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I can mountain bike!
Sort of. But first, let me step back a day to Tuesday when, after a couple errands, I took a run on some gentle-ish trails in Amherst. That was my second recent run after managing about five miles of mostly dirt road and snow mobile trail early last week. Yesterday was feeling about the same, not bad, when I arrived at true singletrack trail fifteen minutes Into the run. Fifty yards into that, I tripped on a root, which is pretty typical for me as a trail runner with a stride that doesn't include lifting my feet.
Oof, although, I'm pretty used to that, but when I got up and ran another twenty feet, I was feeling little less not-bad than when I started. It seems my recovering leg didn't like the shock of having its stride broken, so in my genuine attempt to learn wisdom, I turned around and started back, walking. I did run a grassy few hundred yards toward the end of my return, and that didn't feel bad, but I was still pleased with my choice to be gentle on my body as it tries to repair.
It was a half hour later that I realized the especially good side of the fall story. I caught myself on my hands! I know, that's what people do when they fall, but six months ago, with the nerves to my left arm less recovered, that side really wasn't catching my weight when I fell, so landings were even less graceful. Sure, I'd prefer not to test my ability to trip, but it feels really, really good to know my nerve recovery has continued while I and physical therapy have switched the focus to my leg.
So today, with some materials to return to the South Amherst Library, I pulled out my more utilitarian (it has a rack) mountain bike to combine the trip with a jaunt around Earl's Trails on the north side of the Holyoke Range. Again, I was pleased to enjoy signs of continued nerve recovery, and this time I didn't even have to hit the ground to test it. I'm still a bit behind on my ability to snap my weight forward for bunny hopping logs, but I can definitely truly pull on the bars climbing out of the saddle. It feels good. I might even turn into a mountain biker!
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