Featured A "little" Detour--after A Bicycle Crash And Two Broken Bones

I still can't ride my motorcycles (and wouldn't be much anyway due to COVID-19 restrictions). But....I FINALLY drove my Mustang Bullitt! Mr. Sandi and I drove two miles to a local shopping mall that is essentially shut down. The parking lots all around the mall perimeter were nearly completely empty. Weirdly enough, there was one policeman in his parked car under a tree.

Wheeeee! I guess I'll get it out here and there if I have to drive for an essential service. Which I haven't yet had the need to do since our shelter in place "recommendations" came down from the Arizona governor several weeks ago.

 

Yep, I'm even more appreciative of "small" things like this now more than ever, @Privateer!

 

I got out in the Mustang again yesterday, this time by myself sans Mr. Sandi, to make a run to Ace Hardware for some essentials like latex gloves, shop-weight paper towels, and any cleaning supplies they managed to have in stock (nix on that last one no surprise). Anyway, it felt great to drive the car and I did take just a little bit of a long way 'round. Our local Ace is only about a mile away and I took a route that was more like 5-6 miles and included a nice twisty road and another where I could actually get out of 3rd gear. I'd have loved to driven further but we're trying to abide by the "essential" guidelines. It was far enough to put a big smile on my face, though! Note the nearly empty parking lot. This is all just so feckin' weird..........

 

Just an update for those of you who were following this thread....

I am back (or rather continue to be) on the apple fritters. They have certainly become my "comfort food". Now I'm on them pretty much daily again thanks to COVID, home flooding and breakage, the mountains being on fire, and a job loss (then new one, thankfully). And my elbow still doesn't bend quite enough to put on a helmet and ride.

So I pretty much start each day with a "comfort fritter" with the occasional bowl of bran cereal with blueberries thrown in. For obvious reasons. But I know I can do better than "most days" and could be motivated to eat a fritter every day with the right incentive. So I'm thinking of checking out the Guiness Book of World Records to see if there's currently a world record for consecutive days of fritter consumption. If so I'll try to beat it. If not I can set the first world record in that category. Would anyone care to sponsor my world record attempt?

These are from Dunkin' Donuts, a national chain. Amy's Donuts' fritters have them beat but I don't think Amy's has reopened yet after closing during our lock-down.

 

The front page of our newspaper today. And this is why I'm back on the apple fritters. We can see this fire from our back yard. And it's approaching Mt. Lemmon where I was with my Mustang just a few weeks ago.

 

Thanks, Joe. Yes, we're safe from the fire even though it's only about 5 -- 10 miles from us as the crow flies. We do have some friends who have been at the ready to evacuate their homes in the mountain foothills, though.

Well, what's in the cup is called "tea" but I'm sure you would consider it tea sacrilege. It's green tea. I'm trying to drink a cup of it each day for health purposes (more like hopes) to balance out the fritters!

 

You're right about the excuse to eat apple fritters, Ken. I've loved them my whole life. But it's sort of funny that I can truly say that even if you add up all the apple fritters I've eaten in my entire life, that number wouldn't come close to the number of fritters I've eaten since January!

Yes, I actually am just as concerned about the Covid number as the fire. The fires in Arizona, unfortunately, are a regular and expected occurrence. But the last major fire in our Catalina Mountains was back in 2003 and you can still see remnants of the devastation up on Mt. Lemmon where we ride our motorcycles regularly. The damage wrought by the Big Horn Fire this summer will scar the mountain for the remainder of my riding days--the remainder of my lifetime.

There is presently another even bigger fire burning northeast of Phoenix. It's burning an area that is another place that we love to ride--the "Beeline Highway" which goes from Phoenix up to the Mogollon Rim and a town called Payson. Seems like all we are waiting for is a locust plague.

https://ktar.com/story/3310018/bush-fire-northeast-of-phoenix-area-nears-185000-acres-42-contained/

 

This past Saturday marked exactly 6 months to the day since my bicycle crash. So it has officially been 6 months and 4 days since I last rode one of my motorcycles. And it was my Speed Triple, by the way.

I am so incredibly eager to able to ride again that I can hardly stand it. And yesterday I had a breakthrough. I was able to get a helmet on--and off-- by myself! I've been holding that up as a goal and a concrete thing that would signify my ability--or my approaching ability--to ride again. I do have to say that getting the helmet on is a whole lot easier than getting it off or fastening the chip strap. I may need to request a bit of spousal support. And I did don my helmets after doing an hour's worth of PT so my elbow was at its most flexible.

The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!!

 

This morning, nearly 10 months (294 days to be exact) after my bicycle crash, I finally rode my bicycle outdoors on the road! I've been riding it on a "turbo trainer" a couple of times a week for an hour or so since back in April but haven't had the motivation to get back out on the road on the offending vehicle. I nearly bailed out today but, encouraged by Mr. Sandi, I sucked it up and ventured out. We didn't go far and certainly didn't go fast but it's a step in the right direction and it was a good thing to get my butt out on the road again.

I was pretty darned anxious and hyper vigilant throughout our little ride and at points had visions of my crash pop into my head. Truthfully, I felt much more confident and comfortable when I began riding my Triumph back in August and my Harley a couple of months later than I did riding my bicycle today. To call todays ride a "little ride" is an understatement. We went 8.7 miles in 46 minutes. Yikes. Not like the old days. But now the days aren't old--I am. Anyway, it's a start and I'm good with that. Not so very long ago I couldn't even walk so this is a major improvement!

I will tell you one thing, today's "push bike" ride certainly made me appreciate the suspension on my motorcycles! Between the pavement bumps and the weight bearing on my arms, my elbow was not feeling the love. But, hey, it's all a process. And it's not like I'm under some sort of deadline!

Here I am in our driveway getting ready to hit the road. I definitely had butterflies in my tummy. I'm wearing my Team Martini jersey on purpose and will definitely celebrate today's first day back in the saddle with a martini this evening.


We rode from our house to the University of Arizona which is less than five miles away. Since COVID hit, this particular route has been a staple of Mr. Sandi's. It's a straight shot down a low to moderately trafficked road to get to the UA's central mall which is pretty quiet and peaceful these days. Mr. Sandi took these photos by Old Main, the oldest building on the UA campus. I've included a little info from Wikipedia about this interesting building. While it's certainly not old by European standards it is old for us here in the western U.S.


This photo by the Old Main Fountain was taken looking west on the mall with Old Main behind me. That's the Arizona state flag flying underneath the American flag.




Our Arizona state flag


Now that I've finally gotten my bicycle--and myself--back out on the road I'm hoping I'll gain some confidence and get back some of the joy that cycling has provided me over the years. I have learned through all this that I'm now more of a motorcyclist at heart and my days of being passionate about cycling are in the past. But I do like the bicycle for exercise and for being outdoors and for the social aspect it provides when we ride with a little group on Saturdays. It is nice to have it back as a part of my life again.