UP Junction Hollow

Sunday I rode after being cooped up in the office all day doing data entry.... just as it was about to rain. I took the raincape and endured a downpour on the South Side Eagle trail. The humidity was atrocious after that. I found that my buff works wonderfully as a humidity-barrier as far as protecting my hair from poofing up.

Rode out to the Waterfront, turned around and headed to Oakland for dinner with Hubby, but not before running into Yale again. He was wearing a "TRAIL MONITOR" shirt, and I imagine he was heading over to the Steel Valley trail where he's a board member.
I headed UP the Junction Hollow/Schenley Park trail for the first time. I anticipated a rough climb, but when I got to the top, I said "That's it? That wasn't too bad!"

I dined with Hubby at his favorite Indian buffet, left in another storm and rode back into town and made my way through the gauntlet of Arts Festival goers.

The raincape selfie

I think I like the sleeveless jersey. Ventilation!

The road grime splatters well in the rain.

An Arts Festival recycling receptacle.

Art Festival Obstacle Course!

This, at the bottom of a hill will cause a crash.

The result of my crash: tis but a scratch.

Noizy Wheelz and bruise perks

Monday, Jan 13th
I took the day off from riding because my knee insisted upon it. I spent much of my hallway chats with my co-workers explaining why I was particularly gimpy today... a limp that was out of the ordinary from my regular everyday limp. "Speegs, what'd you do to your leg?" or a joking "Red, did you fall off the bike?" (I'm pretty sure there's an office pool about when and how I'm going to end up in the ER) to which I replied "Yes, but that's not why I'm limping." and then I'd show my blue lump to my squeamish co-workers. Even my supervisor, who is an EMT, grimaced at the sight of my arm. Funny, I was able to get her to gasp at the sight of a large oozy-blistery burn on my hand a few months ago, how does she deal with the really gory stuff she sees when she has to work the meat wagon?

The Lump, 48 hours after impact.

The Lump has diminished 5 days later, but was very colorful.

Being unable to ride, this was an opportune time to give Ruby's chain, cassette and rear brakes a good cleaning and re-lubing. They were making rubbing noises that no doubt annoyed and perplexed the heck out of my fellow riders on Sunday. By the end of the ride, the chain was making a squeaking noise and the chain was skipping in certain gears. I gimped over to the loading dock bike rack on my lunch hour and brushed quite a bit of gunk and debris out of the chain and rear derailleur. I don't think the cleaning of the brakes helped with their stickiness, I may have to take it to a professional.

Bike fitting follow-up

It had been 3 weeks since my bike fitting. My fitter had told me that the stem he was ordering would be in 2 weeks ago. I've not heard from him, so I sent an message to him to see what's up.

Tuesday, January 14th
My knee was somewhat back to normal-ish so I took Ruby out in the rain to see if I had mad skillz at cleaning and lubing a drivetrain. The good news was that I heard no annoying rubbing noises! Even the rear brakes were silent. The bad news was that the chain still skipped when I'd shift into or out of my 2 most frequently used gears. Ugh.

More bruises emerge
There's a bruise and tender spot on my left hip, so I guess I hit that too when I took my spill on Sunday.

My trainer/massage therapist took pity on me when she saw my arm and I explained my knee and shoulder might not be 100% for a vigorous workout, so she massaged me instead. Bruise perk!
She also scolded me for poking at it. She explained that it could trigger a hematoma or loosen a clot. Good to know.