Back on the Bike, and Abruptly off Again

My sniffles have progressed into a throaty cough, but I otherwise feel physically good. In defiance of my malaise, the three feet of snow on the ground, and two days of moping around the house, I pulled out my mountain bike at day break. Plus, the empty fridge was giving rise to another concern: what was I going to have for lunch today?

So I headed out with my backpack to get an hour ride in and pick up some vegetables from a vente direct (buy direct) farm on the way home (Francois told me about this place and it's a literal God-send. While the vegetables are no more affordable than the supermarket, they are much fresher and they even have celery, a very elusive vegetable in Switzerland. Francois, have I thanked you enough for telling me about this place?) The ride went well until, about two kilometers from home, I skidded out on black ice and the vegetables and I hit the road hard. After an inital few seconds of lying on the ground, wondering how serious this is, I got up and assessed the damage to the vegetables, my bike, and me (in that order). My bike took the worst of it, and my shifting has an unidentifeid probelm that I will sum up with a diagnosis of 'not working' when Michael asks me to be specific about what's wrong later tonight, and I - luckily - have nothing more than some bruising. It was nevertheless a long two kilometre walk home.

So now I have a bruised right hip, some bruised vegetables (on the lunch menu now: soup) and something new to mope about. I have no idea how I'm going to carry out Ironman training over the next two months with conditions like this. My schedule calls for a 1.5 hour run later today (fat chance) and a 3-hour ride tomorrow. I would kill for a gym membership right now and am considering biting the bullet and paying for some drop-in sessions to get my through to spring. I will hand over my credit card and ask them not to tell me what the session costs, otherwise I can see myself waking up in the morning and thinking: do I eat today, or workout today?

Ah, the dilemmas of life in Switzerland.