As I type this I am sitting in a hotel room at Horseshoe Bay Resort in Texas. My husband, Bill, and I are here for The Twin Cessna Flyer convention, rescheduled from 2021 – bet you can’t guess why. We flew here in our own twin Cessna (twin meaning it has two engines, not that we have two planes) which has allowed us to take many wonderful trips. God bless my husband for not complaining about all the stuff I bring when we travel! I like to have my stuff, and when you don’t fly commercial you can bring more stuff.
Out of all the stuff I bring, the most important and also the most cumbersome is my bike. It’s an Ebike with a battery boost so it’s heavy. It’s wonderful for the kick-your-butt hills of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where we live, as well as the Texas hills surprising me here! Bill uncomplainingly supports me bringing it, because he knows how much joy riding brings me (or maybe it’s because he knows complaining won’t do any good). It’s a struggle to load the bike into the SUV, reload it into the plane, transfer it into the rental SUV, unload it wherever we’re staying, and do it all over to get home. Sometimes it’s both our bikes which doubles the work. But it’s so much fun, and good for us too!
Recently a Fascial Manipulation colleague, Dr. Warren Hammer, shared an article on caring for your fascia that was published in a biking magazine. I agree with him that it’s a nice synopsis of fascia, how it impacts movement (in this case for bikers), and tips on taking care of it so it will serve you well on the bike trail as well as throughout life. Much of it reiterates items I’ve shared throughout this website, just phrased a little differently. Maybe hearing it from another source in a different format will further promote understanding of this complex tissue and how important it is to take care of it, so I encourage you to check it out.
I thought I was going to end there but I had so much fun and adventure on my bike trips that I want to share more! I saw lots of whitetail deer, no surprise considering that Texas harbors one of the largest populations of whitetails in the country: close to four million deer! At one point I rounded a corner and saw what I thought was a statue of a road runner in the island between the road lanes – a lot of people have such metal figurines here. Then it moved and I realized it was alive, and it was not a road runner but a hen turkey! A Fed Ex truck came whipping around the corner and startled both me and the bird, but I got a photo later of the hen when I saw her again.
Next on my bike adventure I made a turn down a road with no idea where I was headed but that’s the fun of exploring! I saw a man in the distance struggling with something bigger than he was. Curious, I got closer and saw it was a huge cross that he was taking down from in front of a church that appeared out of nowhere on this back road – The Church at Horseshoe Bay. I stopped to chat a moment and kidded him about bearing his cross, and he explained further. They set up the stations of the cross in the back garden of the church every year for Lent, and he (argh, I didn’t get his name) and his wife (Karen) were in the process of taking them down. I asked if I could go back and see them, and they were happy to accommodate although apologized that the decorative elements punctuating each station were already taken down. Even at that I was completely overwhelmed and unprepared for the scenes they and others had labored so lovingly to create. Each station had a very large cross, decorations associated with that part of the story, and a placard with scripture, meditation, and prayer all related to that station. It was incredible, and I was overwhelmed not only by their dedication but also the age old story of Jesus’ love that knows no bounds. It was very powerful.
My adventure continued later that afternoon as I sat by the pool and met a gal, Sharla, who was doing her water exercise program. We started chatting and turns out she knew Karen from the church! Not only that but she invited me to their Bible study the next day, which I very much enjoyed attending. Afterwards some of us went to lunch, and another attendee, Kim gave me ride back to the hotel in her beautiful red Mercedes convertible. The valets who stored my bike each day were surprised to see my new mode of transportation! It was a great day that stemmed from a bike ride and a bit of Divine orchestration.
Texas in Spring is known for it’s beautiful wildflowers and foliage, especially the prolific bluebonnets which are everywhere! Unfortunately this Spring has been very dry so things are browner than usual, but still pretty with pops of color in the brown.
Are you taking care of yourself and your fascia? Please do, whether your goal is to bike or just stay mobile!
Wishing you health and joy!
Colleen