So about that fall off my bike…

 I ended yesterday’s post with “I have a sore right wrist, sore right hip, and sore right ankle. But am otherwise fine.”

Today, I am definitely not “otherwise fine.”

Yesterday afternoon (about 2 hours after I fell – was still feeling fine) I met up with friends at Torvehallernene Market. (I challenge anyone to correctly pronounce this name). Anyhow, our friends are in Denmark this week (a lovely family. The mother is half danish and we were next door neighbors in Cambridge, MA). We had met up with them Monday at Greve Strand and I hope to get to that post today. Monday was a beautiful, perfect day and I can’t wait to write about it (and have procrastinated because I know it’ll take some time).

ANYHOO, yesterday afternoon we strolled around the Kings Gardens, another lovely park (Denmark and Copenhagen are full of them) while their children ran around and played (my two were in school). I surpassed my 10,000 a day step goal. My wrist and ankle were still a little sore, but otherwise, still feeling fine. I biked home around 3:45 (still feeling fine) and sat down to do, I cannot even remember what.

I stood up 30 minutes later and immediately thought “oh good lord, what the hell did I do today?” I was so stiff and so sore and could not stand up straight right away. My whole body ached – like I’d finished a few really hard triathlon training sessions without proper care afterwards. Or finished a full triathlon I’d not trained for. Or had suddenly aged to about age 95.

But I haven’t yet started training yet. And while I’m definitely not 25 anymore, I’m not 95 either, and I certainly didn’t think my current age (you can probably google it, or wait for FB to tell you, on my birthday) would be the sole reason for being so sore. I didn’t immediately make the connection with the fall off the bike. I really did briefly wonder if I’d forgotten about a hard workout. I do believe [in hindsight] that my wounded pride masked the physical impact of the fall AND my memory of it, for several hours.

What was really weird (also puzzling) was how sore my inner thighs were. Like I’d ridden a horse for the first time in decades the day before. But I knew I hadn’t done that.

After [much too long] I realized it had to the fall, and possibly being out of shape, and also, yes, probably my age was a slight contributing factor. But how did my inner thighs get so sore? Did I hit my hip so hard it threw my pelvis out of whack that then pulled on the ligaments, tendons, and muscles? Was it the bike saddle? (the bike came down with me). Your guess is as good as mine.

In my confidence of my ability to heal quickly, I thought that what I felt yesterday late afternoon and evening would be the worst of it and I’d feel better in the AM.

I was wrong.

I developed a [rather debilitating] crick in my neck overnight and I’m more stiff and sore, everywhere. I’m moving very very slowly.

I’m sure I’ll be fine in a few days, but I am going to have to take it easier than I’d planned – (but still move around some – I have learned over the years that moving is important in healing these sorts of musculoskeletal injuries), take Advil, and apply Voltaren.

Voltarin is amazing (I have not been paid to say this, promise). And of course it’s not available OTC in the US. I learned about it several years from my friend Svanhildur (she is from Iceland and she and her family lived a few doors down from us in Rochester before they moved to Munich) who A) introduced me to it several years ago and B) kindly helped me stock up on it in the US (before we knew we were moving to Denmark).

I still love biking, and the incredible bike infrastructure and bike-as-transportation-culture in Denmark. I think I’m just going to need to be more careful. And maybe wear my helmet (people don’t really wear them here).

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