Not a Strong Ride, but a Good Ride

On the advice of my physio Jane at the highly regarded Capital Sports Medicine, I've been chilling out since the Brevet.  I tried riding to work last Monday but my knee was pretty tender, and when I treated myself to a full body massage on Tuesday it swelled up.  So, the next day I trundled off the physio, and was sent away with some compression bandage and R.I.C.E...

After a week of enduring busses, the odd drive to the fringe of the city, and another session with Jane, today it was time to put the knee to the test with a flat ride.  Coincidentally, I had an errand to run out in Petone - my Ridestrong membership pack had been processed, and included in it was an XL Ridestrong jersey.  It turns out I'm not an XL and more - not that I ever was in the cut of this jersey, and so one phonecall later, I'd arranged to swap it out at BikeNZ HQ for a large.

There was a northerly blowing, and so I got to look forward to a tailwind on my homewade journey.  I found myself a nice comfortable gear - 36 x something smallish, but not too small - and spun away, enjoying some pain free riding for the first time in a while.

I stopped at the BP station to fill my empty water bottle, and apart from a bit of confusion after the Petone offramp, I got out to Hutt Park in one piece. 

Simon, the memberships guy met me at reception and took me into the office to swap the jerseys.  I recognised John Willmer (Cycling Development Manager) and we nattered for a bit.  He and his colleagues had enjoyed following the Brevet online!  As John was showing me out, I was introduced to Benji Hall (Marketing Communications Manager) and enjoyed a chat to him too.  

The ride back into town was even more pleasant with the wind giving me a slightly-more-than-gentle nudge from behind.  Against my better judgement, I couldn't resist grabbing a photo of my new jersey, though in hindsight I should have been more patient and waited for a quieter stretch of road...

I got as far as Bordeaux before having to stop for some food, although this didn't come soon enough to prevent me flipping it into the big chain ring, out of habit.  I've done a few stretches this evening, and apart from a little stiffness around the place, and a wee bit of tenderness in the knee still, all seems in order.  Probably not quite good enough for a blast up Mt Vic on Monday lunchtime, but should be good enough for the Karapoti Original on Sunday week.  I'm having trouble shaking off my post-Brevet appetite, so amping up the exercise side of the budget has got to happen sooner rather than later!


Apart from testing the knee, it was good to get out to BikeNZ finally.  They seemed really interested in everyone's stories about the Brevet, and were keen to hear what might be in store in the future.  I'm glad to have signed up to Ridestrong, lured in by their February-only offer of a free jersey with a $49 registration.  It turns out Rabobank even slings the cash into an account for me!  Score!  Gotta love shopping on the internet (you only have until Sunday)...!