Back on the Road Again ... and maybe back off it.

After dog-sitting and dog walking all weekend, some serious bike-type exertion was in order come late Sunday afternoon. With limited daylight left (again), a test of the new, higher 45 degree road bike stem I installed was well overdue — 3 months overdue.

Basically, I'm trying to salvage my wonderful bike so I can ride it with my cranky neck. It was great for a while, until herniated cervical disks put me out of action for a year and a half.

A year and a half of pain and physical therapy. Now things are a lot better — not fully repaired say 90%. Good enough to ride MTB for 40 minutes. But Road bike is another thing altogether. The neck no longer tolerates looking up for more than _n?__ minutes. How long I don't know. Overdo it and I might be screwed for another year.

The road position is essentially one of "looking up." If your neck is good, you can do it for days and hours. If your neck is farged, it can be an incapacitating problem.

I've gotten the steepest rise stem I can find, and set it so I have the bar tops an inch higher than the saddle.

After riding MTB in August, and a good dose of golf, followed by some road riding, the neck balked on my last road ride in November. So I shut it down.

Got a lot better in January/February, felt good on the MTB in late Feb. Now it felt like time to test the road bike.

Carrying a Camelbak with too many tools, a wallet, phone tube, CO2s and cold weather extras, and a heavy NightRider battery and HID light. I set off with no target in mind until the first turn.

Where to? I went right: Longview. The big one. The Hill. The challenge to limbs heart, lings and maybe a little easter on the neck. Maybe.

The original plan had been a quick ride to Sands Point and back, but this route would keep me close to home and give me a real hard climb concentrated in a short period, and feweer cars to deal with.

I guess the MTB got me psyched for elevation gain.

Stopped on Jeanette/linda to pull the allen key and check the handlebar, stem and top cap. Definitely could use a little tightening all round. a 5-minute wrench check.

The home-side Northwest face. Made pretty good time for a while but the lungs were not quite ready for the workout. It's amazing, they struggle a bit until warmed up then they seem to do better. But, it was a hell of a grind all the same and I decided to left turn right at Ezring's house onto Hillcrest, good choice led to some interesting hill routes, and a detour from Hampton through the church, put me in a good spot to ride on down to Harbor Acres and tackle the East/Missle/South Rd climbs.

That got pretty heavy duty at the end and I u-turned out of caution, not wanting overcook it on the first time back.

As for the cervical neck. I got a nasty inner arm spasm twinge early on, then some generalized neck discomfort that said. This is tolerable but maybe not a great idea. Afterward, I was definitely feeling some added tingling in the index fingertip. A sure sign there was some nerve impingement. And during the evening a very little soreness and stiffness.

Verdict: great had-work hill ride, but due to the neck — Mustang Steve is right it seems — not something that can be repeated soon.