Pronouncing "invalid" as a noun is all the rage among my family this week: daddy hasn't walked very well. But today was Father's Day, and I was motivated to be more valid than in the past 5 days.
Sandra took the boys around 10:30pm up to Longmont, leaving me the day to do whatever I wanted. After cleaning the house for a while, I headed to Lakeshore to swim about 1000 yds. Then back home, Sandra called and said they were going to have dinner in Longmont and I was invited.
Instead of driving up, I decided to bike (about 25 miles from Superior). This, in spite of my still-painful Achilles tendinopathy.
Around 2:15pm, under fairly dark skies, I headed out Rock Creek Parkway, turning right on 88th St, then left on Dillon. To avoid straining my Achilles tendons, I was pedaling with my heels over the clipless pedals (instead of the balls of my feet, which is more natural and which would be mandatory if I wore cleats). Also, I pointed my toes downward to keep my Achilles compressed rather than extended. This seemed to work well.
I'd resolved not to push myself too hard: although I was aerobically in good enough shape to hold 80% HR for 2 hours, my body was not at all used to cycling and I really didn't want another injury to compound the current one. So I stopped periodically to massage my legs, stretch, drink, etc.
Up McCaslin to South Boulder, then the long downhill into Boulder. Right on Cherryvale, left on Baseline, right on 55th, left on Pennsylvania, over Foothills on the overpass, then up to 30th and Arapahoe for a Jamba Juice.
Although it would have been shorter to just take 96th straight north to Longmont, I was taking the scenic route for 2 reasons: (1) food and drink along the way, and (2) I could always puss out and take the bus if I started feeling joint pain or whatever.
The diagonal was monotonous an quite trafficked, as usual. Arrived in Longmont around 4:40pm only to find Sandra had left! Now I would need to ride back home as well?
Fortunately, she was only in Boulder playing mini-golf with the kids, so she came back up to have dinner (which had previously been aborted), then we drove home this evening.
Still massaging my calves with The Stick (tm) and icing my Achilles. Feel fine, and hoping for the best tomorrow. (I never get to know if I'm injured or not until the next day, it seems.)
All in all, a good Father's Day.
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