Trapped.

I rode in the basement again. It is getting to the point that I read faster while riding than I do sitting still. I was hoping to ride in tomorrow but the Mount Vernon Trail remains icy and treacherous. I know this because I could see bike commuters riding slow and tentative this morning.

Tomorrow it is supposed to be pretty warm, in the 40s all day. It is also supposed to rain all day. In the wee hours of Thursday morning the rain is supposed to turn to snow for the better part of 15 hours. Accumulations are expected to reach as high as 8 inches. What joy.

It’s a really good thing that I don’t drink….much.

Thursday night my daughter is scheduled to fly into BWI so she can renew her driver’s license and go to the dentist. Fingers are crossed.

I hope you’re having fun.

I began the day with yoga, physical therapy, and pain meditation. Pain meditation is when you try to meditate and all the body parts that you hit with the lacrosse ball and the football (a substitute for a foam roller) were busy screaming at you.

It was in the 20s outside. Too cold for a bike ride (at least for me anyway) so I decided to lace up my hiking boots and head to Great Falls for a hike. Along the way, it occured to me that hiking in mud was not likely to be a whole lot of fun. I have been meaning to go to Arlington Cemetery for a while now (say, 25 years) so I decided to check it out. My first few visits resulted in discovering the graves of several famous people by sheer seredipity so I decided to follow the same strategy.

I began with a visit to the grave of JFK and Mrs. Kennedy and their two babies. On the walk away from these graves I happened upon Bobby’s and Teddy’s graves which are much more modest.

I hiked up the hill and in short order came upon the graves of Abner Doubleday, the apocryphal creator of baseball, and Stephen Vincent Benet, the author of John Brown’s Body, a book length historical poem of the Civil War. Except it was not that Stephen Vincent Benet because the author died in the 1940s.

I trucked around in a great counterclockwise circle hoping to find more famous names but failed miserably. As long as I was away from the perimeter of the cemetery, the only sound I could hear was the sound of my breath and the occassional jet ascending from National Airport. I walked past thousands and thousands of graves. They serve as a reminded  sacrifices made by people over 250+ years. They also remind me of the repeated failure of humankind to live in peace with one another.

On the way out of the cemetery, I decided to check out the Women in the Military Memorial. I had heard that my kindergarten teacher, Lili Mai Kelly, was listed on the register. I went inside and checked out the exhibits for a while then turned to the register. Thankfully, it was computerized. I didn’t know her maiden name so I was hoping she was listed under Kelly. And after a few searches, I found her. Totally cool. (Sorry about the blurry picture.) She taught me and at least five of my six siblings. Over the years she became one of my mother’s closest friends. It seems she was in our house every week when I was growing up.

She signed up for the Navy WAVES in her mid-thirties to free up a man for overseas duty. She was stationed in New York City where by chance she met a serviceman while riding horses in Central Park. They married and had two kids who served as babysitters for my family for many years.

Many years later, we named our daughter Lily in her honor. (I had no idea of the spelling of her name until today.)

I’ve now logged three straight days of riding in the basement. The meditative calm of the first day has given way to stupefying boredom. This despite the fact that, while riding, I am reading Nick Hornby’s latest novel, Funny Girl, which is every bit as good as his others.

After yesterday evening’s “ride” both my feet went numb. This is a new one on me. I noticed that just before finishing my calves felt like bocce balls. I came upstairs and rolled them on a lacrosse ball, stretched my hamstrings with a belt, and did wall leans until they loosened up. And the numbness was gone.

Today’s spin was preceded my about 45 minutes of yoga mixed with physical therapy exercises, including the three mentioned above. I had no numbness at all in my feet. So after nearly four months I think I have this foot numbness thing finally figured out. I only wish I could make it go completely away. At least I have discovered some exercises that make my lower back pain free in the bargain.

Right now it’s snowing outside. From the looks of things we should get a couple of inches before it turns into an icy mess. Lucky for me, I bought tickets to a concert this evening in DC (a Christmas present for Mrs. Rootchopper) .So it should be an interesting night. (As I wrote the previous sentence the phone rang. It was Ticketmaster letting me know that the show will go on as scheduled.)

No this has nothing to WWII. It’s winter. The National Park Service refuses to plow the Mount Vernon Trail making biking to work virtually impossible. It’s also incredibly cold and windy outside. And I am still recovering from food poisoning. Are those enough excuses?

I moved Big Nellie, my recumbent, into the basement the other day and put her on a resistance trainer. It attaches to the big back wheel. You then ride it like you would outdoors. Except for the important fact that you don’t go anywhere or see anything.

I used to do this a lot before I joined the Order of the Holey Sweater. Now I do it only when I would lose my mind without exercise. If I want, I can use this mutant exercise device to become a workout monster. I can shed buckets of sweat on the damn thing.

I used to do that. Now I read and pedal. Over the years, I have found that I read much faster and become more absorbed in whatever I am reading when I am riding. It’s also oddly meditative. I completely forget about the world. It’s just me, the book, and the endless hum of the chain. Hmmmm.

For people who are not used to it, this can be torture. In fact, I’ve been thinking of a second career as an enhanced interrogator.  I could put some Doris Day movies on a TV in front of the bike. I’d break the most badass terrorist in 30 minutes.  “Please, sir, I’ll tell you anything you want, but not another minute on that godforsaken bicycle.”

Hurry spring. I’m losing it.

I spent the better part of the last 34 hours either asleep or lying around moaning. I’ve been on my back so much I’ve had to change venues. First, a recliner, then a couch, then my bed, then another couch. My back actually hurts from lying down so much. This concerns me because my back has been in exceptionally fine fettle for over a month.

I had planned to go outside to shovel the snow but Mrs. Roorchopper took one look at me and said, “Fuggitaboudit.”  So I did. Zzzzzzz.

About 9 a.m. I ate an English muffin. It tasted sooo good. I hadn’t eaten any food in my system in over 2 days. Then I drank ginger ale. Then water. Then Gatorade. I did a bit of work and fell asleep on the couch for 30 minutes.

At lunch time I has some Jewish penicillin and, throwing caution to the wind, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I am happy to report that it has not re-appeared in four hours. Will wonders never cease?

I still feel slightly light headed. Probably because of dehydration. I sure hope that my self diagnosis of food poisoning is correct because I would hate to give this to anybody.

Nap time.

I took a voluntary day off today to go to three medical appointments. I drove to all three which were spread all over Alexandria. First, came the dentist in the west end of Alexandria. I think every one of my teeth has a filling or a crown so dentist visits are usually an opportunity for financial disaster. This one went perfectly. No issues to deal with. I am done with my teeth for 6 months. Yay!

After a stop to kill time at a Starbucks (I rarely go there but it was convenient), I went to the dermatologist for a full body skin screening. I am of Irish/English stock so I am the king of sunburns. My skin is so pale that a childhood friend called me Boo Radley. (I am not making this up.) The dermatologist had a field day freezing various suspicious growths off all parts of my body. I lost count at 15. It wasn’t a lot of fun, but, unlike last year, I had nothing worthy of a biopsy so I am done with my skin for 6 months, too. Yay x 2!

My final stop was at the physical therapist. I hate doing all the crunches and dips and assorted other strange exercises but when I am done my back feels wonderful. The really good news is that other than when I drive my car, the numbness in my right foot seems to be fading away. Yay x 3!

Basically all this means that I have only three more doctor’s appointments to deal with. One more PT session. A return visit to the neurologist. And an ophthalmologist appointment. It’s possible that I could be done with doctors until July or August which means more time for riding and hiking.

Not related to medicine but worth talking about is an interesting alternative to coffee and black tea that I tried over the weekend. Yerba mate is a tea popular in South America. It has about 2x the caffeine of a can of Diet Coke but none of the acidity of black tea or coffee. I have been meaning to try mate for years but never could find it until now.

Tomorrow, I am back on The Mule for another bike commute. By the way, did you know that Friday is International Winter Bike to Work Day? You should sign up.