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06/29/09
Take Care of Your Feet
Filed under: general, rides
Posted by: The Cyclofiend @ 10:33 am

…and other random thoughts.

A week ago Sunday, I stepped upon a bee whilst trying to quickly coil up a hose in the backyard. Hurrying, focused on where I was trying to go rather than where I was, supremely noncognizant of the fact that whenever the yard gets watered, bees come out in force enjoying the micro-humidity.  So, there I was, one clearly articulated anglo-saxon construction later, watching the arch of my foot swell up. Since I was fishing rather than riding, it was annoying.  But, I did learn that whatever other skills Long John Silver had, staying upright on one foot while on a rocking boat was a mad skill he owned.

So then the following evening, while trying to let in the neighbor’s cat (which we were tending to) after dark, while again barefoot, the tips of my toes found the odd lumpy bit of rough concrete in which must have held up a deck many years ago. It, of course, hadn’t moved in the entire time we’ve lived here, but it had dropped out of my mental map of the yard.  In my defense, it was 2 am, and the lights were (cleverly) not on.

Luckily for my personal relations, I managed to wonder why water had gotten all over my foot and toes before I climbed back into bed, turned on the bathroom light and observed, “hmmm, that’s a fair amount of blood…”

The end result of these clever actions was a truly awkward pedaling style for half of last week. It did get me out of the habit of generally using the tip of my left foot when I stop.  The discomfort reminded me that if the feet aren’t happy, cycling is not terribly comfortable.

But, by Thursday, the swelling had morphed into the fun itchy-itchy feeling, and the toes didn’t leak while switching from downward dog to plank during yoga.

The tail end of the week brought some actual summer-type heat with it. I tried to loop down to the bridge and back without pausing too much, but finally had to get out of the 98-degree heat briefly at about two and a half hours.  Still, it was the first hot day I can recall in a long time.  The blast of sea breeze at the GG Bridge felt great.

Athough, I do think it set up a bit of a shock when I headed back north to the warmer conditions.

Sunday evening I headed up to China Camp for a trail loop on the MB-1Singlespeed.  Spent the first 15 minutes of the ride feeling like there was something seriously wrong with the back end of the bike.  Then realized that for the past 20 or so rides, I’ve been on the fixed-gear rigged Quickbeam.  Although I did end up adding a bit of pressure to the rear tire, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the 26″ wheeled (559) rig felt entirely like a scooty little monkey bike

It’s  nice when you feel undergeared and unable to disconnect your tires from the trail.

Anyway - gotta get to work.  Just been in a habit of not writing and wanted to amend that behavior.

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