Biking during Surgery

From Dose of Reality:

While I do sometimes wish it were possible to actually be on my bike in the operating room, as I’d be a lot more comfortable if I were moving around, that is not the subject of this post. Instead, I’m finally admitting publically that although my dedication to physical fitness in general and to cycling in particular is quite strong, spending 13-17 hours/day in the hospital is enough to overcome that dedication. Here is a graph representing my ranking on Bike Journal since the second week of M3 year:You will notice that during outpatient pediatrics there was a pretty good climb, indicating that I was, in general, biking more than the average person on the website. From early June until the end of June I stayed roughly the same, suggesting that I was keeping pace with the cyclists around me on the list, and then the 4th of July weekend showed a substantial spike. This was due to two long rides that led me to rack up nearly 90 miles in a single weekend!

First, on Saturday I rode to Chelsea with Morgan and Yorgos, two new M3 friends who love their bikes and share my love of delicious food. We rode through Dexter and into Chelsea, stopped for an early lunch and some ice cream, and then headed home. This was my first ride on new thinner, higher pressure tires, and it was awesome. We ate at Zou Zou's:

Second, on the Monday holiday Alicia and I reprised a bike ride we did back in 2008 and headed over to St. Clair to bike up the river and have lunch at the Quay Street Brewing Company in Port Huron.

Instead of returning by the same route as we did that time, we followed the entire recommended route for a total of just under 49 miles. It was delightful. On that same ride, my bike odometer turned to 2000 miles:

The following day I started my surgery rotation. This corresponds with the precipitous drop you see on my chart at the top. I did start riding my bike to the hospital last week, but that’s only 1 mile each way. Even on my days off I’m tired enough and have enough errands to run and laundry to do that long rides seem like a distant dream. I suppose it’s worth remembering that the saving grace here is that it’s July, and I dislike being hot and sweaty. My surgery rotation will continue through August, and it should get easier in terms of hours as it gets cooler through the fall. Here’s to a September and October full of long and wonderful rides…