Headed home after tackling my first (itty bitty) section of single track.

Goodbye Park City. Again. For now. I’ll be back soon. It’s always fun to learn new towns and trails. And coffee shops. I feel like I’m getting the hang of Park City.

This morning Puck and I went for our final Park City hand cycle ride on Betty the Hand Cycle. I don’t know why I named her Betty, but it seems to fit. Bad Ass Betty the Hand Cycle (with me on board!) took on some single track today. It was a short section, but it had some decent turns in it. At the expense of a few bushes, we made it. It was pretty fun.

About the same time we saw the sign informing us that coyotes were active in the area. I’m not going to lie, I felt a bit like a sitting duck.

Neither Betty nor I are built for real technical single track, but I’m going to try to get out on some easier stuff in Crested Butte. Work on my skills. And my arm muscles. I thought I was strong, but this is humbling.

I swung by a bike shop yesterday just to have them take a look because Betty had been doing a fair amount of creaking and I didn’t like it. There were multiple bolts loose, which of course I had not checked. She is brand-freaking-new, why would I check bolts? She didn’t creak today. Voila.

As the mechanic was checking the shifting, he asked me if I used the little chain ring much. I looked at him in disbelief and said that was really the ONLY chain ring I used most of the time. For non-cyclists, the little chain ring on the front derailleur (which on a hand cycle is kind of the rear derailleur) is the easiest of the three rings. I really have no idea why anyone would need the big chain ring. Maybe someday, on a super downhill, I will use it just to say I did.

I’m writing this from Grand Junction. I packed up after our ride this morning and drove to Grand Junction. It’s about 5 hours and that is (possibly beyond) the maximum my leg can stand in a car right now. Tomorrow we will head on to Crested Butte. I’m super glad I did this road trip, it was so much fun. But it is also fairly exhausting to travel in my current state, so I will be glad to be home!

As for my recovery, I’m doing really well. Other than watching my left leg atrophy (I have to cinch my brace down more and more) I feel good. I’m starting to get into the gym a bit more; I think I was in a bit of a funk because it was so frustrating to try to work out. I can start swimming now too. Who knew I would ever be so excited to swim? It will be interesting dragging the big brace along, but I’ll figure it out.

The surgeon says I can start to wean off the crutches over the next few weeks. I’m able to walk without them as long as I have my brace fully locked so my knee can’t bend; but I try not to overdo it because it still strains the repaired tendon. He said the tendon is most vulnerable up until 21 days and then it starts to strengthen. I’ll be at 21 days tomorrow!