A Pain in the Butt

Fergus Falls, Minnesota -- 50.9 miles, 12.7 mph, 650 ft

Don has been good for our daily schedule. We were up and rolling at 7:00 a.m. this morning. Well, at least we rolled across the street... to Burger King. Not my favorite breakfast joint, but there's no denying the cost per calorie is super low.

Breakfast of Champions

For the second day in a row, we got to enjoy the hiking/biking trail, now called the Central Lakes Trail. These old railroad routes make fantastic biking; tree-lined, gentle grades, and they typically go through beautiful countryside. In this case, as an added bonus, the trail was paved, which definitely helped push up the average speed.

As usual, Dex spent much of the time spotting birds, deer, and turtles. Don was amazed that at 15 mph he could spot a fifty-cent-piece-sized turtle on the edge of the trail. The real thing just happened to match one of the dozens of little toys the kids have collected this year. With no cars or traffic noise, we once again spent a good deal of time listening to podcasts to pass the time. I'm sure we're getting smarter.

One is a toy, one isn't

Lunch in Ashby

Unfortunately, my sore knees seem to have been replaced now by an increasingly sore left leg. I figured I must have pulled a muscle in my glute (literally a pain in the butt!) The discomfort has been getting worse over the last few days and now is painful just to lift my leg up onto the pedal or over the bike to get on and off. On the plus side, once I'm on the bike and rolling, it’s not nearly so bad.

 

Our best guess for what is going on is a pinched sciatic nerve caused by tight or strained piriformis muscle, a small muscle deep in the buttocks that lays on top of the sciatic nerve.  Arrgh! I'm not sure I really like this getting-old thing so much. The sad reality is that the last four days have been pretty easy riding. One more day to Fargo, and then, perhaps, another rest day.