervates the serratus anterior group.

I’ve had TWO MRI’s of the neck, TWO MRI’s of the shoulder, TWO EMG/NCS tests and three different specialists trying to figure out what’s going on. Their best guess of the cause at this point is an autoimmune response that started in the hospital visit. End result: since they can NOT do surgery to fix anything because one of my RBD events could ruin their work, I’m stuck with the long road of physical therapy in hopes that eventually, the nerves will heal on their own and I might recover most (but not all) of my normal shoulder function.

Oh, joy.

So, all this really sucks, but I’m more motivated than ever to get ahead of this. My living room has become a gym of it’s own. But the biking?

Getting back on the bike at first was pretty tough. I’d be in significant pain after only 25-30 miles at first, but like I said, I’m motivated and I’ve been pushing it.

Like back in March, I took my CoMotion Pangea for a trail ride and knocked out my first century of this year.
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Century #1

Ontario Pathways to Stanley NY

​A totally flat ride, but trails were rough enough to bug the shoulder even though I tried to remain upright as much as possible.

And just yesterday (April 10, sunny and 75 degrees!) I took the Rivendell out for a smoother road ride and jammed thru 108 mile hilly century to Naples … to get a slice of meat lover’s pizza at the Crosby’s C-mart. NICE! I came home from that feeling really good!
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If it's purple, I've ridden there too!

Low Gears? I Don’t Think So!

To date, (4-10-24) I’ve logged just short of 1900 miles for 2024, and all things considered, I think I’m back on track, and flying with my “wing”!
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​Let’s see what develops in ’24!