[Israel ride] Health

[magid]

In the end, I rode something like 260 miles through the desert (well, mostly; not so much desert the first day) in five days. What I discovered is that even when slathering on sunblock, I do not cope well with intense sun. I think I was the rider least able to deal with the intensity of light coming down, especially as the times crept past noon, even when totally covered in lotion and fully hydrated. Too often, I felt like I was turning into a piece of toast, crispy at the edges. Which is why, the second day, I took the bus from the last rest stop (63 miles in) to Kibbutz Mashabei Sadeh. I'd started recovering in the shade at the rest stop, started thinking I would finish the day's riding, but realized that if I pushed myself now, I might not have enough for the next day, and recognizing my limits was important. Plus, when it's not fun, when it's only about slogging without any joy at all, it's not worth it. So I took the bus for about 10 miles. That was the only time, though. I think I started coping a tiny bit better, plus the other days weren't as long, nor did they go as late in the day (we'd gotten a late start due to security issues near Ashkelon, plus we'd stopped in S'derot for a little ceremony).

In the end, my leg muscles felt stronger, though they were never the boundary I had to push: that was sometimes the saddle soreness (no matter how cushy the saddle, after many 6 and 7 hour days, it was sometimes hard to get back on the bike), and sometimes my back (other than the general sense of crispiness).

Other side effects:

• a few black and blue marks (left forearm, left leg, belly; no idea how I got any of them)
  
• sunburn (back of the left calf, left side of neck, just below the end of the bike jersey sleeves on both arms, a bit on both cheeks, and my lower lip (ow!))
  
• hand issues (a numb spot on the side of my left ring finger I was told would go away in a few weeks, loss of fine motor strength in my right hand for a while (now recovering; helped by having the hand/wrist wrapped after the second day, which also reminded me to stretch my hands more, and the handlebars being moved up for the last two days of riding (straight handlebars suck for long rides; at least now I know.))
  
• general lassitude from too much sun (not to the level of heat stroke or anything, but it took a while to feel right)
  
• a bumpy rash on my arms from too much sun block (I applied more at almost every rest stop, sometimes up to five times a day)
  
• a sore throat that started the first night of the ride and progressed into a sniffly nose and an annoying dry cough (interestingly, I had no problems with any of it when I was riding, just before/after)(the dregs of the cough are still with me)

The rest of the trip was fine, once I'd recovered from the sun, though I did get footsore the last couple of days, when I was walking more than 10 miles/day on pavement and stone.

Comments

[gingicat]

Feel better!

Want to go for a walk with me and your niece on Tuesday before my 7PM appt acrpss the street from you?

[magid.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm mostly recovered (except for from the rigors of travel).

Next week may work; I need to find out Shavuot timing.

[gingicat]

Makes sense. I may go to services Monday morning.

Also, we got your postcard, thank you!

[magid.livejournal.com]

Glad it made it!

[majes.livejournal.com]

Ouch - lip sunburns on the worst! I haven't had one of those since I was a teen, but I remember the suckiness of them.

Gratz on your biking adventure. Despite all the too-much-sun, it still must be nice to be out of doors so much.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I couldn't figure out for a while why my lip felt so weird. Once I did, it wasn't as bad as some of the other bits, as long as I remembered to use lip balm (SPF 15) as often as I put on sunblock.

It was great to be out so much, traveling the country without being insulated from the landscape as I would be in a car/bus. By the time we got to the fully desert areas, though, I was happy for every rest stop (where the crew had set up tarps for shade if there wasn't any other sort of shade around). After a while, the green of irrigated trees at the few settlements looked almost odd in contrast to the brown/yellow/tan of the rest of the area.

[danger-chick.livejournal.com]

a numb spot on the side of my left ring finger
Biker's palsy! Be careful, as mine is permanent now. :(

Congrats on the ride. Sounds like it went well.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I hadn't run into this before; I didn't realize it was so common :-(. It's already started coming right again (first time's lucky?).

How long was it until yours became permanent?

And thanks. It did, though some of the actual minutes were darned difficult. There'll be more; it was just too big a thing to post about in one shot (rather like Burning Man, though less fantastical).

[neorock.livejournal.com]

Regarding your last bullet point... it's funny because that's the summer-cold that's going around here in Israel... I had it a few weeks ago, same symptoms and order of things, and then my roommate had it.

Consider yourself as having had an official Israeli cold. :-)

[magid.livejournal.com]

So I've imported a cold? I hope the border police don't come for me!

How long did it last for you? I'm still coughing some (so take "had" out of that last sentence...), and it would be great to have some estimate of possible freedom.

[neorock.livejournal.com]

For me about 5 days or so... which is long for me...

The roommate is still coughing two weeks later and only after antibiotics and the said two weeks has it finally been improving. Hopefully after shavout you'll be fine..(?)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Hm... I got the first tickles of the start of the sore throat after the first day of riding, so May 21. I'm still coughing today. :-(

Of course, it's not like I've been treating it or anything, because it hasn't been that bad, mostly (except a few nights when the coughing kept me awake some, but I didn't sleep well the first week in Israel anyway).

I hope your roommate continues to recover apace.

[neorock.livejournal.com]

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/car-accident-cyclists-race-mexico.php

[magid.livejournal.com]

I saw that, and was horrified.

I know that the security (and other staff/vehicles) we had likely wouldn't have helped had there been someone like this driver, but I'm still holding on to the belief that somehow, it would have been different.

For our ride, in the cities, the police tended to block intersections from other vehicular traffic passing until we'd gone by as a group, while out on the roads there was less traffic, and we had been told (and often did) call when there were cars approaching from one direction or another, to warn people ahead/behind. All it takes is one idiot with an exoskeleton, though. Those poor people, and their families... BD"E.