Climb On The Back And We’ll Go For A Ride In The Sky

The day my husband left for the Arrowhead Ultra 135 race in International Falls, Minnesota, I awoke to find a water fountain in my kitchen. Marc left for his adventure at 2:00 am, and I woke up at about 7:30. I walked into the kitchen and saw a cascade of water spraying across the foyer and across the kitchen floor. I looked up at the ceiling, not really knowing what I was looking for. The ceiling was completely dry, and I stood in the kitchen totally dazed and confused. Then it registered. The 55 gallon fish tank in the foyer between the dining room and kitchen had sprung a leak. What timing! The leak was at the seam, about 3/4 the way down the tank. I called Marc, who called his brother to do a fish rescue, in a mad dash to save the fish. Marc’s brother luckily was home, and made it to my house within 1/2 hour. After the fish were safely in a plastic container and on their way to another tank at Marc’s brother’s house, I proceeded to drain the tank. I had intended to leave the tank for Marc to deal to when he returned home, but the smell was so bad I knew I couldn’t leave the tank unattended for five days. That meant draining the rest of the water, scooping out the rocks and gravel, and taking the tank outside. I was proud of the way I handled the situation, because when Marc got home the fish tank was disposed of and new furniture was in its place. The disaster was handled, and all was well…or so I thought. I pulled some tendons in my lower back in the process, although I had no idea until about three weeks later.

I had been having terrible pelvic pain for weeks, and I was concerned I could have some sort of female issue going on, so I went to the doctor. The doctor did an exam and asked tons of questions and decided I had pulled muscles in my back that support the pelvic floor. He advised me to take two weeks off the bike to see how I felt. Two weeks! I told him I didn’t think that was possible, but I reluctantly agreed to try it. And an amazing thing happened the first two days. My pelvic pain completely stopped, but I had terrible lower back pain, which was confirmation that it was an issue with pulled tendons in my back. The doctor was right!

Today was the first day back on the bike in almost two weeks. I promised myself to ride very slowly and to go only a few miles. I started riding, waiting and anticipating the possible pain that was to come. Then something happened. I started singing along with my iPhone playlist, and I kept going and going….Paul McCartney was singing about the wind in your hair of a thousand laces… Yes! “Climb on the back and we’ll go for a ride in the sky…” Yes! I felt like a heroin junkie who had just shot up for the first time in two weeks! I passed an old abandoned farmhouse with a “Keep out” sign on it, and I had to stop and take a picture. I didn’t want to keep out! Then I rode by the Fatty Forest, a little section of woods with a Boy Scout Eagle project trail through it, and I saw the sign “Stay on the trail”. I didn’t want to stay on the trail!! I just wanted to ride!

I had promised myself to take it easy and just ride 10 miles, but I kept going. I passed an old farm that is a member of the Indiana Historic Homesteads and I stopped to take a picture. I was hoping the goats would be out, but I guess goats don’t like to graze in the snow! Then I passed some grain silos that had snow piled up out front from snow plows. A farmer in a pickup truck watched me as I took a picture.

I kept riding and riding. Then I looked down at my Garmin and saw I had ridden over 20 miles, which I hadn’t planned on. I wanted to keep going, but the sensible part of me knew that I needed to head home.  So I reluctantly headed home, singing “Climb on the back and we’ll go for a ride in the sky…” all the way.