You may recall that I stopped cycling mid-February because of pregnancy-related carpal tunnel
syndroms. Well, I had the baby March 11th (the ever so cute Ellen Rose who is asleep in the sling as
I type this) and my hands have been slowly improving. They are now much better than when I stopped
cycling, although still not 100%. About 5 weeks after giving birth I tried going for a short (1/2
hour) bike ride. I had a Cesarean section and they recommend you wait until 8 weeks before cycling,
but when I pressed they said, well, maybe 6. At 5 weeks it was fine, but for the fact that the hands
still aren't great.
Though I could ride a bike, I couldn't ride long because I have to take care of Ellen. So finally
last weekend we got her trailer ready to go. We've had it since before she was born, but we found
that the wheels are defective (tires didn't fit on rims well, resulting in un-round wheels) and we
hadn't figured out how to fit the baby car seat in it. We solved both problems over the weekend,
taking the trailer back to the guy we bought it from (Kevin of D.Tek) who replaced the wheels, and
sewing buckles onto nylon webbing to make straps to hold in the car seat. We took Ellen for some
short rides over the weekend. She really likes it! Well, she sometimes complains a bit as I strap
her in, but once the bike gets going she soons quiets down and then falls fast asleep. Sometime she
does wake up while I'm riding and sqeak a bit, but then falls back asleep.
I've been going out with her almost every day this week. My longest ride was 16.5 miles, which is a
longer ride than I've done since November (Nov-Feb I'd been riding regularly, but only for
commuting purposes, so I'd ride 40-50 miles/week, but only about 3.5 miles at a time). My legs
ached a bit the next day!
So I will work towards slowly regaining my fitness and losing the excess weight. It sure feels good
to be back on the bike!
-Myra