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Ill-fated bicycle ride
After having a good bike ride recently I decided I’d try for another one yesterday instead of going to the gym. It wasn’t extreme heat yesterday but it was hot and I left home just after 4:30 pm with hopes it would be cooling off soon. The first thing I noticed was the ride wasn’t as easy as the last time. But I pushed on and lowered gears to make things easier. Things were going okay for a while but then the heat started to get to me and instead of continuing to my usual turnaround place, I took a short break to drink some water and stopped once more along the way. I was mostly feeling okay but as I approached the ramp onto the overpass, I realised it was going to be a huge struggle to reach the top. It just happens the path has an offshoot that goes under the bridge so I headed that way to find a stopping place in the shade. One thing I didn’t know is part of that path now shows a sign not to enter as though moving onto a one-way street. Except this was the pathway. I continued anyway because I was desperate to get out of the sun for a while. I did find a small shady area and stopped. I finished my first bottle of water and sat on the path where there were fewer ants around. When my heart rate finally returned to some normality, I started off again.
This is where things got rather tricky. I didn’t have the energy to ride very fast so I kept to as slow a pace as possible. But then I noticed my back tire wasn’t feeling right and it soon became clear the air I’d pumped it up with had gone out and I was riding on the rim of the wheel. I pumped it up and it was wobbly for a while before deflating again. This was a terrible place to be stranded as there was no access to the path for several kilometers. I got off and walked the bike for a long while and then called the Scientist. It took a while for me to communicate where I was. It was noisy from the highway next to me and my pronunciation may not have been clear to him. We finally connected and it was clearer where I was headed. There is one street that crosses with the highway and intersects with the bike pathway so that was my target for us both. I carried on walking my bike and got there about ten minutes later. Part of the pathway was shaded there so I got off and waited. I was nearly finished with my second water bottle at this point.
I knew my bike wasn’t going to fit in the car so my plan had been to lock up my bike near my location with intentions of returning the next day. The Scientist, however, was too concerned it would be stolen and decided he would walk the bike home. I was about 4.5 km from home via the bike path at this point. I took the car and returned home where I showered and rehydrated with V8 juice I had in the fridge. I wasn’t quite sure how well that would work but figured it was better than just water. It seems to have been fine and I started to feel better after a little while.
Meanwhile, the Scientist opted to walk the bike along the road he’d travelled to reach me instead of along the pathway I’d been on. It was quieter there and there was some shade for part of that way (although I’m not sure that was his consideration). He ran into issues closer to home that required a lengthy detour. In the end, he’d walked 8+ kilometers and was about to drop once home. Also, his leg was battered from the bike pedal hitting it regularly along the way. He’d already done his own exercise not much earlier so I can’t imagine his exhaustion.
I guess it might be a while until I ride again. I can get another tube easily but I’m concerned about the wheel being damaged from riding on a flat tire. That said, I will have to replace the tube in order to get it to the shop.
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Some days
Today was one of those days where things didn’t go quite right. Actually it started yesterday when I went to the pharmacy to get a couple of prescriptions filled. Lego Lover alerted me to two he needed so I took them in to fill. As I was giving that to the pharmacist I suddenly thought I needed to get one of mine done too but then decided I still had one tray of tablets left (they are dispensed in punch out trays here).
Last night I found out that one of the prescriptions was the wrong one as it was for a lower dose of the medication. And I was wrong about my own one and it was totally finished.
So I went back today to try again and to sort out Lego Lover’s medications. It seems that the one that was the wrong dose wasn’t finished after all and he’d made a mistake because his last refill was only a couple of weeks ago. The it turned out they didn’t have my prescription on file. Well they had lots of others but not the one I needed. So it was essentially a wasted trip. I came home and tore apart all the places I could think where I might have left that prescription and couldn’t find it. But a while later it occurred to me that I hadn’t checked my purse and that was exactly where it was. Along with Lego Lover’s new prescription at the higher dose.
I had driven there the first time but decided to get my exercise by riding my bike there which sort of worked out. It was kind of chilly by the time I got going and I was concerned I hadn’t dressed warmly enough. But by the time I got there I was feeling a bit warmer and the return trip wasn’t as bad since the wind was at my back.
I noticed there were a lot more people on the pathway today than yesterday. I think timing might have something to do with it as it was late afternoon when I went out. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people out there. Well, the number of cyclists was fairly normal but there were lots of people walking so I had to do a bit of maneuvering around and avoiding oncoming traffic too. A bit too congested for me. Tomorrow I’m hoping to ride to Whiteman Park and walk on one of the trails for a change of pace. I’ve been out on my bike the past three days and Saturday was a long ride (2 hours). Besides I need my kangaroo fix. :)
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Strange times
This isn’t the first time I’ve thought this but it is a weird time for us.
As of midday yesterday, the pool and library closed along with all dine-in establishments being forced to do take away or close. I had to go out for a short time yesterday to get something from the markets and I noticed that some people were “dining in”. I’m not sure how all this works in the food court areas and this was sort of in that category. Not a lot of people but there were people.
I had scheduled an appointment with my doctor for last Friday a few weeks ago and then later got an SMS suggesting I could have telephone consults if I needed since I am considered high risk due to my diabetes. Last week I called up and asked for that appointment to be changed to a telephone consult. The lady I spoke to assured me it had been changed after going away a couple of times. So I was waiting on Friday for that call to come through and it didn’t. I normally don’t have to wait long to get in so this seemed unusual. But due to current events I thought maybe things were really behind schedule for some reason. After an hour and a half I finally phoned them to find out what was happening. The first person I spoke to said I didn’t have a telephone consult listed there. She kept putting me on hold and coming back and eventually another staff person got on the phone and abruptly said I had a did not attend on my record for that day’s appointment. I don’t know what she new beforehand but I went on to explain and she practically growled at me to ask who I spoke to and that never got resolved because I didn’t know for sure. Eventually I had to reschedule for today and I asked her to take the notation off my record but it didn’t happen. Today my doctor called me even ahead of time and we got everything sorted out quickly enough. I mentioned this issue to her and she apologised which didn’t happen before. I had to go later to pick up a blood test form and some prescriptions and stopped at the mail box to find a letter from them admonishing me for not attending…even though I spoke to someone soon afterwards. I made a point of having this removed from my record. I was told I wasn’t charged for it but the point was I didn’t want my record to show anything of the sort when I did nothing wrong. I can just hope it finally got done this time.
I ended up going to the pharmacy to get my prescription filled. I accidentally gave more of them to fill than was needed but I guess it doesn’t hurt to get them a bit early. I had to get a higher dose of Nexium as I’ve been having a nighttime cough for a few months now. It sometimes wakes me up so it’s become rather troublesome, especially since it also wakes up the Scientist. I also left my prescriptions at the pharmacy and plan to call ahead the next time so I can avoid having to hang out there for too long in the near future.
It was quite a warm day, maybe even hot at times. But I decided to try to get a bike ride in during the afternoon and that sort of worked out well. I decided on the cycle path along the new highway since it is nice and wide and has a good turning around point when it crosses one of the local roads. It gives me about an hour of riding and that’s exactly what I needed. I started out and all was going well. I had a good speed going and wasn’t struggling too much getting up hills. But when I got close to my turn around point something in the air started messing with my head, literally. I don’t tend to have too much trouble with seasonal allergies in autumn but something was really getting to me and I got that creepy, crawly feeling on my head that I get when I’m affected. I did make it to my turn-around point and took a scheduled break for water and to recover slightly. I still wasn’t feeling too terrible. The ride back went less well. I was okay for a while but by the halfway point I found my heart rate had gotten to 183 without a lot of effort. I took another break, which I planned to drink water but stayed a bit longer so my heart rate would go down a bit. My last stop also lasted a bit long but it was planned to rehydrate again. I was feeling kind of bad by the time I got home. It wasn’t the worst ride but it wasn’t nice either. Anyway, now I’ve got to be wary of pollen going out now. I did take an anti-histamine which seems to have cleared my head for now.
When I got home, the Scientist and I did our tai chi sword and fan routines before doing a tai chi set a the times we’d normally be at our class. The Scientist had organised with our instructor and other classmates to do it together but apart at the same time. It went fairly well aside from the glaring sun when we started. :)
Tomorrow I have to go out again for my job as a carer. I get to take my client to the doctor as he needs a referral letter. I’m hoping that’s sorted out quickly and easily. I’m not sure what I’ll do with him after that but we will work it out later.
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Swimming
I’m still doing lots of bike rides although the past couple of weeks has been more limited due to the strong winds blowing. I feel a bit too unsteady when it gusts above 35kph so have done other sorts of exercise.
Our city leisure center was closed for a few months for renovations and reopened last month. Along with that they changed the name of the local recreation programs and relaunched with a special deal of 30 days for $30. This includes pool, spa, gym and fitness classes. Our local center only has the pool and spa but there’s another one not far either. Anyway, I signed up in the middle of the month and started going swimming just about every day for a while. After almost a week I developed a sore next and shoulders and had to take a break from it.
I’m pretty sure this was due to the fact that what I call swimming is definitely not proper form and I think I caused myself a bit of injury after overdoing the wrong methods. So I took a bit of a break and decided that now’s the time I need to learn how to swim properly. I signed up for lessons last week and started on Tuesday.
I have had one forty five minute lesson and already feel a lot more capable although I’m going more slowly than before. I learned how to blow bubbles and do the freestyle stroke properly. Most useful is knowing how to breathe properly which makes a huge difference. The lessons actually give unlimited use of the pool for practice between lessons so once my 30 membership runs out, I’ll still be good. I just won’t have access to the spa. Not that I use it for that long as I find it too hot after a while.
My neck and shoulder were still a bit sore after Tuesday so I took a break on Wednesday. But yesterday I went back and practiced for half an hour. My main thing was trying to get a proper rhythm and to manage to last a full lap. I got in twenty laps of swimming and took in a fair bit of water yesterday. Then today I went back and I already found it easier and my stamina had increased so I could manage a full lap most of the time. Well at least for the first half of my practice. I could feel I was doing it right some of the time and it feel really efficient and much easier on the body. Just that trying to swim continuous laps wasn’t a thing yet. After each lap I’d take a break and try to get my breathing under control. I am getting a bit better at breathing in through my mouth and blowing out bubbles through my nose. But it still feels a bit alien for me. I assume this will get better with time.
So I was taking a break after one of my laps and then a young girl in the next lane said “Excuse me” to get my attention. Then she told me I was a very good swimmer which really took me by surprise. I thanked her and told her I was just learning and then she wished me well and I did the same to her as she is learning too. I was quite touched by this and it really helped my confidence a lot. Of course once I was more self-conscious I started making more mistakes. Although I’m pretty sure that also was due to getting tired. I was trying to reach 750 meters of swimming but then the lane was needed for a real lesson and I decided that must be the warning that I needed to stop and take a break. I’d already been finding it hard to make it all the way through a lap and I wasn’t breathing so well as I had been.
I’m hoping to practice at least two more times before my next lesson but I’m already feeling so much more able than I was. I just wished I’d done this sooner.