Checksum Arcanius

The results!

Overall
Trip Distance: 206.8 miles
Riding Time: 13:05 hours:minutes
Average Speed: 15.8 miles per hour
Max Speed: 38.7 miles per hour

First Day
Start Location: E1 Montlake Parking Lot, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Riding Time: 9:46 hours:minutes
Riding Distance: 152.5 miles
Average Speed: 15.6 miles per hour
Stop location: Longview, WA (Many Thanks to Quincy!)

Second Day
Riding Time: 3:01 hours:minutes
Riding Distance: 54.3 miles
Average Speed: 17.96 miles per hour
Stop location: Holladay Park (sp?), outside the Llyod Center, Portland, OR

This weekend: Family Reunion, Independence Day, Fireworks

Next weekend: Seattle to Portland bike ride

Third weekend: Seafair triathlon

In the meantime: Biking to work, swimming in a wetsuit, running around Greenlake

Yesterday: 50-mile bike ride with Theo. From my place to Marymoor down to I-90, across the bridge, and back. The  ride left me destroyed; I really have a long ways to go before STP.

Thursday: 35-mile bike ride with Theo, tooling around Seattle and checking out Amazon.com’s headquarters. I start Monday!

Wednesday: Worked out with Kunlun at the IMA. My muscles were still sore from last time; he certainly is causing something to happen :-)

Tuesday: Worked out with Kunlun at the IMA. Lots of upper-body exercises followed by swimming lessons. I already know how to swim, but apparently there’s a lot to be said for good form as well. My hair was so long that it covered my eyes when swimming properly, so I got it cut.

[01:31] Dennis Tang: okay well i registered
[01:31] RyanMcE: mee too
[01:31] RyanMcE: awesome
[01:31] RyanMcE: no turning back now
[01:31] RyanMcE: we will bike often once our papers are done

Sigh… yeah, once our papers are done…

Today was a very good day for my knee overall, so I thought I would write about it to help keep my spirits up and stay dedicated to the still long road of recovery ahead.

Despite it being a good day, it did not start well. My knee was achy despite icing last night, and I thought it would be a bad day for the knee. Nevertheless, after my first class, I made my way to the IMA wher eI started my physical therapy exercise routine. After biking 15 minutes, my knee has loosened up considerably; next came the leg curls. My right hamstrings have regained considerable strength — I was able to curl sets of ten starting at 40 lbs and moving up by five pound increments to 65 lbs, which is where I stalled. I can still do more with my left leg, but the disparity is nowhere near where it used to be. Furthermore, I am not pain-limited in the leg curl exercise, so I feel I can build up strength as quickly as I can continue to push my limits there.

My quadriceps development, on the other hand, is pain-limited, and is therefore a much slower prospect. Although I was sure it wasn’t going to go well when I went to do my leg presses, I decided I would try anyway. I concentrated on my technique and although it wasn’t comfortable, I was able to control the pain and get through two sets. Afterwards, surprisingly, my knee felt better than before, not worse as it usually does. It was my first glimmer of hope in a while that I may be finally turning the corner on this knee swelling issue — nevertheless, I will continue to medicate and ice until I am sure it is behind me. After all, I only have two month and six days until I need to be back playing frisbee!

Jon, getting word that Sunvilla, a local bowling joint was closing, put together what was supposed to be a last hurrah Rock n’ Bowl last night. Well, it turns out that Sunvilla is not closing, but the bowling was still fun. I lost the first two games to Shai and Jon, respectively, but then I came roaring back to take the next three. Huzuh!