Today’s ride: 51:41 Distance: 10.4 miles Average: 82 RPM
The RPM was that low for two reasons:
- I rode up hills, and I dropped down into the 80’s;
- I rode down hills, and I dropped down into the 00’s.
The roads on the two steepest hills in my neighborhood–Cobb’s Hill and Pinnacle Hill–both end at a heavily-travelled street. It’s nearly a blind intersection on the steeper hill. So, no mad downhill dashes means no high RPMs.
I overslept this morning, which meant I wasn’t able to ride before my Sunday morning 11AM commitment, so I took the time to do some badly needed maintenence on my leg. There are a few different ways to keep a prosthesis attatched to your leg; mine uses suction exclusively. The outer sheath (which is designed to adhere to my leg and the gel liner that wraps around my residual limb) had been stretched so much from use that it barely held suction for more than five minutes, which made walking a bit of a pain, and riding even moreso. Because suction is lost so quickly, I have almost no power on my upstroke on my right leg. I think this, as much as anything, was the cause of the pain in my gracilis muscle, as I reported before the vacation break. Replacing that sheath gave me a much more balanced stroke, and I was surprised at how (relatively) easily I managed to climb both hills twice today. 
It once again occurs to me that the biggest errors I make involve procrastination. I’ve known for some time that this sheath needed replacing. It took me 15 minutes. I spent a fair amount of time last weekend walking around in sand at my son’s dawn beach wedding, and it would have been even better if I didn’t have to constantly worry about my leg sliding off during the ceremony.
Be aware of the problem/find a solution to the problem/fix the problem. It’s so much easier that way.
