I stopped my Zwift subscription before I paid for a second month. Removed the apps from phone and AppleTV. I’m ready to work on the bike and get back outside.
We have good weather with a cooling trend on the way, so I decided I’d take it easy out in the real world again.
I got the bike together after bleeding the brakes and looking at swapping the brake controls. The shop set the bike up with the front brake on the left. I’m a front brake on the left guy, (European set up from the old days, but really because I rode motorcycles for so long). I didn’t have the materials or tools to do new compression fittings so, shelved that for now. I did a very short down the street and around the half block test ride. The bike shifts, stops, steers and pedals.
First real ride outdoors for 2026 is in the books. One hour forty-four out on a real bike in the real world. Full summer kit in glorious Southern California sunshine for Martin Luther King day. A lot of folks out and about. The club did a recon ride for the 2026 Amtrak ride from Oceanside down to San Diego, a bit more than I could manage I think.
I began recovery weight training by exploring just how small of weight the injured side can tolerate. The answer? Three pounds. Pretty amazing how damaged that shoulder is. But, I am approaching this as an extension of my physical therapy. I’ve got time. I have to approach my PT/weight training, cycling and yoga stretching as activity I need. I need this to rebuild my strength and I need to continue to build strength as a means to mitigate aging. I can tell my balance isn’t as good as it was as a result of the weakness in my injured shoulder. Part of my unease on the bike right now comes from having my brake controls on the wrong sides from what I’ve used for decades. I’ll be ordering parts to remedy this sooner than later.
My weight training routine is based on physical therapy. I’m focused on carefully rebuilding strength in my injured shoulder. Starting off my overhead presses are limited to three pounds. That is what I can tolerate over the number of repetitions and sets I’m doing. I finish up a session not so much sore, but definitely worn out. It does feel like progress. I’ll keep using the Hevy app for now as it makes keeping track of each exercise and each set. Once I’ve recovered enough I’m comfortable with lifting the weights I was lifting last time I used this routine, I’ll change to more strength focused training. I don’t expect to be doing that for maybe two months. It’s not glamorous or real exciting, just steady work that has to be done. No competition, just recovering fitness of the injured shoulder; strength and mobility. The short term benefit is I slowly regain more and more stability while riding thanks to a stronger left side. Right now, I’m compensating a lot with my right for my left. On the indoor trainer I didn’t notice this because I’m not really controlling a bicycle or holding on.
My week outdoors was quite good. Six rides and three lifting/PT sessions. I’ve skipped lifting/PT on weekends. My lifting/PT routine is up to around an hour and a half. This will grow a bit longer with adding more and more crunches. My morning and evening Yoga stretching routine is coming into focus. I will get that going soon as a daily routine. For the first week outside I managed 11 hours and 40 minutes riding. The last day felt very good, though I fatigued my shoulder quite a bit. Right now, time in the saddle is what matters and keeping that zone two percentage up.
I need to get a glamour shot of the bike. I’ll make that my goal for next week.
A glamor shot of sorts, a selfie. There was enough of a breeze to blow my phone off the park bench while I was setting up this shot. I’d set the phone and aimed it. Let go and was getting the camera remote app going on my Apple Watch when the breeze blew the phone off the bench. The case saved it. I’ve missed two days riding in a row thanks to dental work taking longer than expected. At least we’re enjoying near Spring conditions right now. Next I need to get back to lifting and crunches. But, I’m suffering from a large case of nope. A very big scoop of lack of motivation. Other than the very real need to build strength back into that injured shoulder so I can ride harder and climb for real rather than just survive an easy climb.
Last ride of the month was in amazing summer weather for the last day of January. 75°F when I got home.
My shoulder is getting stronger and stronger. There is a long way to go. I’m focused on spinning and trying to maximize my time in zone 2. For the last ride I managed nearly three and a half hours in the saddle.
Totals for the month, Outdoors:
Distance: 540.4 km
Climbing: 2,246 m
Time: 22h 57m
Along The Way 