Moving along…

As I write this it’s been 7 weeks since my crash. The physical therapy for my shoulder is going well and I’m seeing improvement. My range of motion and strength are back to where I was before the accident so I’m feeling good. As far as my fitness goes, right after the accident I would hop on my stationary bike for rides to keep my fitness up. Fortunately for me I was able to get on my mountain bike 3 weeks after the accident.

I started out on my local trails with the intent to take it easy and get some miles in. I figured out fairly quickly that I wanted to and could push the pace. I’m happy to know that I didn’t lose too much fitness but the real test would be riding some fast technical trails.

This weekend I was able to get to Brandywine, DE to really test out the shoulder. The terrain is varied at Brandywine with flowing single track to open fields, rocky dh trails to rock gardens littered with boulders.

I set out on my ride to try and get 2500ft of climbing in. Where I live and train I’m pushing it to get 400ft but 250ft of climbing is the norm. I make up for the lack of climbing with weight work and riding in a harder gear for sections.
Today was going to be a fitness day with some fun sprinkled in. It really turned into a fun day with some fitness sprinkled in. I was happy to be back riding in a trail system that offers plenty of challenges.

I wound up being on the bike for 2.5hrs and logged 2306ft of climbing in about 19 miles. I was satisfied with that as I got to do some intervals while descending at speeds much faster than my local trails can provide. Any time on the bike is great but after coming off of an injury, it was nice to fly down hill once again.