Warning: The following contains the boring health complaints of an aging male bicyclist. I recommend skipping it.

Last year (2023) started off great for me. I was still in good shape from my 24-day tour in September and October of 2022, one of the most enjoyable bike trips I'd done in years, and I was able to summon the motivation to ride 500+ miles (all outside - I abandoned "riding" on a bike trainer years ago) in January. I felt pretty good about this, since the January weather here in Western Kentucky is cold, wet, dreary, and windy most days.

I was even able to do a double metric century on the 28th:

A few days later, though, I caught COVID, for the first - and so far, only - time. The only symptom I had was fatigue, but it was the worst, most debilitating fatigue I've ever experienced. I tested positive every day for the next three weeks. I didn't leave the house, staying isolated and away from my wife, who, fortunately, never caught it.

When I finally tested negative, I ventured outside to walk for a few minutes, and found that my fitness level had plummeted drastically.

I eventually felt like riding the bike again, but I was now shockingly slower. 

By June I thought I felt well enough to try another tour. I rode out of my driveway and headed to Arkansas. Although there were some enjoyable moments on this tour, I was never able to get in the right mindset - mostly because I was anxious about work-related matters - and quit after only seven days.

Back home I did some day rides, but without much enthusiasm. I was still plagued with fatigue. Once, on a visit to my old hometown, I attempted a small group ride with some old cycling friends but I was unceremoniously dropped by them. I decided that was probably the end of fast(ish) group rides for me, something which - I rationalized - I'd never really enjoyed much anyway.

By mid-September I'd had a nagging cold for weeks, but I still wanted to do some sort of semi-ambitious bike tour, so that 2023 wouldn't feel like a complete waste. I did my usual minimal planning, and then headed out on the morning of the 15th.

My original plan was to cross the Ohio River into Indiana at Hawesville, but I never made it. About fifty miles into the ride, coughing, wheezing, and wobbling as I slowly rode up very minor hills, I realized I was in no condition to do a bike tour. I eventually reached a county park, where I lay on a picnic table and called Joy to come get me. Surely this was my most ignominious end to an attempted bike tour ever.

After that, I saw my doctor, who told me I likely had "atypical pneumonia." In a week or so I started to feel a little better, and was able to do some short day rides.

But not longer after that I herniated a disc in my lower back, which was the most excruciatingly painful experience of my life so far, even including the time I had kidney stones.

The herniated disc failed to heal on its own, so I underwent a discectomy on November 14th.

I had a long list of things I was not allowed to do for three months after the surgery, bicycling most definitely included. These months were a difficult time, with some very low points when I continued to have occasional twinges of pain, and feared that the surgery hadn't worked. I determined during this period that if I recovered, I would do a significant bike tour in 2024. I hadn't done a coast-to-coast tour since 2008. I wasn't sure if still had the physical and mental stamina to do such a thing, but I decided that was my goal.

By mid-February the surgery appeared to be a success, and I was riding again, albeit very slowly after three months off the bike.

As I write this, on March 10, 2024, I've done several short rides, and two 100-mile rides on my light, unloaded road bike. I was very slow each time, but I appear to be regaining some stamina.

So maybe I can do a big tour in three months or so.