Recovery walks...

Well, I'm at Day 95 of recovery. Things have been getting slowly better, slowly being the key word...but also better. :)

I still haven't ridden a bike, other than sitting atop the Karate Monkey in my living room and rolling ahead a few feet to see how it feels. It started out feeling terrible- my pectorals weren't excited about me leaning over that far and putting pressure on a handlebar, but as of this weekend it's feeling tolerable. I may try to go for a very short ride sometime soon, as my doctor told me it should be ok, as long as I'm not feeling pain. We'll see.

Fall hikes/walks have continued to be my form of exercise to get away from all the sitting in front of the TV. MN has been enjoying a stellar fall this year- I'd say the best one since we moved back this direction in 2007. The sky has been largely sunny for a long time now, temps anywhere from 50s to 80s (yeah- 80's; a bit too hot some days), and the colors stayed out for quite a while. Definitely better than last year, when Oct. was just a big cold raining mess (although I did enjoy the raining mess rides as per usual for me.) Just wasn't much for fall colors in '09.

Since it's been so nice out, the Fivefingers season has been longer than normal. It's been great getting out in the North Woods to hike in them so often. It makes me miss running, which I'll have to wait until at least mid-Jan. to try again, but I like the hiking for now.

I also tried something new while outside this fall and in need of a "take-it-easy" pass-time while recovering- geocaching. I think my verdict on that is that it would be fun with kids, getting them out to treasure-hunt, but I don't see myself getting much into it when there is so much cycling and climbing around. I just own a GPS and thought I'd kill some time one day up on the North Shore, and found a couple caches. It's kind of funny to know there are all these silly coffee cans filled with junk buried around the places I've spent so much time recreating in.

Fall will hopefully continue for a while longer, but I can say that I'm actually ready for the winter. I'm enjoying the colder temps and jackets, and progressing through the winter season will mean I'm getting closer to full recovery days. I'm really looking forward to next Spring!

Shovel Point in Fall:

Relaxing at along the Caribou River:

I seem to have some "tree-antlers" in this shot, but I still seem happy to be off the couch...

More scenery along the Caribou River, Northern MN:

Alison at Jensen Lake, Lebanon Hills Regional Park:

Fivefingers in the woods:

Bridge Pond, Lebanon Hills Regional Park:

Trail around Jensen Lake:

Esbit heating up dinner near Stoney Point, Lake Superior, north of Two Harbors: