Today was my first ride to work in a week (my first time going to work in a week, for that matter) because I wound up in the hospital for six days due to a heart infection. I'm out and feeling better than I was prior to going in. I'm going to be on IV antibiotics for 4-6 weeks. My cardiologist has informed me that I've taken my original defective heart valve as far as it's going to go, so they will schedule the replacement once the infection is resolved.
When they were releasing me from the hospital and I was talking to the Dr. about my timeline to go back to work, I explained to him how I'm a full-time bicycle commuter and asked if I could resume riding to work at the same time. He was emphatic that I should continue to keep doing what I've been doing, as outside of the infection and the valve he says my heart was in better shape than any other cardiac patient he has. He said the best thing I can do for my heart is to keep riding. So, this morning as I was planning on going back to work I just made my usual plans to ride.
Turns out it was a challenging morning waiting for me. -3F with a 15 mph wind making for a -18F wind chill. The worst part, though, was that the MUP hadn't been plowed from the snows over the weekend. Had I known this I would have taken a different route to work, but by the time I discovered it I was pretty much committed to this route. I originally was supposed to go to our office 8 miles from home, but I quickly realized that wasn't going to happen. I didn't have it in me physically, and I was moving so slow through the unplowed snow that I would have been pathetically late. So I made the decision to rearrange my work day and head to a client's office instead that was about 4.5 miles from home.
The temps had made the snow rock hard, so there was no plowing through it. I wound up carrying my 50 lbs bike for at least 1/4 of the way to the clients office. It took almost an hour to get there, and my heart rate was pegged the entire time. I'm wearing a heart monitor so I had to write an entry in the diary explaining the reason for my abnormally high pulse during this time. It really wasn't much fun this morning. Hopefully they get the MUP plowed for the ride home. If not, I'm going to backtrack and ride the streets home even though it is a much longer route and has a ton more hills.
