What do you do if you can't ride? Walk.

For several weeks now, my left hand has been giving me more and more trouble. Decreased grip strength and flexibility, more stiffness, swelling and pain.
I had to stop fixing up old bikes over a month ago. I rode last week but it was painful whenever I had to lift my bike onto the bus rack, or use the front brake lever (with my left hand).

Still, I had work to do.

I powered through my High Holy Days work, wincing whenever I played guitar.
I came home, and tried to practice for my upcoming recording session.  yesterday morning, I hit a wall, and called the doctor. By the evening, I was in the urgent care office, getting a cortisone shot in my hand.

The pain was epic, technicolor.
First, the lidocaine shot, which made me yell a ragged, loud sound that rang up and down the hall.
Then, a second shot of cortisone with a little more lidocaine mixed in, which also hurt but this time like a massive liquid bruise flowing through and around my left middle finger joint and beyond. I yelled again, but it came out sounding like a clear note.

Today, I rested at home until around 4pm, when I was climbing the walls and couldn't take it anymore. I went for a long walk around the neighborhood on a grey, drizzly afternoon with fall colors everywhere. Walking along the same streets I usually ride allowed me to slow down and see things even more up close, and although it took awhile longer, I enjoyed it.

I'm off the bike for at least the next four days, and hope that by then the pain will subside enough to let me take a spin on my Rivvy. Because right now the colors are just too good not to be outside.

If you're riding this week, may all your miles be beautiful.