The entry fee is a very modest £6 and you can find more information here as well as on-line entry, be quick only 100 places available, some of them already taken....
Monday, 25 April 2011
North Cheshire Clarion Audax...
My club have put together what looks like an entertaining Audax that runs on Sunday 25th September 2011. There has been a lot of thought put into the route, a route that starts and finishes in Lower Whitley South of Warrington and takes in Tatton Park, the climb up the Wizard, Prestbury (cobbles!), Bollington and Llamaload Reservoir to name a few. It's an Audax so it's not a race and with a distance of 110km (69 miles) it's a great entry into the more laid back world of the Audax.
The entry fee is a very modest £6 and you can find more information here as well as on-line entry, be quick only 100 places available, some of them already taken....
The entry fee is a very modest £6 and you can find more information here as well as on-line entry, be quick only 100 places available, some of them already taken....
Sunday, 24 April 2011
Roweclan club run...
Todays weather was gorgeous, the sun's out and it's warm, really warm. The club (North Cheshire Clarion) are off on a hilly jaunt out towards Winter Hill and Rivington, a nice ride but hilly and that drag out of Horwich brings back horrible memories from the last time I rode it. With my recent form I was under absolutely no illusions that this ride was for me in fact I wasn't bothered whether I touched my bike at all today which is completely not like me, I normally feel guilt ridden if I pass up on a glorious ride but not today...
But... dinnertime comes and we - moi, wifee and little daughter decided however that we would at a very leisurely pace take in the local cycle paths, I chose my weapon of choice, my Specialized single speed, my wife on a GT hybrid and daughter the poor thing on the only bike whose seat would go low enough - an old 80's vintage Claude Butler mountain bike.
We set off like a little club run but at a less than 10mph speed (the Mrs doesn't like speed) on the paths just enjoying the sun and avoiding the dog walkers, other bikers, kids, but then came....
Buzzed by Mormons
Yes you read that right, buzzed by Mormons. We live 500 yards from a huge Mormon church so regularly encounter them on their proselytising endeavours and at this point of the ride I'm on the back of our little peloton when I hear yank voices thrown my way "hi we are Mormons from the local church, would you like to live forever?" I look around to see two familiar Mormon persons who I've encountered before talking to me and chasing us on their bikes, bloody noorah this is going to spoil my day, I'm usually pretty short but polite with them but I'm with my family and don't want to talk to them whatsoever so don't respond, they make a move to come alongside on this narrow path but a quick short sprint from me to block their path stops them in their tracks and this tactic works, they are chattering on from behind unable to come alongside and are getting nothing from me. We pass an old dear tending her hedge and hear the yank voice fade to nothing as we ride on "hi we are Mormons from the local church would you like to........" the old lady with the shears had been Mormonised, we were freeeeeee....
99'er stop
The local boating park was our half way point and the reward for our little ride, 3 x 99ers. Cones with fresh soft ice cream with a stick of chocolate flake in (for those that don't know what a 99 is) and unbelievably in these expensive days the bill was £3.00. We sat in the sun soaking it all up until it was time to move on..
A nice uneventful ride home then a stubbie in the sun to round the afternoon off, a gloriously nice way to finish a fantastic day off....
But... dinnertime comes and we - moi, wifee and little daughter decided however that we would at a very leisurely pace take in the local cycle paths, I chose my weapon of choice, my Specialized single speed, my wife on a GT hybrid and daughter the poor thing on the only bike whose seat would go low enough - an old 80's vintage Claude Butler mountain bike.
We set off like a little club run but at a less than 10mph speed (the Mrs doesn't like speed) on the paths just enjoying the sun and avoiding the dog walkers, other bikers, kids, but then came....
Yes you read that right, buzzed by Mormons. We live 500 yards from a huge Mormon church so regularly encounter them on their proselytising endeavours and at this point of the ride I'm on the back of our little peloton when I hear yank voices thrown my way "hi we are Mormons from the local church, would you like to live forever?" I look around to see two familiar Mormon persons who I've encountered before talking to me and chasing us on their bikes, bloody noorah this is going to spoil my day, I'm usually pretty short but polite with them but I'm with my family and don't want to talk to them whatsoever so don't respond, they make a move to come alongside on this narrow path but a quick short sprint from me to block their path stops them in their tracks and this tactic works, they are chattering on from behind unable to come alongside and are getting nothing from me. We pass an old dear tending her hedge and hear the yank voice fade to nothing as we ride on "hi we are Mormons from the local church would you like to........" the old lady with the shears had been Mormonised, we were freeeeeee....
99'er stop
The local boating park was our half way point and the reward for our little ride, 3 x 99ers. Cones with fresh soft ice cream with a stick of chocolate flake in (for those that don't know what a 99 is) and unbelievably in these expensive days the bill was £3.00. We sat in the sun soaking it all up until it was time to move on..
A nice uneventful ride home then a stubbie in the sun to round the afternoon off, a gloriously nice way to finish a fantastic day off....
Friday, 22 April 2011
A picture can say a thousand words....
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Kilton 8.75 mile TT 2011
It's that time of the year again when the testers are out in force, competing against the clock, against themselves, against each other. I'm in no fit state to participate but with camera in hand I head over to see if I can catch a few shots from the first Kilton TT of 2011. The day had been hot hot hot, it's only April but it may well have been the depths of summer, it's going to be hard out there and I'm so glad I'm not riding.
Here's a sampling of the better (sharper) photos from today (click on photo to enlarge)
There are many more shots from today on my Smugmug gallery. Grab a cuppa and have a browse. If you like them please make a comment, if you download all I ask is that you make a comment saying you have...
Here's a sampling of the better (sharper) photos from today (click on photo to enlarge)
There are many more shots from today on my Smugmug gallery. Grab a cuppa and have a browse. If you like them please make a comment, if you download all I ask is that you make a comment saying you have...
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Might just as well had been a 100...
Can I, Can't I? Should I, Shouldn't I?
I look at the clubs route (North Cheshire Clarion) for the coming Sundays club run, it's a flat 43 miler and I'm wondering if this ride is where I make my comeback club ride on. I'm thinking back to last weeks ride where I manage 20 miles and felt a lot stronger than previous attempts for a road ride and I wonder if 43 miles is 'doable' for me. I know I'm no-where near as fit or as strong or as healed as I want to be but I'm not one to give in to illness or injury and constantly try to push myself. One day I will give up and take up crown green bowling but that time is not now. I'm still in rehabilitation mode and as my physio and Consultant have said, cycling is good for that but my cycling so far has consisted of static training in the confines of my garage on my turbo or when the suns out, on my lawn - there have been exploratory forays on the road and these tell me I've got a long way to go...
So I study the route in detail and look back to my blog to the last time I rode that route back in 2009 and see that we rode an up hill off road section and that put me right off because I'm not yet confident on loose surfaces and up hill hurts my hip. Sooo what to do? I do want to get out and it is much nicer with company so I decide to do what I did last week and ride out to meet them. 3 hours was the time it took last time so lets see, 3 1/2 hours (half hour to allow for cafe stop) so that means that the ride should finish at approx 12:30. Count back 2 hrs - 2 hrs for a slow 15 mph average to give a 30 mile total gave me a 10:30 start.
With a 10:30 start in mind I set out but I'm early at Stretton and actually set off at 10. I'm riding the reverse route and head out east through Appleton but I make a huge navigational blunder and head south far too early heading towards Arley Hall instead of riding a couple of miles further east and then south. This puts me on a more or less parallel route but I didn't actually realise I was on the wrong route at that time. I'm looking down at my Garmin and can't find the big pink line I'm supposed to following and I'm cursing my Garmin thinking that it's the much complained about 3.30 firmware, I stop and let it recalculate but still no pink line, darn it...
The fool that I am
It never dawned on me that it could be rider error and I continue southwards, eventually the pink line appears on the screen and I'm puzzled how this can be, I'm thinking I must have programmed it wrongly cos I'm now approaching the actual route whereas I thought I was on it and obviously I'm not. So now I'm on the actual route riding at a steady 15+ mph and in front of me travelling fairly slowly is a small bunch of Liverpool Century riders riding at around 13 mph, as I approach I see that there are a handful of kids in the group and catching them I have a friendly chat with the elders who tell me that the fast kid on the front is a young racer all of 9 years of age and that they are from the Warrington area and the Warrington Road club. Apparently WRC being a race club farm out the kids with LC until they are old enough to race with the WRC.
I'm just not fit enough
They are travelling at a very sociable pace so I stick with them for a couple of miles until we reach the crossroads where I'm 15 miles into my ride and the point where I want to catch the North Cheshire Clarion on the return leg, we say our tata's, they carry on across the crossroads and I sit and wait in the glorious sunshine. 15 minutes go by and no Clarion, I will give them until 11:30 seeing as I bolloxed my route up I may have missed them. 11:30 comes and goes, I slowly get back on my bike have another drink, clean my glasses again and it's 11:35, I have to be on my way so off I set looking back over my shoulder, no Clarion. I'm trundling along for 10 minutes or so when a solo non Clarion rider comes past me and says 'here come the cavalry', I look behind and yup here comes the Clarion with Giles on the front, I tag on the back, had a quick chat with David but had to drop off as the pace was just too fast at 17 - 19 mph, I lasted for all of 10 minutes at the most as I'm not fit enough to keep that pace up. I ride on at a slower pace solo again awaiting the arrival of the main NCC peloton, a little while later here they come and once again I tag on chatting with Pablo, Martin, John etc and I'm OK with the slightly slower pace of this group but at 25 miles I'm shattered and once again I drop off the back as I didn't want to slow them up. I'm really knackered now, my hip is complaining and my arm is moaning. My legs want to go home the easy way via the car which is parked at Stretton. I have to stop a couple of times, I'm not feeling too good and crawl that last mile at 10mph. It's over now, I'm back at the car and soon on my way home.
Felt like I had done a hundred miles...
Today I thought that 30 miles was achievable seeing as I managed 20 easily last week but the way it worked out for 30 miles it might well have been a 100 miles as at the end that was the way it felt; as though I had actually ridden a century ride, my legs were drained and I had clearly over-reached myself, 25 miles was OK, 30 was not. Next time out I will aim for 25/26/27 miles and build up from there. A disappointing day, I pushed myself and hit my limit and clearly I have a lot of fitness work and healing to do, I'm only 16 weeks post break so I suppose 30 miles is good going considering where I'm at with my rehabilitation...
My Stats
30.6 miles, 2hrs 9mins, Av speed 14.2mph, 718 ft climbing (Garmin)
I look at the clubs route (North Cheshire Clarion) for the coming Sundays club run, it's a flat 43 miler and I'm wondering if this ride is where I make my comeback club ride on. I'm thinking back to last weeks ride where I manage 20 miles and felt a lot stronger than previous attempts for a road ride and I wonder if 43 miles is 'doable' for me. I know I'm no-where near as fit or as strong or as healed as I want to be but I'm not one to give in to illness or injury and constantly try to push myself. One day I will give up and take up crown green bowling but that time is not now. I'm still in rehabilitation mode and as my physio and Consultant have said, cycling is good for that but my cycling so far has consisted of static training in the confines of my garage on my turbo or when the suns out, on my lawn - there have been exploratory forays on the road and these tell me I've got a long way to go...
So I study the route in detail and look back to my blog to the last time I rode that route back in 2009 and see that we rode an up hill off road section and that put me right off because I'm not yet confident on loose surfaces and up hill hurts my hip. Sooo what to do? I do want to get out and it is much nicer with company so I decide to do what I did last week and ride out to meet them. 3 hours was the time it took last time so lets see, 3 1/2 hours (half hour to allow for cafe stop) so that means that the ride should finish at approx 12:30. Count back 2 hrs - 2 hrs for a slow 15 mph average to give a 30 mile total gave me a 10:30 start.
With a 10:30 start in mind I set out but I'm early at Stretton and actually set off at 10. I'm riding the reverse route and head out east through Appleton but I make a huge navigational blunder and head south far too early heading towards Arley Hall instead of riding a couple of miles further east and then south. This puts me on a more or less parallel route but I didn't actually realise I was on the wrong route at that time. I'm looking down at my Garmin and can't find the big pink line I'm supposed to following and I'm cursing my Garmin thinking that it's the much complained about 3.30 firmware, I stop and let it recalculate but still no pink line, darn it...
The fool that I am
It never dawned on me that it could be rider error and I continue southwards, eventually the pink line appears on the screen and I'm puzzled how this can be, I'm thinking I must have programmed it wrongly cos I'm now approaching the actual route whereas I thought I was on it and obviously I'm not. So now I'm on the actual route riding at a steady 15+ mph and in front of me travelling fairly slowly is a small bunch of Liverpool Century riders riding at around 13 mph, as I approach I see that there are a handful of kids in the group and catching them I have a friendly chat with the elders who tell me that the fast kid on the front is a young racer all of 9 years of age and that they are from the Warrington area and the Warrington Road club. Apparently WRC being a race club farm out the kids with LC until they are old enough to race with the WRC.
I'm just not fit enough
They are travelling at a very sociable pace so I stick with them for a couple of miles until we reach the crossroads where I'm 15 miles into my ride and the point where I want to catch the North Cheshire Clarion on the return leg, we say our tata's, they carry on across the crossroads and I sit and wait in the glorious sunshine. 15 minutes go by and no Clarion, I will give them until 11:30 seeing as I bolloxed my route up I may have missed them. 11:30 comes and goes, I slowly get back on my bike have another drink, clean my glasses again and it's 11:35, I have to be on my way so off I set looking back over my shoulder, no Clarion. I'm trundling along for 10 minutes or so when a solo non Clarion rider comes past me and says 'here come the cavalry', I look behind and yup here comes the Clarion with Giles on the front, I tag on the back, had a quick chat with David but had to drop off as the pace was just too fast at 17 - 19 mph, I lasted for all of 10 minutes at the most as I'm not fit enough to keep that pace up. I ride on at a slower pace solo again awaiting the arrival of the main NCC peloton, a little while later here they come and once again I tag on chatting with Pablo, Martin, John etc and I'm OK with the slightly slower pace of this group but at 25 miles I'm shattered and once again I drop off the back as I didn't want to slow them up. I'm really knackered now, my hip is complaining and my arm is moaning. My legs want to go home the easy way via the car which is parked at Stretton. I have to stop a couple of times, I'm not feeling too good and crawl that last mile at 10mph. It's over now, I'm back at the car and soon on my way home.
Felt like I had done a hundred miles...
Today I thought that 30 miles was achievable seeing as I managed 20 easily last week but the way it worked out for 30 miles it might well have been a 100 miles as at the end that was the way it felt; as though I had actually ridden a century ride, my legs were drained and I had clearly over-reached myself, 25 miles was OK, 30 was not. Next time out I will aim for 25/26/27 miles and build up from there. A disappointing day, I pushed myself and hit my limit and clearly I have a lot of fitness work and healing to do, I'm only 16 weeks post break so I suppose 30 miles is good going considering where I'm at with my rehabilitation...
My Stats
30.6 miles, 2hrs 9mins, Av speed 14.2mph, 718 ft climbing (Garmin)
Sunday, 10 April 2011
Another new post!!
What's with me these last few days, within a week 3 posts!!! must be the ace weather we are having, the heat, the sun, does things to people, it makes them happy, makes them want to get outdoors after many months of yuckness and I'm no different, I love the sun, so much so that after an hour on the turbo yesterday in the sun with no resulting pains I decided that on Sunday with its as warm and sunny forecast that I'm going to have a bash on the road.
Looking at the clubs route for today, it's a 50 mile Cheshire countryside effort with a visit to the Ice Cream Farm Nr Beeston and I'm so jealous as this is one of my favourite and most ridden routes and it dawns on me that I'm missing so much good fun. It can't be helped I know, it takes a good while to come back from broken body bits so the actual 50 mile ride is a few miles and hills too far for me at the mo, but I thought I'd park up at Stretton and get some miles in with my club mates by riding out to meet and then riding back with them.
Parking up at Stretton at approx midday, I thought my plan had backfired as there was only 3 cars parked up. Normally there's at least half a dozen but I'm sure that's Sarah's car and in another car there's a North Cheshire Clarion top so they are still out there. I set off and manage to travel all of 1.5 miles before I meet the 'training' group, a quick how you do and I ride back with them, back to the traffic lights at Stretton, we say our farewells and I reverse route again thinking that the 'social' group will be 30 minutes or so behind so I can get 7 miles in at least before I meet them but yet again at only 1.5 miles we meet up. Again, how you do's and I ride back with them back to the lights where I again turn around and head back the way I came.
I have only travelled approx 6 miles, not nearly enough mileage to make todays efforts worthwhile so my revised plan was to travel the loop through Preston-on-the-hill then Marsh Lane etc but half way around the loop I met up with a road that had been resurfaced with loose chips, buggery, I'm not happy riding on this surface so unclip both feet, slow right down and very carefully carry on. I'm bricking it worrying that I'm going to fall off, the newly resurfaced road goes on as far as the eye can see so I again about turn and head back the way I came, all the way back to Stretton.
I've only ridden 10 miles or so so decide to head through the lights out towards Arley Hall and the surrounding countryside, again another about turn as I'm lost in this area without a pre-planned route stuck into my Garmin. Back to the lights, back up the A49 then back to the car to achieve my target of 20 miles.
My plan today was to meet the Clarion as they headed for home but I mistimed and met them nearer to home than I wanted. A great welcome from the boys and gals then I headed out and about to get my desired mileage in. Last week I was done in after 15 miles but just one week on, 20 miles was very achievable, I could have gone on for much more but 20 miles is enough for now. My arm which gave me a lot of grief last week was very well behaved today, yes it was stiff and slightly painful later on but no-where near as uncomfortable as last weeks effort. My hip was pain free but in saying that there was no hills to challenge it today...
My stats
20.3 miles, 1hr 23 min, Av Speed 14.6 mph, 387 ft climbing (Garmin)
Looking at the clubs route for today, it's a 50 mile Cheshire countryside effort with a visit to the Ice Cream Farm Nr Beeston and I'm so jealous as this is one of my favourite and most ridden routes and it dawns on me that I'm missing so much good fun. It can't be helped I know, it takes a good while to come back from broken body bits so the actual 50 mile ride is a few miles and hills too far for me at the mo, but I thought I'd park up at Stretton and get some miles in with my club mates by riding out to meet and then riding back with them.
Parking up at Stretton at approx midday, I thought my plan had backfired as there was only 3 cars parked up. Normally there's at least half a dozen but I'm sure that's Sarah's car and in another car there's a North Cheshire Clarion top so they are still out there. I set off and manage to travel all of 1.5 miles before I meet the 'training' group, a quick how you do and I ride back with them, back to the traffic lights at Stretton, we say our farewells and I reverse route again thinking that the 'social' group will be 30 minutes or so behind so I can get 7 miles in at least before I meet them but yet again at only 1.5 miles we meet up. Again, how you do's and I ride back with them back to the lights where I again turn around and head back the way I came.
I have only travelled approx 6 miles, not nearly enough mileage to make todays efforts worthwhile so my revised plan was to travel the loop through Preston-on-the-hill then Marsh Lane etc but half way around the loop I met up with a road that had been resurfaced with loose chips, buggery, I'm not happy riding on this surface so unclip both feet, slow right down and very carefully carry on. I'm bricking it worrying that I'm going to fall off, the newly resurfaced road goes on as far as the eye can see so I again about turn and head back the way I came, all the way back to Stretton.
I've only ridden 10 miles or so so decide to head through the lights out towards Arley Hall and the surrounding countryside, again another about turn as I'm lost in this area without a pre-planned route stuck into my Garmin. Back to the lights, back up the A49 then back to the car to achieve my target of 20 miles.
My plan today was to meet the Clarion as they headed for home but I mistimed and met them nearer to home than I wanted. A great welcome from the boys and gals then I headed out and about to get my desired mileage in. Last week I was done in after 15 miles but just one week on, 20 miles was very achievable, I could have gone on for much more but 20 miles is enough for now. My arm which gave me a lot of grief last week was very well behaved today, yes it was stiff and slightly painful later on but no-where near as uncomfortable as last weeks effort. My hip was pain free but in saying that there was no hills to challenge it today...
My stats
20.3 miles, 1hr 23 min, Av Speed 14.6 mph, 387 ft climbing (Garmin)
Saturday, 9 April 2011
My Bikes...
What a nice day today is, 17'C - it was so nice I thought I'd treat the bikes to a bit of the good weather...
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| Focus Variado Expert, 2008 Ultegra SL - My first road bike, now used as winter bike and as photo'd as a turbo bike with blue turbo tyre on Shimano RS20 wheels. Mudguard needs attention... |
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| Specialized Langster Steel, single speed with flip-flop hub |
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| Ribble TT build. Just need to add brake callipers and cut steerer tube. Pro-lite wheels bought recently for winter/wet but look far too nice to used as such... |
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| Scott Addict 2010 Ultegra with Dura-ace wheels. My bestest bike. |
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| Graham Weigh steel framed Campagnolo equipped commuter bike |
Monday, 4 April 2011
Rehabilitation and bike stuff...
'Put aside your crutches and walk'
Yes it's been all rehab for these last few weeks, exercise after exercise from my physio which if I'm being honest I haven't completely followed to the letter, some exercises I've followed some I haven't so much because they are so bloody boring. Three weeks ago I had my consultant follow up who looked and squinted at my CT scan from the week before, walked over to the other side of the room all of 3 yards away, held his hands out and said 'walk'. I put down my crutch and slowly, tentatively hobbled over to his outstretched hands. It was a weird feeling, I had forgotten how to walk and had to think what I needed to do and worried that I was about to collapse in a big heap on the floor, it didn't happen, my limp was huge but I managed the task and I was elated. I jokingly asked about riding my bike and was really surprised when he said that I can ride around the block but I could see he wasn't 100% about it...
So with the permission to walk, over the next couple of weeks I reacquainted myself with the dogs lead and with the assistance of my daughter (assistance needed as we have a big strong Dobermann), we walked the dog; initially around a small field then ever increasing distances over the following weeks as my leg woke up and the pain held off and this is where I'm getting most of my exercise atm.
Limp Analysis
My limp is only slight but it's enough for me to want it sorted. Analysing my limp by comparing my gammy leg to the gait of my good leg I could see that I wasn't straitening my gammy leg out fully like my good leg and where pains occur during the walking motion I rush those parts resulting in a visible limp. So to remedy this despite the pain I try to walk as normally as possible not rushing through the hurting bits and straitening my leg fully. It's strange where my pains are; the top of my foot, my lower quads, my glute (arse) and not so surprisingly around the break area in my hip.
Bike stuff
He did give me permission to get on the bike for a 'block' and during this initial euphoria of being crutch free I resisted the urge to get my leg over the bike so I waited for a couple of weeks before I felt I was confident enough and strong enough to have a go at riding a bike. I'm not worried about being out on the road, what I am worried about is not getting my foot out in time from the clips in the event of a sideways fall but on impulse on one nice day a couple of weeks ago me and the Mrs loaded our bikes into the car and headed out into the Cheshire countryside where we managed 10 very slow miles, slow because the Mrs refuses to go faster than 10 mph. I still wasn't confident about the spd's so wore a pair of trainers just in case, not that it was needed, it was 10 miles of uneventfulness but at least it broke me back in and no pains or strains - no issues.
My first 'proper' road ride
A few days later I went out on my tod to ride a local route of 20 miles the main reason being I was due to ride 30 miles with a fellow club mate the following week so I wanted to be sure I was up to it beforehand. My first challenge was to get on my bike, I now find it difficult to get on the bike by swivelling on my gammy leg which by habit is the way I previously got on, I have to get on the other way around which feels wrong. Anyway I set out and clipped in which was scary but constant clipping in and out for a minute put my mind at ease that if it came to it I could unclip that left foot without any problems. So far so good, 5 miles in no muscle pain and an average speed similar to one of my slow rides on this route, 10 miles in and I have to stop and catch my breath, I'm knackered unsurprisingly after so long off the roads and disappointingly I have a strange hard to describe pain around my hip, I can't decide if it's muscle or bone pain but it's a pain I get post break when I'm getting to my limits and now I feel this pain again. I've slowed right down and headed for home knowing that next weeks ride is well and truly off, I'm really unfit and have little strength in my legs, its back to square 1 again...
End bits
It's been an eventful few weeks, one week with crutches the next crutch free, then came the walks to build up some strength and the concentration walks where I 'walk' through the pain resulting in a much improved gait. My cycling after the initial couple of rides has taken a back seat to getting fit through other slower means. I think I need to take to the turbo and build up strength and stamina slowly over the next couple of months with the odd bimble on the road when the sun shines giving time for my hip and arm to heal before rejoining the club on the road.
Oh yes, my arm, I forgot about that. If you've been reading this blog you will know that I broke both of my lower arm bones, the ulna and radius with the ulna being by far the worst, it was a complete break. My consultant told me that two thirds of my bone in the break area was missing and the only thing holding the two parts of the bone together was a thin metal strip which if subject to too much pressure will snap, so no press ups, no heavy lifting and when I'm riding my bike I can only hold on to the bars with my left arm for a few minutes before it gets painful and stiff, it's quite uncomfortable. The missing bone will in time fill in with new bone but who knows how long will that take, and then there's the clicking thing going on in my elbow...
Yes it's been all rehab for these last few weeks, exercise after exercise from my physio which if I'm being honest I haven't completely followed to the letter, some exercises I've followed some I haven't so much because they are so bloody boring. Three weeks ago I had my consultant follow up who looked and squinted at my CT scan from the week before, walked over to the other side of the room all of 3 yards away, held his hands out and said 'walk'. I put down my crutch and slowly, tentatively hobbled over to his outstretched hands. It was a weird feeling, I had forgotten how to walk and had to think what I needed to do and worried that I was about to collapse in a big heap on the floor, it didn't happen, my limp was huge but I managed the task and I was elated. I jokingly asked about riding my bike and was really surprised when he said that I can ride around the block but I could see he wasn't 100% about it...
So with the permission to walk, over the next couple of weeks I reacquainted myself with the dogs lead and with the assistance of my daughter (assistance needed as we have a big strong Dobermann), we walked the dog; initially around a small field then ever increasing distances over the following weeks as my leg woke up and the pain held off and this is where I'm getting most of my exercise atm.
Limp Analysis
My limp is only slight but it's enough for me to want it sorted. Analysing my limp by comparing my gammy leg to the gait of my good leg I could see that I wasn't straitening my gammy leg out fully like my good leg and where pains occur during the walking motion I rush those parts resulting in a visible limp. So to remedy this despite the pain I try to walk as normally as possible not rushing through the hurting bits and straitening my leg fully. It's strange where my pains are; the top of my foot, my lower quads, my glute (arse) and not so surprisingly around the break area in my hip.
Bike stuff
He did give me permission to get on the bike for a 'block' and during this initial euphoria of being crutch free I resisted the urge to get my leg over the bike so I waited for a couple of weeks before I felt I was confident enough and strong enough to have a go at riding a bike. I'm not worried about being out on the road, what I am worried about is not getting my foot out in time from the clips in the event of a sideways fall but on impulse on one nice day a couple of weeks ago me and the Mrs loaded our bikes into the car and headed out into the Cheshire countryside where we managed 10 very slow miles, slow because the Mrs refuses to go faster than 10 mph. I still wasn't confident about the spd's so wore a pair of trainers just in case, not that it was needed, it was 10 miles of uneventfulness but at least it broke me back in and no pains or strains - no issues.
My first 'proper' road ride
A few days later I went out on my tod to ride a local route of 20 miles the main reason being I was due to ride 30 miles with a fellow club mate the following week so I wanted to be sure I was up to it beforehand. My first challenge was to get on my bike, I now find it difficult to get on the bike by swivelling on my gammy leg which by habit is the way I previously got on, I have to get on the other way around which feels wrong. Anyway I set out and clipped in which was scary but constant clipping in and out for a minute put my mind at ease that if it came to it I could unclip that left foot without any problems. So far so good, 5 miles in no muscle pain and an average speed similar to one of my slow rides on this route, 10 miles in and I have to stop and catch my breath, I'm knackered unsurprisingly after so long off the roads and disappointingly I have a strange hard to describe pain around my hip, I can't decide if it's muscle or bone pain but it's a pain I get post break when I'm getting to my limits and now I feel this pain again. I've slowed right down and headed for home knowing that next weeks ride is well and truly off, I'm really unfit and have little strength in my legs, its back to square 1 again...
End bits
It's been an eventful few weeks, one week with crutches the next crutch free, then came the walks to build up some strength and the concentration walks where I 'walk' through the pain resulting in a much improved gait. My cycling after the initial couple of rides has taken a back seat to getting fit through other slower means. I think I need to take to the turbo and build up strength and stamina slowly over the next couple of months with the odd bimble on the road when the sun shines giving time for my hip and arm to heal before rejoining the club on the road.
Oh yes, my arm, I forgot about that. If you've been reading this blog you will know that I broke both of my lower arm bones, the ulna and radius with the ulna being by far the worst, it was a complete break. My consultant told me that two thirds of my bone in the break area was missing and the only thing holding the two parts of the bone together was a thin metal strip which if subject to too much pressure will snap, so no press ups, no heavy lifting and when I'm riding my bike I can only hold on to the bars with my left arm for a few minutes before it gets painful and stiff, it's quite uncomfortable. The missing bone will in time fill in with new bone but who knows how long will that take, and then there's the clicking thing going on in my elbow...
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