injury recovery

How do you recover from injury? I had two minor injuries that were not bike related. I have had a few wrecks over the years that kept me off the bike for a short period, but I am older now and these minor injuries laid me up almost 6 months. The first was a muscle pull from stretching too hard in yoga. It presented as a pain in the center of my chest. Of course I thot it was a heart attack or something heart related. I finally went to the doctor and everything was normal. I realized later it was from pushing too hard in the yoga pose. As that was healed after at least two months I fell in the dark when there was a noise in the house. I banged my shoulder. When I finally went to the doctor they said it was rotator cuff tendonitis. That has taken 3 or 4 months to heal. I would try to ride but my route has speed bumps and they would jar my shoulder and put me in great pain.

So the recovery - beyond the pain my recovery seems so slow. I definitely haven't been able to do my old ride that I did two or three times a week. I do about half the ride. I am able to ride to the top of the mountain but not over the other side and back. I seem to be more susceptible to the oppressive heat now. I can't sprint very well when I want to. Sometimes I think age is finally getting the best of me. I've never been a week without a bike ride. This is most of 5 or 6 months.

I'm looking for thoughts or ideas of what next steps should be. I'm recovering, but I'm feeling old.

Why ride?

WHY do I ride?

There are so many reasons I ride. I leave my mental analytical mind behind and just breathe. The cardio helps me breathe deeply. I like the challenge of pushing my body a little. I like to brag a little about how fast I've gotten from point A to point 1. Sometimes I commute. Sometimes I do errands. The independence is also appealing. I can fix what breaks.

night rides

How many like to ride at night? I got really into generator hubs that power lights a 5 years ago. I had them on several bikes. I had always loved to ride at night, but this made it safer and enjoyable. I would ride without lights as a younger and (as previously posted) dumber rider. I lived in the suburbs of DC and we had nice park roads to ride in that were reasonably safe. Riding without the sun burning down and in your eyes, the cooler temperatures and just the lack of visual stimulation was very refreshing and meditative. I remember pulling up next to a car and my halogen generator powered light was comparable in intensity.

racism in cycling

Stories of sexism/racism in cycling

I remember taking my wife to a bike shop. We were thinking about a new bike for her - going from racing bike to hybrid or something. She was on her bike, so we mentioned that the handlebar tape had unraveled. We had just bought the bike there recently and it had already unraveled. It was annoying. The guy tried to tell her that that's just what happens. I jumped in and told him she only had 400 miles on the bike. I pointed to mine and told him mine was intact after 6000 miles.

This guy was clearly trying to take advantage of a novice rider, a woman, a black woman. That's not good for the sport. He relented and put new bar tape on but that's bad policy. Any others have stories like this?

learning to wrench

I was once young and stupid. It lasted a lot longer than I'd like to admit. I didn't have help learning to wrench on my bikes. As a preteen I did some really stupid stuff. One of the first stupid things I did was tighten all the bolts on my bike as tight as I could. For some reason I couldn't turn the handlebars after that. LOL. Suddenly there was something wrong with my headset.

I also built my first wheel without instruction. I had help figuring out the spokes etc. But actually building the wheel was a disaster. The rim was curved. I took it to the shop and told them they sold me a bent rim