It has been July 22nd since my last post. I actually posted again in early August but the blog program crashed just as I went to post it - and I could not recover the lost material which took about 2 hours to prepare. Actually the same thing just happened tonight - so I am writing this for the second time.
I did not want to write and keep telling you how sore my knee was. Sometimes, there were bright moments where there was no pain at all. But when I began to push it a little, the pain came back. Any distance above 6 kms would cause the knee to begin to swell and at 8 kms, it was swollen enough to make me limp for the next two days. On top of that my Achilles Tendon started to get very sore beginning at the end of June and continuing until now. So about two weeks ago I realized that there was no way I can walk the Camino and I actually packed up all of my stuff into a big plastic container and put it in the attic.
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| Me when I first start out on the bike! |
But still not wanting to let go, I started researching about riding a bicycle on the Camino. Did you know that you can rent on for about the cost of flying your bike to Europe, and included in the price is the helmet, water bottle and holder, lock, luggage rack, spare tube and tools, etc? They will deliver the bike to the hotel where you are starting from and pick it up from where you plan on ending. So I got my bike out (which I had not rode this year at all, and maybe 3 times all of last year, and never for the past 30 years - and rode it 12 kms three nights last week. I did 12 kms in about 35 minutes - and actually enjoyed it. AND no knee pain or Achilles Tendon pain - just a bit of a sore bum. You can really cover a lot of distance in a short time. It takes me over two hours to walk that same distance. I took the weekend off as I was busy doing other stuff (and almost killed myself but that is another story). So on Monday, I rode 30 kms and everything was fine other than sore bum again. Feeling quite good about that, I went out and bought padded biker shorts and biker gloves and a helmet! I did more research corresponding with a couple of people who have rode bikes on the Camino, and also checking flights from Toronto to Europe (Barcelona and Madrid mostly). The ride yesterday though was terrible. The padding in the biker shorts seemed to cut off the circulation in my upper thigh, my wrists were sore, and my bum very sore. So I thought that today would be the final test. Try 30 kms again and see how it goes. On the Camino, I would want to average 50 kms per day. So out I went again, this time without the biker shorts. The last half was extremely painful for my butt, my wrists hurt, and for the first time, my shoulders began to hurt. So that is that. Not enough time to get into bike shape. I am calling it quits. If I had someone to bike with, then maybe.
So I want to thank all of you for your support and encouragement and tips. I am going to continue to train but without a specific goal in mind. I will have to tell my boss that I no longer need six weeks off in a row for vacation.
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| Me about half way through the 30 km course |
Mind you, I have not checked into renting a horse or a mule. Hmmmmmmm...........................
