2 sessions, 33 miles

did my 50 minutes on the trainer before my sports therapy appointment totaling 18 miles. my appointment is with vertical empowerment which offers active release techniques (ART), its extremely helpful in relaxing tight muscles and removing knots but it is also the most intense 30 minutes one can have, yea it hurts, but my rationale is that the injury hurt first, so its got to take some measurable amount of pain to make it feel better.

after the treatment, I could already feel an increase range of motion, i'm back in 7 days for more. this was my 12th appointment so i knew what i was getting myself into. i drove into los gatos in search of a good espresso and a bite to eat. afterwards i was still feeling motivated to ride, so i drove home got back on the bike and rode for another 45 minutes = 15 miles. now im tired, but that's the most amount of miles in a day in a long long time. tomorrow i think ill go for 37.

firsts for 2008

preparing drinks for the trainer workout, getting to wear the new kit, clipping in, spinning past 20 mph and of course applying butt balm to the shammy.

good first workout: 20 miles in 62 minutes, with an average of 19.3mph and a 84 cadence.

am i or am i not healing

Well today was the day to get the news on when I can
get back on the bike and to hear that everything
healing correctly this time.

10:00a appointment and upon registering they announce
that they are running 30 minutes late. As I move from
the general waiting room to the xray waiting room
there are already 10 people ahead of me, so I sit and
wait. 30 minutes pass, 45 minutes pass, an hour goes
by at about the same time the xray technician comes
out and says we're running about an hour behind now,
70 minutes go by, and finally on the 80th minute, my
name is called.

xray takes 2 minutes, take this green card and go to
the general waiting room. i stop by the cafe for a
snack and coffee cause who knows how long is the next
wait is gonna be. luckily its only ten minutes, they
bring me to the exam room and pull up my xrays, as far
as I can tell it looks good, though then again i'm
staring at my collarbone that is held together by a
plate, 8 screws and a piece of my hip.

10 minutes go by and the doctor arrives, he scans the
xray and says, "Everything is healing better than I
expected!" Go ahead and start doing more range of
motion, go ahead and start working out your arms and
shoulders with light weights, and go ahead and ride
your bike in the garage. It's everything that I hoped
for. Better news he says, come March 1st go ahead and
go ride outside.

Saturday 1 March, 9a
If you are not doing anything that morning and want to
witness pure joy, come and ride with me.  I plan on
doing the club ride route but probably at a nice
relaxing pace.

the return...

i'm back on a bike

stationary bike that is. spinning at level one with a few minutes on level two but its something. i'm riding for about 30-36 minutes right now alright i rode once for 30 minutes and the other time for 36 minutes.

doctor appt is next monday, x-rays to be done, will determine if spinning on my bike in the garage will be allowed. if not ill be on the stationary.

january 28

the two questions I get the most are: 1) how are you doing? and 2) when can you get back on the bike?

1) I feel so much better than I did pre-surgery, though there is that occasional reminder that I had surgery on two spots. The hip has healed very nicely and the shoulder/collarbone has become less numb.

2) January 28 is the day I get either great or good news. Good news will be everything is healing give it some more time, great news will be everything is healing you can start riding in the garage again. To which mid march becomes the new date for even better news, you can go outside again.

2 weeks to go...

the healing that wasnt

the doctors said that the break looked normal and in 6 weeks there should be significant progress, well after a month I was feeling this strange sensation that just didnt seem right, then again how am I supposed to know what is happening since it had been 28 years since my last broken bone.

6 week follow up appointment proved my odd sensations, the bone had overlapped and they wanted to operate within a week. procedure: break collarbone, take a graft from the hip, carve out the two bones of the collarbone fill in with bone graft from hip, plate it and place in 8 screws, simple.

room 15

It was a good day, meet Todd at his house to ride to the start. We had a good time chatting and made it registration practically on time. We had already pre paid for the event so that made cycling to the event a bit easier. We planned on riding to the top, hanging out for a bit, get to the bottom and ride 40 more miles.

I wasn't in a hurry to race up the hill, but I tried not to slack either, I had a good time under 50 minutes for 7.5 miles up. Had a bit to eat at the BBQ, then it was time to go.

We jumped the cattle guard and the rest of the hill is pretty easy, have ridden down it numerous times. A car passes me pretty close, so when I had a clear shot to look back, making sure todd was still back there, I glanced back, well its time to prepare for the next turn, as I start to lean, the next thing I see is a plastic sign above the door, room 15.

End result: road rash, concussion and a broken left collarbone