Week Eleven - The Bike Shop

What a strange nether-world (note: I did not say nether-region) I'm living in right now. I am perfectly well - just a lingering sore throat, but nothing debilitating - and yet, I am stuck inside like a quarantined invalid. I spend my time caring for my daughter, who is (thankfully!!) getting better every day, and even then is still so miserable. Many of her waking hours are spent crying, whining, or yelling out in pain as she scratches incessantly at her rash-riddled thighs. Her fever is down, at least. However, given that she can not return to daycare until she has had 24 hrs. without symptoms, the likelihood of returning to work at all this week looks pretty low.

I have returned to my horrible old ways, the binge-eating habits I developed during the caged-animal days of my maternity leave. The irony is that I have a lot of energy, energy that is best spent being "a flaming extrovert" (yes, that is a verbatim quote of someone describing me) and doing things like randomly breaking into song and dance for the amusement of my colleagues. When I am stuck indoors, alone, trying to take care of a miserable baby who cannot tell me what she wants and for whom I can do nothing more to help, this energy becomes a brutal curse. It leads me to do things like cook and bake - even though I am the only one eating - and invent reasons to go to the store. It leads me to by a box of cookies in the hopes that my daughter might eat if I offer her something palatable. Then, when she continues to refuse to eat - preferring instead to curl up in my arms and snuggle into my neck as I watch TV, I proceed to eat the whole box of cookies myself as I absentmindedly watch another episode of Dexter or Mad Men or The Office. This energy leaves me feeling the weight of my loneliness the way gravity is felt by astronauts returning to earth.

Thankfully, my daughter was just well enough for us to embark on a small outdoor adventure today. We drove to the neighbourhood bike shop, even though it's only a few blocks away, because my daughter is still not well enough to withstand a 20-minute walk each way in November weather. I figured there would be no better time than this week away from work - and therefore away from bike-commuting - to get my winter tires put on. This also happened to merrily coincide with how, at the end of last week, two spokes on my back wheel broke (what's that about, anyway? I've only had the damn bike since August and it's too uncomfortable to ride it roughly!). So I got those broken spokes fixed, too, while Mike was in the shop. They had to take the back fender off to get the new Schwalbe Snow Stud tires to fit, but I'm hoping that's not that big a deal given that I always ride with my rack and panniers in place.

Picking up the bike today and seeing those bad-ass tires on Mike made my heart sing. I am ready for you, SNOW!! I can't wait to try out my new and improved Mike! In the meantime, though, with nothing but bare pavement out there, I'll ride Eastwood until enough snow accumulates so that I won't feel like I'm ruining the studs if I take Mike out for a ride.

Aside from the trek out to the bike store, I've done nothing else all day. Snuggled with my daughter, napped with her, watched TV with her in my arms, given her baths that she absolutely hated, and kept trying to offer her different kinds of foods to see if her appetite is back yet. She ate more than yesterday, but still hardly anything. At least her fluid intake is good.

But, man, all this pent-up energy with no healthy expression has got me thinking: maybe I should get a treadmill, or an elliptical machine, something to spend some of this damn energy on! Well, there's nowhere to put equipment like that, really, and I can't afford something so expensive, and I'm afraid of the consequences of my daughter playing on something like that and getting injured.

Hmm - what about a bike trainer? It's a piece of equipment that automagically turns a regular bike into a stationary bike for indoor training. Sure, it might cost as much as my actual bike - or five times as much, if I hook Eastwood up to it - but it's sure cheaper than a new treadmill! And it's something I can easily store away when not in use. This will be perfect! I can bike-commute and have a stationary bike for those days I can't get outside! It'll give me something active to do while my daughter's napping and I'm stuck inside just waiting for her to wake up! I can even exercise in the evenings after she goes to bed - while watching TV, in my living room, while wearing pyjamas!!! Oh, Great God of Bicycle Trainers, you have SAVED me!!

Perhaps if my daughter is up for another outdoor adventure tomorrow, we'll have to swing by MEC and put my credit card through it's old paces. Oh, credit, you make life worth living!