It's been an eventful few days around here. I finally did get the bike mechanic job at a large retailer here in town and will start two weeks from tonight. Unfortunately, I found out what my employee discount will be and may need another job because I may not bring much home from this one. I officially gave my two weeks tonight and was able to come home early after discovering that I had vacation and holiday time off that I had earned by this point in the year that I hadn't used. I still have a bit of it left, so I'll be working a few shorter shifts over the next two weeks.
I hit the road for my first early ride of the year this morning. The temperature when I left was just under 30 degrees even though the high for the day was supposed to top 60. I did about 26 miles and felt good out on the open road, but pretty sluggish in town. I was worshiping as I heard the calls of several different birds and saw deer, pheasant, red tail hawks and enjoyed a beautiful, sunny morning. I'm going to try to go out again in the morning and may just do the bike loop in town just to get a little more conditioning in.
The most frustrating thing about this morning's ride was that I couldn't blow my nose. It's not that I forgot how, but I was diagnosed the other day with a "sinus hole" as a result of getting my wisdom teeth pulled a few weeks ago. Apparently, one tooth was particularly close to my sinus on the left side and left a small hole there. I'll save you the gory details, but the clot that formed to plug the hole did not stay put because I was unaware that I should have exercised more caution in blowing my nose. A week or so ago, I started having this bad taste in my mouth. I came to believe that I had a sinus infection and that it was draining into my mouth, making things rather unpleasant. I figured it would clear up and just tried to cover the taste with mints, drinks and meals, but it kept getting worse. I also noticed that when I would use mouthwash, somehow I was getting some in my nostrils. I finally got concerned enough to head back to the oral surgeon where the sinus hole was diagnosed. I'm now back on antibiotics and antihistemines and am under orders to not blow my nose or exert any extra pressure on my sinuses for at least two weeks in the hope that the hole will heal itself and not require any more third party measures.
Which brings us back to this morning's ride. Like I said, it was cold. Very cold. The nose of the human body in low temperatures is capable of putting out enough liquid in a 26 mile bike ride to fill a 50 gallon drum. I have perfected my technique of clearing said nostrils of oozing substances by plugging one nostril and blowing fiercely through the other to send anything found there to the roadside. This keeps my nostrils clear and helps me keep from getting said substances all over my clothing. This morning, I was unable to use this technique and had no choice but to keep wiping. My gloves and arm warmers looked like they had housed a snail colony by the time I got home with slime trails up and down both arms. I did finally gently blow my nose once I was home to clear things out and was much less runny than I have been over the last several days after that.
Not only am I not to blow my nose, but blowing my trumpet is out of the question as well. Even though I just got a new job, I am still looking at teaching jobs for the fall and was wanting to get my chops back in order so that I don't embarrass myself in front of some fifth grader. I guess I'll have to wait a little longer to get going with that again.
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