February saw the Burt Munro bike rally return to Invercargill. I even managed to volunteer on the hill climb races, by being seated at the ticket gate! We always get free tickets to the street races because they close the road that my business is situated on. This year was the first time we opened at the weekend for massage (although I was not able to take appointments yet at that stage).
It really worked out better than we thought and I have to say, the weekend weather was better than it has been – like – ever! We even got some slightly broken bikers in in between races, plus a lot of slightly broken visiting bikers looking for some muscle relief before their long ride home again.
What I am actually pretty excited about is our visit to Dunedin to watch the Highlanders play the Reds. We walked 2.5km down a hill from our BnB to the stadium, another 2.5km to town, then all of that in reverse! There is no way NO WAY I could have done that before the knee replacement!! AND.. the highlanders won… AND.. I managed to sit in stadium seats for the duration of the game, another thing that used to be almost impossible.
Then quite randomly – Queens park was host to a ‘Pipes in the Park’ event recently. Queens Park is the central park in the city, and hosts a world of different events throughout the year. The pipes was a mini competition between three local pipe bands (I find it how very Scottish they are around here, considering it is on the other side of the world from the actual country!)
As usual, I’m working my butt off here in the background trying to claw back some of the fitness that I have lost since the knee replacement (and before it!). I have been walking regularly, I am allowed to return to pad holding for boxfit classes at work, and I am of course, back on my bike again. I cannot tell you how great that feels, after it having sat in the garage gathering dust for a very very long time!
The first milestone I reached was to be able to ride the Cervelo P2 out on the road and complete one of my usual loop rides. This is the shortest, 16km and this was the first time, since 19 October 2018, that I had completed it.
It makes sunny days all a lot more purposeful – because I have spent so long looking out wishing for all the things that I could do! Now I can get back to doing them!
But, what I was most excited about as the fact that I managed to complete the Surf to City. This is a regular local event which aims to get people of all ages and abilities participating in exercise. There is a 12, 6 and 3km event and you can cycle, run or walk it. There are usually heaps of families and kids taking part, over 3000 of them and its really popular. Due to the short distance (relative to me) I don’t usually bother. But, mark asked me in January did I want to do it. At that stage I was not sure if I would make it round, never mind the 12km on top that I would have to cycle to get to the start line. However I agreed.
So, here is how I went. (oh and then after that I friend asked me to go for a ride with them, so add on another 24km!!)
All in all, feeling pretty chuffed, and also sad because I am getting it back just in time for winter to set in! Ack!!
If you want to follow my knee progress, I have a personal blog Facebook page and I am also on Instagram.
Melanie Magowan 