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What's it like getting old?

I can certainly assure you of one thing, it's not a lot of fun. Besides all the knowledge and experience gained, making it more difficult dealing with younger people who think they know it all, and even the fact the body doesn't always want to do what the mind tells it (two things I might touch on further at a later date), the most difficult part of getting old is the fragility of the body, and the greater susceptibility to injury. Especially the back.

On Christmas day, I hurt my back shaking up a jar of dijon mustard. [No comments please!] For 2 days, despite wanting to go for a bike ride, the pain was so bad, I wasn't even able to do the simplest of tasks. What's even worse, I thought I was pretty much over it on Monday, when for no apparent reason (at least none I could determine), I experienced the same debilitating back pain again that occurred on Christmas day.

Fortunately after this episode, and another 3 days of rest, I felt well enough to go on the annual SoCal New Years Day ride, albeit an abbreviated version. I even managed to do one lap of the hammer zone ride on Saturday. I felt fine after both rides, and was even surprised I hadn't lost too much speed, considering I was off the bike, and basically laid up [so to speak] for a week. I was even starting to feel good about the start to the new year.

But, and there always seems to be a but, this morning as I was starting to get ready for my bike ride, my back acted up again, as I was putting on my riding jersey. Unbelievable, I thought! What is going on? I could barely move. I sat down until the pain subsided somewhat, and then managed to apply some heat and ice to the affected area.

So right now the pain has pretty much gone away, at least I don't feel much worse than the previous two days [when I rode], which is surprising considering how much pain I was in. I'm actually even considering going on a ride. I'm just not sure how  good an idea that might be.

[note]AFTERNOON UPDATE

I actually went out for a short bike ride this morning. Only did 17 miles because I didn't want to push it, and possibly aggravate it some more. Fortunately, so far I'm no worse for wear, but we'll have to see how I feel tomorrow.
[/note]
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