First Century Since the Surgery

I crashed and broke my hip on February 3rd. Yesterday, May 3rd, I rode my first century since the accident.

The route was nice and flat, taking in the scenery near Pyramid Lake.

Traffic was very light on 447. It's an interesting area because you get these patches of sand out there. Later on when the wind picked up, there were a lot of dust devils to be seen.

NV 447

Speaking of wind, it was certainly a factor today. All you can really do is start early, save the tailwind for last, and hope for the best. That plan worked out perfectly today. By the time the wind really picked up, I was already about halfway done with the ride.

My hip wasn't really bothering me. There are times when it feels weak and there are times when I forget all about it. It's difficult to explain, but a lot of the time I'm sort of reminded that it's there because it feels different than the good hip. I wouldn't call it pain exactly, just a feeling. It's most noticeable when climbing.

My real issue today was that I'm out of shape. It's been more than 3 months since my last century. I was used to doing a century every week, so my legs, mind, and ass were all used to it. A lot can change in 3 months. Those last 20-25 miles seemed to last forever, and that's with the tailwind where I could go 20mph by hardly pedaling at all.

The conditioning will come with time. The important thing is that I'm back out there riding again. 3 months ago I didn't know what to expect. I hate to make too much out of it because I know a lot of people have it worse than me, but that was a difficult time for me. What's life without being able to ride? Luckily for me, that was only a temporary question.

What's next? My plans aren't all that specific. Hopefully I'll recover from the century in a reasonable amount of time, and then I want to focus on climbing again. The Alta Alpina Challenge is on June 28th, and I already signed up for it back in January before the injury. My goal is to ride all 8 passes. It sounds like a tall order, but so did riding my first century on May 3rd and that turned out pretty well. Nothing is set in stone. I don't know what to expect from my body these days.

Either way, it was a fun ride today and I'm grateful to be back out there again.

Strava Link