The wily captain brokered a deal where he painted a few rooms in his ex-mother-in-laws Long Beach Island house for a week stay there. So, of course, most of his family glombed on to this and joined him for part of his stay.
Spousy had a retirement party to attend to so we went down on Friday. The drive down was fine although my knee started to bother me. I would have thought that keeping my leg straight and foot on the foot rest would be the best position. Wrong. I found that bending my leg so that my foot was back by the front edge of the seat.
We got there around noon. Although I'm not much of a beach person (so why am i on LBI?), soon we were off to the beach. I really hate sunburn so I stayed under an umbrella until about an hour before we were going to leave. Most of time I watched the local fauna or this dredge that had little activity.
The next morning Captain Bob and I rode north to the Barnegat lighthouse. It was a great ride on the way down in the cool morning. Apparently we had a tailwind. The way back was tougher. It was hotter and we clearly had a head wind. By the time we got back, my knee was a bit sore and swollen.
That evening we ate at the Greenhouse Cafe. It was pretty good and reasonably priced. Captain Bob and John both brought too much wine. But as I expected to drive back later, I only had a 1/2 glass.
Later we went to the final showing of the Black Maria Film Festival (John is the founder and director). It was hosted by the LBI Foundation of the Arts & Sciences. I didn't think any of this year's films stood out. I didn't like Pickles for Nickels and a couple others but didn't have any favorites. Perhaps I was less in the mood because my leg was starting to hurt while sitting there. It was also so cold that I had to get up and walk around about 1/2 through. In fact, at one break, I heard others call for the air conditioning to be turned down. As near as I can tell, that never happened.
When the films were done, I was glad to get out in the warm humid outside. We waited for John to out, chatted for a bit, then left. When I got back to the car I was surprised that it was already cool. Remember awhile back, Captain Bob had to buy a new car? Well he had this new Prius that he apparently left running for 3 hours. We will see how good his gas mileage is after that.
We went back to the beach house. Captain Bob made me some coffee. I put my bike on the rack and we took off.
Two hours later I was back and in my own bed.
2010-06-27
2010-06-21
Road to Recovery
As she has done for the past few years, Princess hosted a father's day get together. It was small this year. Just her brother-in-law (and family), father-in-law (and spouse), and spousy and me. I usually bicycle there and plotted a longer route for my knee rehabilitation.
This was the third time outside on the bike since my knee surgery.
I had been on the mag training bike in the basement a couple times. I hadn't put any effort in to that. I was mostly trying to flex my knee. So I kept the tension and gearing low. I spun at a low 60-70 cadence. I think this helped loosen me up.
The first time outside was two Saturdays ago. I walked the bike up to the main road because I didn't want to have a short stop forced on me by oncoming cars. I mounted the bike OK and started off. I just road around locally for about two miles and came back. I didn't have any problems and figured I was on my way.
Next I rode around the block. This upped the mileage to about 5 1/2 miles. It also added a steep little bridge that goes over the railroad tracks. I did alright on this one too.
Finally, I decided to take the long way to Princess' house. I fired up my old Microsoft Streets and Maps because I find that the easiest to play with with this sort of plotting various routes to get a decent ride and the desired distance. I settled on a 9 mile route that took me out to US 206, then north, and finally back to Princess' green acres.
I left about 12:30 and of course it was dang hot. I rode down to the high school then over to US 206. Fortunately there was one car waiting to turn left as I came up behind it. I like a single car. That way it trips the traffic signal and I get to go and not hold up traffic as I will if I'm behind three or four cars with more behind me.
The ride up 206 was fine. I hit the usual nervous area where the cars are fast, the lanes are narrow, and there is no shoulder. But I reached the promenade without incident.
By this point I was about 2 miles from the end but I was getting a little tired. Maybe it was a combo of the knee and the heat. At any rate that last 2 miles was not as pleasant as the first two miles. When I got to Princess' house I felt light headed enough that I put my bike in her garage rather than lifting it up to the roof rack. But a short time in doors with some more ice water and I was ready for the shrimp, burgers, and of course Mike's shots of Irish whiskey.
This was the third time outside on the bike since my knee surgery.
I had been on the mag training bike in the basement a couple times. I hadn't put any effort in to that. I was mostly trying to flex my knee. So I kept the tension and gearing low. I spun at a low 60-70 cadence. I think this helped loosen me up.
The first time outside was two Saturdays ago. I walked the bike up to the main road because I didn't want to have a short stop forced on me by oncoming cars. I mounted the bike OK and started off. I just road around locally for about two miles and came back. I didn't have any problems and figured I was on my way.
Next I rode around the block. This upped the mileage to about 5 1/2 miles. It also added a steep little bridge that goes over the railroad tracks. I did alright on this one too.
Finally, I decided to take the long way to Princess' house. I fired up my old Microsoft Streets and Maps because I find that the easiest to play with with this sort of plotting various routes to get a decent ride and the desired distance. I settled on a 9 mile route that took me out to US 206, then north, and finally back to Princess' green acres.
I left about 12:30 and of course it was dang hot. I rode down to the high school then over to US 206. Fortunately there was one car waiting to turn left as I came up behind it. I like a single car. That way it trips the traffic signal and I get to go and not hold up traffic as I will if I'm behind three or four cars with more behind me.
The ride up 206 was fine. I hit the usual nervous area where the cars are fast, the lanes are narrow, and there is no shoulder. But I reached the promenade without incident.
By this point I was about 2 miles from the end but I was getting a little tired. Maybe it was a combo of the knee and the heat. At any rate that last 2 miles was not as pleasant as the first two miles. When I got to Princess' house I felt light headed enough that I put my bike in her garage rather than lifting it up to the roof rack. But a short time in doors with some more ice water and I was ready for the shrimp, burgers, and of course Mike's shots of Irish whiskey.