Breathing freely

It’s been a rough couple of weeks since returning from Utah. Seems like right when I walked in the door I got sick. It wasn’t much for a few days but just as it seemed like it was fading I got hit with asthma like I’ve never had before. I literally could not sleep one night, and spent the entire next day a zombie, just wishing I could breathe freely enough to eek out a 5 minute nap. It was pretty tortuous and nothing I did helped. Lying down I couldn’t even get comfortable before the lack of air flow would make me want to get back up.

I have a lot of sympathy for people who suffer from asthma. I only rarely get little bouts of it and usually only when both allergens and exertion are high.

It’s been slow to come back and I’ve been anxiously awaiting my first ‘open respiratory’ ride. Finally got it yesterday, out at the 50 Year Trail.

Doncha hate it when flowers grow over the trail?

And on the sides of the trail?

I still had a sore throat and was coughing up phlegm, but being able to take deep breaths and having my body respond positively to exertion was a heavenly feeling. And that’s where I felt like I was — heaven.

I got completely lost in it. I forgot about everything — even how I’d gotten there and what I’d been doing earlier in the day. Just effortless movement amongst the rocks of the desert. A feeling of peace and belonging — right where I am.

Deprivation can be a good thing. When it ends, that is.

The temperature was 73 degrees that afternoon. Sunny. Light breezes. Not a soul on the trails, unless you count the hawks, lizards and occasional snake.

Flowers kept catching my eye, but I didn’t feel like taking pictures. Looking through them today, I’m surprised I took so many. I thought the only pictures I took were mental.

I just wandered around the network of trails, mostly pounding into my skull some of the newer routes Louis has introduced me to. So many fun little spots I can’t keep track of them all. I climbed his new High 50 climb twice, and nearly cleaned it on the second run.

Downhill skills were not quite up to snuff. I had to bail the bike and hurdle a barrel cactus. Got one scrape from the very top spine, but otherwise came out OK. My tire, on the other hand…

It actually sealed (slime tube), but any time I rode on rock I’d hear air escaping as the tire compressed. I probably could have pumped up to 50 PSI and had it hold, but where’s the fun in that? There are more opportunities to hang onto the sides of rocks and catch air down the trail…

I was so happy to be out there that I even enjoyed the flat change. There’s a sign of a good ride. Happy to get a flat. Just sitting on the trail, looking around and breathing in the fresh air was more than enough for me.