Fifth ride--longer, and faster.

Today, I went further, and faster than ever before on the Silver Rover.
I achieved 26 mph as my max speed. I rode for 46 minutes, with an average speed of 4.5 mph over a distance of 3.6 miles.
My blood glucose level at 2:47 pm was 133. My blood sugar was 220 at 9:26 am, before I ate a bowl of oatmeal and drank a cup of coffee for breakfast.

Again, today was a perfect day for my daily workout. The sky was crystal blue, clear and crisp. It is a good sweatshirt kind of day, and I did break a sweat.

I needed 17 ply of stocking on my residual limb to prevent the pistoning effect, as I pull back and push forward in the cycle of pedalling. Two centimetres really isn't much, about 3/4 of an inch. But when you lose that much diameter, your artificial leg is loose in the socket. Skin breakdown has been the thorn in my side since 2010, and the six surgeries, I hope were the last. I have run out of tibia to be trimmed.

My decision to get a Recumbent Tricycle was the proper way to get back into shape and regain my health. It may be the perfect exercise device for an amputee. I can just stop in my tracks, rest and catch my breath, get a sip of water, and pedal some more. I am under no illusion that I am an endurance athlete, and I know it must seem like a turtle's crawl to anyone watching me struggle to get up a hill.

What a thrill it was to go 26 mph, with the wind in my face. That was the big drop on my neighbourhood route, and it is FUN! The momentum of 400 pounds, going that fast, rolls a good distance up the other side.

This is the first two-days in a row for me. I still keep enough energy to pedal up my ramp into my parking space.

To say, everything is perfect, just the way it is means I accept that we are on a journey. That journey has a destination, and for me that is getting under 300 lbs., and having sufficient cardiovascular fitness to be able to walk, without doing damage to my residual limb.

I have good doctors, and I have an excellent prostheticist in Claiborne Prosthetics. I have plenty of time--setting my goal for February 9, 2017--to get under 300 lbs., but I somehow think we will be there sooner, rather than later.

My friends came together, and bought me this Silver Rover out of their love and concern for me. I am truly blessed, and grateful to all involved.