Day 19: Taking it easy

I decided on a short day today, only 55km. 140km would have brought me right through to Nova Scotia - which was a tempting distance for the day, but I'm getting the feeling I might be rushing things,  and that's when I usually end up hurting myself.

I've been nursing a bad knee for several months,  and even leading up to this ride it would take me several minutes each morning just to get my leg to the point where it could bend and support weight. People around me would have noticed a clear limp whenever I had to get up out of a chair after sitting for any period of time.   The pain would never go away entirely,  and there were days when it wouldn't go away at all.

I attributed this lingering injury to my poor lifestyle for the past while. Too much time every day sitting at a desk,  stressing over work,  and too much time drinking when I wasn't. I knew better than to get this checked out before I left for my trip because any diagnosis would have definitely been accompanied with the advice to postpone this trip.

I'm happy to say my knee has not been a problem at all, in fact the lingering pain has gone away and the rides haven't aggravated it or caused any new pain. While I consider this reassuring,  it doesn't remove the caution I feel about paying attention to injuries while I'm out here. I'm on my own and I have fixed timelines to make a flight out west,  and also to get back to Toronto. I can't afford a layup of any extended period of time.

That brings me to my recent issue.  I've been having nagging pain in my achilles tendons pretty much since this trip started, but it's been manageable so I've just been dealing with it. Through trial and error I think the problem is from poor foot position in the pedal baskets. I adjusted my seat and altered my foot angle while pedaling and everything seems much better. My right ankle is now almost completely fine,  but my left is still being a nuisance. I'm hoping a couple of short days on the bike will do the trick and give it a chance to improve. Until it does, I'll be taking things a little easier than usual.

Having said that,  today was a great day of riding through some spooky PEI fog. The pictures don't do it justice. Currently relaxing in Charlottetown, tomorrow Nova Scotia!

 I missed rock and roll curling!!!

 More crazy fog.

 Red dirt everywhere.

Riding into Charlottetown.