Last Thursday was my birthday. It was a nice day. Just hung out at the coffee shop, went to a park with Nathan and Robert, swung on rope over a pond, got my ATM card denied for no reason, rode around town trying to fix that problem, fixed it, had a little pizza party that night with some friends.
Oh, and meanwhile my right ankle got worse and started swelling. I was using my right leg to compensate for my left knee, so it hurt, so I stretched it. Too much.
I spent the second half of my birthday and the next few days icing and propping up my ankle. Felt like a pro. Luckily, on my birthday I was also sipping scotch, so it wasn’t so bad…
I went the next morning and got some crutches from the thrift store and some self-adhesive wrap from the drug store. And ibuprofen. I was pretty tempted to get the motorized seat from the thrift store, but thought that might be overkill for two days of keeping weight off my ankle. Only slightly excessive.
Friday was pretty basic. Watched some of the World Cup. Played darts at the Underground.
Saturday I jumped in the car with Nathan, Matt, Tanya, and Andy to go to Charlottesville to see Shaun and Courtney. Of course, I was supposed to be biking up there, but thought it best to lay low for another 2 days. So, the car and the compromise.
Charlottesville is great. We went to a vineyard and enjoyed a pretty extensive wine tasting. Had some nice foods and cheeses and drinks at great restaurants (C&O is a must).
Woke up, talked with my Dad on Sunday morning. Turns out, Dan and Ruth (brother and sister-in-law) were getting in that evening from Ethiopia. If I was to catch them in their busy schedule, I should get up to York now. So, I checked the train schedule.
Condensed version: many Amtrak trains don’t have the ability to carry bikes, including the one I’m on (it’s Monday morning now). So, I had to pack my bike in a box and put it on the 7:20am train to Baltimore and now I’m on the 8:52 train to there, hoping they remember to take the bike off the train and that it’s waiting there for me. Please…
I’ll be hanging out with my family this week. I’m feeling ambivalent about this change in the trip plans, of course. My mindset was just to be on the bike the whole time. But, this is good. I get to be with my family for a while (a week or so), see my brother, eat great food, swim, sleep…
And build up my cycling routine so that when I get back on the road I’m actually ready to do 75 mile days every day. Going biking with my uncle a bit, looking forward to that. But these injuries are dumb. Turns out when you get older it’s not really the muscles that break, but all the in betweens.
Also: it’s really different sitting on a train and seeing the countryside flying by. I wish I was out on those little roads stopping for water and at diners for breakfast and jumping into the woods to find places to sleep. Soon I’ll do that again. For now, I’m on a vacation from vacation.
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