Being sick
- jeremyskoler
- Sep 29, 2017
- 7 min read
9/18/17-9/21/17
Oberlin was a blast but after two days of laziness I was kind of ready to get back on the bike. It was hard saying goodbye to a best friend again after already doing it so much just a month before when everyone was leaving for college. However, after a final massive meal I left the campus headed for my campground excited to get back out into the woods. I didn’t make it far before a message on my phone distracted me. My mother decided that I wanted to stay at a Warmshowers home and had contacted someone down the road. I didn’t have any interest going there but after much fuss I went along with it. Now I was headed towards Doug and Jena near Kent, Ohio.
It was not the most fun ride. One of the reasons I planned to camp was because I was starting to feel a little unwell and wanted my own space to rest in, in hindsight though, it is great I didn’t camp. Anyway, I was feeling pretty fatigued which was poor timing for the start of the hilly section of my trip. Still not sure if it’s the loaded bike making the hills nigh intolerable or the exhausted state my sick body is in. Anyway I had a long brutal day trying to push my way along not too friendly roads. I did stop at a cool market type building and get fresh blueberries and a muffin snack. An added silver lining was that hilly also meant less farmland and more shady woods.
I want to take a moment to write about my thoughts while biking. I go through a bajillion ridiculous mental games, exercises and tangents while biking most of which I forget pretty soon after I have them. Common themes are how much farther until another break, how far I’ve come and why I need a break. I try not to think about mile counts or how little I’ve ridden or the pain. When I escape these unhelpful mundane thoughts though, my mind goes to other odd places. I'll compete with an especially long climb seeing if I can make it all the way up without stopping. I of course have a running commentary in my head where the hill and I exchange veiled trash talk while trying to appear sportsmanlike. This can go on for miles until I reach the top of a hill. So far I only lost once when the hill cheated by forcing me to stop for a lost puppy. Other times I create worlds based off the odd country road names. Sometimes I write poetry or songs that I quickly forget. I think up schemes for how to make money fast or how to get setup with a great gap year project. Usually I just say really strange things in really strange voices to whoever may be listening. It's pretty much a blast.
The hosts I was headed towards wouldn’t be home until 8 o’clock so I stopped at the only restaurant in the small suburb. A lady outside started talking to me about biking until a waitress came out. I asked if they had milkshakes and was disappointed to hear a no. The woman I had been speaking to asked the waitress what I had wanted and then said “ Oh, we can make him a milkshake.” Turns out she owned the joint. They only had neapolitan ice cream so I had a strawberry-chocolate-vanilla shake and some chicken fingers. Yum. They even brought me a whole loaf of bread and some honey butter. People are nice.
I headed to my host's and was greeted by Doug with a generous cheese and cracker snack. I have missed cheese a lot on the road. It was great, but I was preoccupied by the lump in my throat. We planned to wait for Jena to get home and then chat but as I lay on my bed reading I started to doze off. Doug was super understanding and I fell asleep quickly.
The next morning I knew I wasn’t in good shape. My whole body felt exhausted and I just wanted to stay asleep. On top of feeling dead, my throat had a huge painful lump in it. I tried not to cringe as I ate the granola Doug offered, and focused on the much needed energy it would bring instead of the pain of swallowing. I finally was ready and although I felt awful I knew I needed to just hit the road and start pedaling. Doug said goodbye and told me to call if I needed anything and then I left.
A couple miles from the home I stopped, I had a plan. After riding super slow, swerving and feeling dizzy I realized I couldn’t ride 70 miles. I knew Doug worked east of their home and so I texted him and asked for a ride into work with him. That would save me some time giving me a chance to bike a slow 20 to 30 miles and not be too far behind schedule.
Doug refused to let me bike back to the house and insisted on picking me up. I was so grateful as I got into the car. Then he told me that if I wanted to wait at his drum shop for an employee to get there he was willing to take me all the way to Pittsburgh, where I was headed the next day. I couldn’t believe how caring people could be. He drove me to a pharmacy to get some cold remedies and then he let me nap on his bed in the apartment behind the shop. I tried to be interesting and hold a conversation on the ride but my exhaustion bested me and I fear I slouched there like a lifeless slug. I had decided not to go to stay at my friend’s college dorm a day early because I figured it wouldn’t be the most conducive to a quick and healthy recovery. We drove the hour plus to a cheap hotel just outside of Pittsburgh. Doug helped me unload and we said goodbye. I want to thank him again because he helped me so much, thank you Doug! Without him I may have worn myself to exhaustion by the side of some road.
I slept most of the day at the hotel. When I wasn’t seeping I was making 8 trips to the front desk where the hot water was so I could make myself throat tea. By the end of my stay, the front desk clerks knew to change the room temp water in the thermos to fresh hot water when I walked in, plastic cup in hand, so they wouldn’t have to listen to me ask them again. I also made some pesto for dinner sitting on the front walk of the inn with my stove. A lot of people commented but I was pretty out of it so I don’t remember what they said. By bedtime I had already slept all day and so I lay awake in the nice comfy bed for hours before finally drifting off.
I woke up the next day ready to go. I still didn’t feel great but after popping some cough drops and making lots more tea I was ready for the 10 mile ride to Chatham University. I made a final hot water run, this time also making my instant oatmeal, and then I pedaled off. First thing I noticed was how hot I was, then how tired I was and then how hilly the road was. It wasn’t the best ride and the guilt of slowing down traffic kept me pushing myself harder than I probably should have to race up the busy streets to my friend Walker.
As I struggled up the hilliest part of my whole trip I couldn’t help thinking how much worse this was going to make me feel. I finally got there dripping sweat and panting but feeling pretty good. I was pleasantly surprised.
Walker gave me a tour of the campus and settled me down with his computer before heading off to class. I managed to actually get a decent amount of blog work done in the time I spent there while Walker was busy.
When I wasn’t trying to be productive I spent my stay there doing a variety of things with Walker. I got to gorge myself again at the dining hall, although this time a little less because my appetite wasn’t fully present. That good feeling after biking quickly wore off and I just felt sick most of the time, never as bad as the first day at the hotel though. Walker and I played pool, chatted and hung in his room. He and his roommate are film majors so we watch a couple movies and I think I was able to pick up enough that I could now fake my way through a conversation with film majors. I even went to Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year) services my first morning there. Afterwards Walker’s roommate and I snuck our way into a crowd of Jews performing the bread throwing ceremony, Tashlich, at the campus duck pond. It was all lots of fun but the highlight was our trip into downtown to see the Cathedral of Learning.
I can’t really describe the awesomeness of the Cathedral so I will let my poor quality photos illuminate it. Basically it is a massive cathedral style skyscraper housing, among other things, classrooms, a theater and a Chick-fil-A. We went all the way to the top for a stunning view but the real reason we came was for Walker's roommates craving for Chick-fil-A. I had never tried it so I was excited because I’d heard so much about it. It wasn’t bad. On the way there though I got lost and separated from the group in the twisting hallways and extensive rooms of the cathedral. I discovered a cool theater with an old fashion makeup room. I also found a bunch of classrooms set up in the style of countries around the modern and ancient world. I did stumble into some in-use classrooms which was very awkward and I quickly ducked out. Moral of the story: the little field trip was incredible and I took a bunch of photos because I couldn’t believe how cool the place was.
Staying with Walker was great fun and it gave me a good deal of time to rest up and relax. Unfortunately, the sickness seems to be lingering on but I feel so much better then that first day at the hotel when I could barely move. I’m ready to get back to biking after my little sick leave.
Thanks again Walker!