Recent fork in the road.....
Many of you that are close know the new and for those that don't; you will soon feel for me. It has now been over 4 full weeks since the horendous day of June 12th that pulled the reigns on my summer, my activities, and general everyday living. I unfortunately took a spill while road riding in Garden of the Gods with Heather. I felt good coming off a 10o mile ride on Sunday suffering through Woodland Park and blistering myself on the climbs to Cripple Creek that peaks around 10,000 ft. With a rest day under my belt on Monday, Tuesday the 12th was set for some hill efforts and some AT intervals. So far so good as I completed several sets of intervals up the foothills on Woodmen Ave then some shorter and harder intervals on the Flying W Ranch hill...ouchy! Now it was just cruise time with Heather through the Garden. This should have been the easy part of the ride since the Garden has nice wide bike lane, only one-way traffic (that is usually tourists, so they are moving at snail-pace, and the views are remarkable. Little did my subconscious fail to remind me was that I noticed immediately upon entering the park that the lines on the road had been restriped. Now as an avid cyclist, I know that lines on roads are slick, especially when wet from dew or rain but typical arid Colorado weather had completely dried the overnight showers, so I wasn't worried about slipping. The thing I didn't realize was that the park striping process involved using a large amount of finely ground glass-like sand that served reflective properties for motorists to identify between the bike lane and the roadway. This seems to be a positive but not since it was freshly laid the day prior and the thick sandy paint hadn't had a chance to be worn off. Now if you have ever ridden in the park you know that between the quick poppers of hills, the fast curvey descents, and the great rolling terrain that it is impossible to go slow if you like speed. And let's admit it, we wouldn't be cyclist if we didn't like going fast! Just as I decided to let a few ponies trot and get up to speed halfway through the park, I bombed past 6-7 cars in the bikelane at 35+mph, gave a quick kick over a few rollers, and then started back down some towards Balance Rock through a series of nice S-turns. As I drop out of Heather's view into the series of turns, I feel smooth taking the 1st corner at 30+mph and then sweep into the second turn. All the time I maintained staying inside the wide bike lane, which is unusual as I usually hammer the pace fast enough so I'm forced to swing out into the car lane to apex the corners. Just as I decide that I'm going a bit fast to stay completely in the bike lane in the 2nd corner I start apexing across into the traffic-free roadway. And immediately as I touched the bright white road striping, I knew I was in for a bit of a tussle. My front tired acted as I hit a patch of ice. At this instance, my attn span narrowed, time slowed to a crawl, and my adrenaline pumped as the whole situation proceeded in slow motion. Being a mtn biker and cxer, my first response was to correct the slide and save it. Since the curve bends to the left, I instinctively unclipped my left foot and began to countersteer the bars. My cleat on the ground begins to skate as a save may be in order until my back tire contacts the same new line. The back tire goes out from under me and it is an all-out break dance contest on asphalt at 30 mph. Woo hoo! My left hip and left elbow take the blunt of the slide but amazingly without excessive impact due to the high speed and the sheer dynamics of sliding out in that degree of a corner. Then the momentum rolls me onto my left shoulder and helmet as the slide continues. My body quivers now as the flashback of the sound of my Atmos scraping across the ground while I can see the texture of the asphalt sliding mere centimeters from my face. Then I somehow spin to the right side of my body to get some more roadrash on my right hip. And then the terror occurred as my outstretched legs contact the drainage curb on the side of the road. As I picture this from an outside perspective, I see myself as a a baseball hitter sliding into 2nd base. Luckily the bases on a field are padded where-as curbs are made of concrete. My right carbon sole contacts the curb and my momentum plummets me over the curb as my right ankle and lower leg snaps in a vicious high-siding motion as I roll into the red Colorado dirt. I know instantaneously that I have broken something as I curl into the fetle position grasping my ankle with a hand bracing each side. This whole process was over in the matter of seconds while in my head, it lasted minutes. As the pain snaps into my body I begin to cringe and produce several loud growns and grunts as a Subura Outback filled with tourists and Heather both come to a stop in the road at my side. The adrenaline begins to buffer the initial shock as I calm and tell Heather, "Have someone call 911...I've broken my ankle." The tourists' faces emit horror as they scan the bloody patches that are visable from the shredded lycra while I helped the out-of-towners give directions to the emergency response on the phone so I could be quickly located. I soon begin to feel like a sideshow freak as other cars and cyclist pass almost wrecking themselves trying to break their necks with curiosity while starring at me lying on the side of the road. People tried to accomodate me with blankets, water, shade, and the such while I awaited the EMT's arrival. Once EMTs arrived, we were both amazed at how little pain I was feeling based on the amount of skin I was missing and the confirmed judgement that I had broken my ankle. I kept the pain rating at 2-3 on a 1-10 scale while being placed in the ambulance and into the emergency room. I felt odd as the firefighters loaded my new Giant TCR C0 with the freshly installed SRM Pro powermeter into the fire engine while Heather saddled up to ride home, change, and then meet me in the ER. Once in the ER, an x-ray confirmed the damage as a broken tibia and fibula, while separating the intercostal tissue between these bones in my shin due to the twisting nature of the break. The surgeon explained the corrective measures of setting the ankle, while applying plate and screws the fibula to hold the lateral maleolus in-place to heal, and then screwing the tibia and fibula together to correct the soft tissue damage. This means 8-10 wks of complete non weight bearing with a cast and crutches, another surgery to remove the screws then another 2-4 mths of cast and rehab. This isn't the way I envisioned spending my summer as I was already registered for the Leadville Silver Rush 50 mtb race and was registering for the Firecracker 50 in Breckenridge and the Winter Park summer mtn bike series. I also will be disappointing Heather since we just ordered her a new Giant Trance mtn bike and my new morning running partner, Buck, our German Short-haired Pointer.
Many of you that are close know the new and for those that don't; you will soon feel for me. It has now been over 4 full weeks since the horendous day of June 12th that pulled the reigns on my summer, my activities, and general everyday living. I unfortunately took a spill while road riding in Garden of the Gods with Heather. I felt good coming off a 10o mile ride on Sunday suffering through Woodland Park and blistering myself on the climbs to Cripple Creek that peaks around 10,000 ft. With a rest day under my belt on Monday, Tuesday the 12th was set for some hill efforts and some AT intervals. So far so good as I completed several sets of intervals up the foothills on Woodmen Ave then some shorter and harder intervals on the Flying W Ranch hill...ouchy! Now it was just cruise time with Heather through the Garden. This should have been the easy part of the ride since the Garden has nice wide bike lane, only one-way traffic (that is usually tourists, so they are moving at snail-pace, and the views are remarkable. Little did my subconscious fail to remind me was that I noticed immediately upon entering the park that the lines on the road had been restriped. Now as an avid cyclist, I know that lines on roads are slick, especially when wet from dew or rain but typical arid Colorado weather had completely dried the overnight showers, so I wasn't worried about slipping. The thing I didn't realize was that the park striping process involved using a large amount of finely ground glass-like sand that served reflective properties for motorists to identify between the bike lane and the roadway. This seems to be a positive but not since it was freshly laid the day prior and the thick sandy paint hadn't had a chance to be worn off. Now if you have ever ridden in the park you know that between the quick poppers of hills, the fast curvey descents, and the great rolling terrain that it is impossible to go slow if you like speed. And let's admit it, we wouldn't be cyclist if we didn't like going fast! Just as I decided to let a few ponies trot and get up to speed halfway through the park, I bombed past 6-7 cars in the bikelane at 35+mph, gave a quick kick over a few rollers, and then started back down some towards Balance Rock through a series of nice S-turns. As I drop out of Heather's view into the series of turns, I feel smooth taking the 1st corner at 30+mph and then sweep into the second turn. All the time I maintained staying inside the wide bike lane, which is unusual as I usually hammer the pace fast enough so I'm forced to swing out into the car lane to apex the corners. Just as I decide that I'm going a bit fast to stay completely in the bike lane in the 2nd corner I start apexing across into the traffic-free roadway. And immediately as I touched the bright white road striping, I knew I was in for a bit of a tussle. My front tired acted as I hit a patch of ice. At this instance, my attn span narrowed, time slowed to a crawl, and my adrenaline pumped as the whole situation proceeded in slow motion. Being a mtn biker and cxer, my first response was to correct the slide and save it. Since the curve bends to the left, I instinctively unclipped my left foot and began to countersteer the bars. My cleat on the ground begins to skate as a save may be in order until my back tire contacts the same new line. The back tire goes out from under me and it is an all-out break dance contest on asphalt at 30 mph. Woo hoo! My left hip and left elbow take the blunt of the slide but amazingly without excessive impact due to the high speed and the sheer dynamics of sliding out in that degree of a corner. Then the momentum rolls me onto my left shoulder and helmet as the slide continues. My body quivers now as the flashback of the sound of my Atmos scraping across the ground while I can see the texture of the asphalt sliding mere centimeters from my face. Then I somehow spin to the right side of my body to get some more roadrash on my right hip. And then the terror occurred as my outstretched legs contact the drainage curb on the side of the road. As I picture this from an outside perspective, I see myself as a a baseball hitter sliding into 2nd base. Luckily the bases on a field are padded where-as curbs are made of concrete. My right carbon sole contacts the curb and my momentum plummets me over the curb as my right ankle and lower leg snaps in a vicious high-siding motion as I roll into the red Colorado dirt. I know instantaneously that I have broken something as I curl into the fetle position grasping my ankle with a hand bracing each side. This whole process was over in the matter of seconds while in my head, it lasted minutes. As the pain snaps into my body I begin to cringe and produce several loud growns and grunts as a Subura Outback filled with tourists and Heather both come to a stop in the road at my side. The adrenaline begins to buffer the initial shock as I calm and tell Heather, "Have someone call 911...I've broken my ankle." The tourists' faces emit horror as they scan the bloody patches that are visable from the shredded lycra while I helped the out-of-towners give directions to the emergency response on the phone so I could be quickly located. I soon begin to feel like a sideshow freak as other cars and cyclist pass almost wrecking themselves trying to break their necks with curiosity while starring at me lying on the side of the road. People tried to accomodate me with blankets, water, shade, and the such while I awaited the EMT's arrival. Once EMTs arrived, we were both amazed at how little pain I was feeling based on the amount of skin I was missing and the confirmed judgement that I had broken my ankle. I kept the pain rating at 2-3 on a 1-10 scale while being placed in the ambulance and into the emergency room. I felt odd as the firefighters loaded my new Giant TCR C0 with the freshly installed SRM Pro powermeter into the fire engine while Heather saddled up to ride home, change, and then meet me in the ER. Once in the ER, an x-ray confirmed the damage as a broken tibia and fibula, while separating the intercostal tissue between these bones in my shin due to the twisting nature of the break. The surgeon explained the corrective measures of setting the ankle, while applying plate and screws the fibula to hold the lateral maleolus in-place to heal, and then screwing the tibia and fibula together to correct the soft tissue damage. This means 8-10 wks of complete non weight bearing with a cast and crutches, another surgery to remove the screws then another 2-4 mths of cast and rehab. This isn't the way I envisioned spending my summer as I was already registered for the Leadville Silver Rush 50 mtb race and was registering for the Firecracker 50 in Breckenridge and the Winter Park summer mtn bike series. I also will be disappointing Heather since we just ordered her a new Giant Trance mtn bike and my new morning running partner, Buck, our German Short-haired Pointer.
Right now I'm chilling at the old Denver hang-out of Tenn Street Coffee on the corner of Tennyson Ave and 44th just blocks from MOB cyclery, my old employer and my current on-hold racing team, Einstein's Bagels with Buck. And boy does he hate me being in a cast and on crutches. Maybe more than I do. Oh well this may be a blessing in disguise so I can focus on getting some non-active things done while taking a much needed break from the the saddle for a while. I look forward to getting back on the bike this fall and building a quality base for next year.
That's all for now but look back for what I've been doing since I've been laid up for a mth. Reading, hand ergometer, one legged hopping, lots of elevated feet and icing!
posted by Unknown at 10:06 AM
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