I wake up and realize that I should have gotten way more sleep last night than I did. Since I am only carrying two biking jerseys and two pairs of biking shorts, as well as an old tie-dye shirt and torn up pair of blue jeans to change into at night, I need to take every opportunity to wash my clothes as possible. There was a laundry right down the street from where we camped, but I decided to just air dry my clothes over night. Bad move considering how much dew had gathered on them. So it was back to the laundry to dry clothes before taking down my tent and packing up my stuff.
A couple of years ago I went to the emergency room in Wisconsin after hurting my knee in an ultimate frisbee tournament at Whitewater University. I don't remember what was decided happened except that there were two giant pops out of my knee and I had to wear a knee brace for quite a while once I could play again. Now whenever I run a long distance my left knee gets pretty sore. But it has never bothered me before biking though. But at the end of yesterday, my knee just ached and seemed to click every time I went to move it. I even went to McDonald's and bought a large soda just so I could fill the glass with ice and take it back to my tent. Being an optimist, I thought that some ice and ibuprofen would take care of it and I would be back in the saddle 100% the next morning. I could not have been more wrong.
This morning my knee is stiff and still clicks, almost audibly, upon first being moved. Thinking of climbing the hills out of Chamberlain doesn't help any. I almost reluctantly attach my trailer, get on my bike, and start the assent. To my surprise, my knee loosens up a bit and the climb isn't as bad as I had it in my mind. This however does not hold and come the end of our day in Highmore I want nothing more than a day of rest and legal drugs to take the pain away.
There were good things about today though: The chuck-wagon breakfast was a great way to start the day 10 miles out from Chamberlain. And I had never had a lunch consisting of only string cheese and peach rings before. I'm not to anxious to do it again, but it got me through. And passing the wind farm was an awesome sight!
Let me also just say that the people of Highmore treated us incredibly well. Not only did they put on two great meals for us, but also some fun entertainment in the evening. I knew I had to get some sleep if I was going to make it the next day, so I went back to my tent much earlier than the night before. After my third round of 600mg of ibuprofen, washed down by a cold Coors Light, it was off to bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment