Hand turn signals will never occur, left arm is useless. Not a problem until I start road biking. Will have to see if they make turn signals for bikes. Looked for some, lots of negative reviews on them breaking off or not working at all.
My left leg is not always is a straight line while pedaling. I should be able to go to any physical therapist in the world and get an accurate diagnosis of why it is doing that AND GET STROKE PROTOCOLS TO CORRECT IT. If I don't figure this out I'm sure I will destroy the knee because that won't stop me from biking long distances. I can join my friends who have already replaced knees and hips.
The gear shifting on the right handlebar is totally counterintuitive and wrong. You turn it upwards to shift to a lower gear and downwards to get to higher gears.
Will need to look for a battery powered bike pump. The floor pump is good to stay in the car, my current 8 inch long mini pump is impossible without two very strong hands.
Looked for a mount for my cell phone,lots of negative reviews
A friend is worried about me doing this, so to reassure her I related my two biking accidents on commuting to/from work, I'm a survivor.
I biked to work for 27 years prior to my stroke, 4 miles each way 9 months out of the year. Biking to work, I would take it relatively slow so I wouldn't sweat too much, although I did take a wet washcloth to wipe down my pits before changing into work clothes. Biking home I whaled on the bike, seeing how fast I could get home. I have a loud booming voice so I would yell at drivers cutting me off, they didn't appreciate my comments, especially the one time I told a driver he would run over his own daughter because he didn't know how to drive.
Accident #1:
Leaving work from downtown Minneapolis I ride on 8th street, 4 lanes wide until I turn onto Portland. I ride hell bent for leather to get out of the car zone as fast as possible. Ahead of me a bus is pulling out and spread across the three right lanes. I instantly decide I'm not going fast enough to pass on the left most lane and cut behind the bus on the right. The reason the bus was across three lanes was because it was getting around a stopped car waiting to make a right hand turn. I had no time to even hit the brakes. I crumpled onto the trunk of a brown Volvo. It was stopped waiting to make a right turn when the pedestrians cleared. The women asked me if this was her fault. 'Nope.' She offered to take me home since the front fork was bent. So we threw the bike in the trunk. On the way, found out she was a lawyer working for the Dayton-Hudson corporation. My white helmet left a scuff mark on her trunk, but never heard from her again. Had a headache that night, probably from a concussion.
Accident #2:
Was hurrying home at sunset because we were supposed to be helping out at a whitewater canoeing class that weekend in central Minnesota on the Kettle River, Banning State Park. I'm heading south on Portland at high speed when a car is trying to cross the street from the left. It pulls directly in front of me, I have maybe 30 feet to get stopped before I hit the car, it is not going fast enough to clear the intersection. I slam on both brakes but the front brake grabs harder and I stand up on my front tire and unceremoniously get thrown over the handlebars slamming into the ground with my left shoulder first, then my face with my glasses breaking and giving me a crescent shaped cut on my cheek. I'm now 15 feet from the car which has stopped, bleeding profusely from the cut. The woman apologizes for not seeing me since she was looking directly into the sun. Ambulance arrives 15 minutes later, and the attendants load my bike into the ambulance also. At the hospital they lock it up to the fence by the ER entrance. The nice doctor stitching me up says he is not sure he can fix it so it won't leave a scar. An hour later and I'm discharged, now pitch dark, I find my bike, attach my lights to my legs and bike the 7.5 miles home. My ex was pissed at me for biking home, I most certainly was not going to take a taxi home when I had a perfectly serviceable bike and was healthy.
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| With my glassses on the scar is not noticeable and the beard covers my major scar just below my lower lip from a youthful accident. |
As you can see this is me.
Part of my Hunter S. Thompson journey;
“Life
should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving
safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in
broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and
loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”
Day 3 was 8.18 miles in 1:09. Avg. speed; 7.0 mph. Max speed 13.5
mph. Elevation loss; 204.4 feet. Elevation gain; 163.7; Avg. pace 8:30 min/mi.
Day 4 was 8.14 miles in 1:09. Avg. speed; 7.1 mph. Max speed 14.1
mph. Elevation loss; 106.0 feet. Elevation gain; 102.7; Avg. pace 8:28 min/mi.
Right now I'm just doing the same trail to get my legs into shape, I haven't biked for over 14 years
For today I lowered the seat back one notch, my butt bones weren't feeling adequately secure and in danger of sliding out.
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