Leg Cramp Prevention

I have terrible issues with leg cramps. When I started cycling daily, they only got worse and migrated to muscles I wasn't accustomed to getting cramping issues with.

Since my teenage years,  I got the 'normal' nighttime calf cramps on a regular basis. Bananas and keeping hydrated kept them to a minimum. I've not tried quinine or strange things like sleeping with a bar of soap.

hydration and potassium: good

 When I started cycling regularly, I started getting cramps in new muscles: the front of the calf (tibialis anterior) as well as the toes and top of the foot. Not much fun.

They weren't the worst though: I was getting horrific cramps in my inner thigh: the gracillis

I tried pickles and pickle juice, they helped a bit, but I was still getting cramps after a ride, sometimes all of the muscles cramping at once. Occasionally I'd get them in the middle of a ride.

 It is utterly excruciating pain.

Pickle juice works well.

When I started reading that magnesium helps with muscle cramps, I researched foods that have magnesium because tablet supplements don't agree with me (or many people for that matter: they're very distressing to one's digestive system). Coffee is high in magnesium, and I already drink a ton of that. Another food high in magnesium is a weed called 'dock'.
Sorry, my grocery store is always out of dock. Additionally, there were clams, purslane, swiss chard and many other green leafy weeds and such. I like green leafies, especially seaweed and kale, but I don't eat enough of them.

I found I'd had a liquid magnesium supplement already in my possession that I'd stopped taking after the first dose because it tasted so bad. It's processed water from Utah's Great Salt Lake. It's supposed to contain a myriad of minerals we don't absorb from foods very well, mainly magnesium.
I tried taking this liquid again, but this time I learned to chase it with a beverage like coffee or water to get rid of the awful taste.

Ionic magnesium liquid

So, after suffering much of the winter not riding and still having that constant feeling of a spasm about to take hold, it stopped when I started taking the liquid magnesium. I went on 20 and 40 mile rides and didn't spend the evening dealing with pain. Wow, this might be my magic wand.

Bike lane woes and wows/ Pittsburgh Slow Roll

Morning ride:
I had another somewhat close encounter with an oblivious pedestrian. She was rather rude after I yelled to let her know I was about to collide with her.

Later in the evening the first Slow Roll Pittsburgh ride was taking place. I rode over to Market square and had a drink and noshed on some fries at Primanti's with Jeffery who was also waiting for Slow Roll.

Quite an assemblage for the first ride.

The weather reports told me the rain wouldn't start until 10PM. They lied. It started drizzling as we left. I was ill prepared.

When we reached the still closed Clemente Bridge, I decided to wig out of the ride, grab a photo or two of these tremendous bike lane markings honoring Roberto Clemente and head home before the rain ruined my hair.

Easter Proposals

Today was Easter. Easter is a day that everything is closed. Except REI! Thank you for bathrooms! I had trouble finding coffee, food and more bathrooms beyond REI. They were non-existant. I was hungry, in need of caffeine and riding around with a full bladder. *grumble*
The sun and wind were abundant though. Headwinds in every direction. I got to wear shorts, it reached 70 degrees.

Saw some interesting proposals.

Marriage proposal to someone residing at the jail:

Another proposal for roommates

Obligatory Hot Metal Bridge photo.

Friday's Ankle Injury Update:
The ankle has turned some interesting shades of blue. No pain other than some "It hurts when I push on it" tenderness.

Good Friday fish fry ride and yes, I am that clumsy.

Today was Good Friday and that means fried fish smothered in hot sauce for me! Noms.
Marko hosted the Fish Fry ride down to Holy Angels and despite the rainy forecast a few showed: Ray, Dino, Yale and myself. Good food, excellent company, good riding. Not much of the rain reared it's ugly head, which was also very good.

This photo courtesy Marko and his amazing new smartphone.

Afterwards, we rode down to McKeesport and back. This TV was there on the SteelValley trail. Why? I'm not sure, but above it was a recent but small landslide. While I took this picture the conversation turned to landslides. There were gobs of mud rolling down as we talked. Then I started to hear twigs snapping and we left ASAP.

RUN!

On the way back... well... I'll let the video speak for itself:





My normal approach to a bike fall is when I know a fall is inevitable: don't fight it...just let it happen. Just go down.. let gravity take over and the injuries won't be as bad. However, as the bike laid on the ground the ground-side pedal forced the sky-side pedal to turn and wedge my ankle between the frame and the crank. Tightly too, I was pinned inside the bike and painfully unable to move. Marko carefully untangled my ankle for me.  So embarrassing.

Boy I'm really glad I shaved my legs... you never know when someone's going to have to wrench your ankle out of a bike. Today was this first time I've worn short pants in months, so a shave was long overdue. #winterlegs

One of my Dad's nicknames for me is : Grace
...as a child I was anything but graceful and still as an adult...I'm far from graceful. My Dad's funny.

The crank imprint

The frame-side reddened up and bruised quickly

OMG! Blood! *faint*

Bike lane blockages, commuter civvies and City of Asylum

Dear Benedum Center: stop it. Stop parking your trucks on the sidewalk and bike lane. Pedestrians and cyclists  have to walk and swerve into oncoming motor traffic because your truck is parked in the bike lane for hours every day.

7:50 AM (outbound) Blocked

Rush Hour: 8:30AM (inbound) STILL blocked.

Some guy felt it necessary to tell me to "Get in the bike lane!" 
Thanks, pal. I would if I could... but I can't.


Commuting practice
If I'm to become a bike commuter, I'll need some practice with arriving at work: ready to work. My commute will be downhill in the mornings, so there's not really a need to don the special wicking and cycling gear. I won't be sweating much. I decided to ride today in my dress/work clothes: skirt,  hose, oxford shirt and wool blazer. The hi-viz compulsion made me wear the loud scarf.

My lunch hour ride sent me to an artsy nook of the NorthSide called City of Asylum

Just Be Good. Excellent advice.

Another Little Free Library find.

I made it back to my desk just before the skies unleashed a violent downpour. WHEW. I was unprepared for rain!

Things to come

Work on the Clemente Bridge bike lanes.

Baseball will return very soon.

Note to self: remember these things.

Hetcor’s Original List Of Happiness

Taken from the book Hector and the Search for Happiness by Francois Lelord

1. Making comparisons can spoil your happiness
2. Happiness often comes when least expected
3. Many people only see happiness in their future
4. Many people think happiness comes from having more power or more money
5. Sometimes happiness is not knowing the whole story
6. Happiness is a long walk in beautiful, unfamiliar mountains
7. It’s a mistake to think that happiness is the goal
8. Happiness is being with the people you love; unhappiness is being separated from the people you love
9. Happiness is knowing that your family lacks for nothing
10. Happiness is doing a job you love
11. Happiness is having a home and a garden of your own
12. It’s harder to be happy in a country run by bad people
13. Happiness is feeling useful to others
14. Happiness is to be loved for exactly who you are (People are kinder to a child who smiles)
15. Happiness comes when you feel truly alive
16. Happiness is knowing how to celebrate
17. Happiness is caring about the happiness of those you love
18. Happiness is not attaching too much importance to what other people think
19. The sun and the sea make everybody happy
20. Happiness is a certain way of seeing things
21. Rivalry poisons happiness
22. Women care more than men about making others happy
23. Happiness means making sure that those around you are happy