I made it all day Sunday without pain meds or my sling. The shoulder was feeling better- still hurts but the range of motion and flexibility has improved a ton. I can do alot more and can support myself somewhat.
Today was a beautiful day so I decided to ride. Dragged a TV and my rollers out to the patio and rode for an hour. Kinda hurt to get on and off the bike and had to drink with my left hand( that's one angle my shoulder can't do yet!). Other than that everything went well- I can stand up and ride with no pain and feel much better now.
We'll see how I feel tomorrow when I get up. I plan on getting an hour a day this week, and back on the road next week. I think off roading will have to wait awhile longer though!
Anyways- good progress and I'm healing well- not too old quite yet!
Later-
DH
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Time out
What I had planned for this weekend:
Up at 6 AM Sat- ride 3 1/2 hrs. before work.
Work.
Drive to Macon, GA for the Georgia State XC opener.
Get my new race bike dialed in.
Race.
Come home.
"Plan B"
Up at 6 AM Sat- ride.....6:30 AM- get up off the ground and ride back home one handed.
Go to the hospital.
Get x-rays.
Get a sling to wear for a few weeks.
Long story short as I am typing with my left hand..
Seems that all the trash on the road here pulled one over on me and I got booby trapped.
A metal handle from a 5 gallon bucket seems to have hooked a spoke in my front wheel and got sucked into the wheel where it stopped dead when it hit the fork. I think I was still pedaling on the way down trying to force the obstruction through. Didn't have any Idea that was going to happed and never even got my hands off the bars. Landed square on my right elbow at a 90 degree angle to the pavement resulting in a separated shoulder. Got up, started to feel the effects of going into shock and sat down to figure out what I should do. Watched some cars pass for awhile- not one person stopped when it happened- big surprise- and decided to ride back home as Liza's phone was probably out of earshot.
My front wheel was so jammed up that I had to release the QR and kick down on it to get everything loose. One bent spoke. That wheel also survived the last vehicular assault on me as well without a scratch. Got a broken frame, fork, and a blown tube- but the wheel was spotless.
Anyways- got the wheel on and rode home one armed and going into shock. Took me alot longer than it should have but finally got there and then on to the hospital.
Remarkably, that was the fastest I've ever been through the hospital anywhere- probably about an hour from parking lot to parking lot. Diagnosis- fotunately no bones broken but my shoulder is separated. Should be OK in 3 weeks. I figure another couple of weeks after that I'll be able to race my mountain bike. Singlespeeds are not very easy to ride with a weak shoulder.
Anyways- That's it for now- I'm gonna go NOT ride my bike now. Be careful out there- freak accidents can happen anywhere!
DH
Up at 6 AM Sat- ride 3 1/2 hrs. before work.
Work.
Drive to Macon, GA for the Georgia State XC opener.
Get my new race bike dialed in.
Race.
Come home.
"Plan B"
Up at 6 AM Sat- ride.....6:30 AM- get up off the ground and ride back home one handed.
Go to the hospital.
Get x-rays.
Get a sling to wear for a few weeks.
Long story short as I am typing with my left hand..
Seems that all the trash on the road here pulled one over on me and I got booby trapped.
A metal handle from a 5 gallon bucket seems to have hooked a spoke in my front wheel and got sucked into the wheel where it stopped dead when it hit the fork. I think I was still pedaling on the way down trying to force the obstruction through. Didn't have any Idea that was going to happed and never even got my hands off the bars. Landed square on my right elbow at a 90 degree angle to the pavement resulting in a separated shoulder. Got up, started to feel the effects of going into shock and sat down to figure out what I should do. Watched some cars pass for awhile- not one person stopped when it happened- big surprise- and decided to ride back home as Liza's phone was probably out of earshot.
My front wheel was so jammed up that I had to release the QR and kick down on it to get everything loose. One bent spoke. That wheel also survived the last vehicular assault on me as well without a scratch. Got a broken frame, fork, and a blown tube- but the wheel was spotless.
Anyways- got the wheel on and rode home one armed and going into shock. Took me alot longer than it should have but finally got there and then on to the hospital.
Remarkably, that was the fastest I've ever been through the hospital anywhere- probably about an hour from parking lot to parking lot. Diagnosis- fotunately no bones broken but my shoulder is separated. Should be OK in 3 weeks. I figure another couple of weeks after that I'll be able to race my mountain bike. Singlespeeds are not very easy to ride with a weak shoulder.
Anyways- That's it for now- I'm gonna go NOT ride my bike now. Be careful out there- freak accidents can happen anywhere!
DH
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
This Race Report is Brought to You by the Number 2
Went up to Athens, GA to meet up with the Terrapin team and race the Dirty Spokes 6 hr. I raced Singlespeed Solo, Shey and Bill did the Open Solo, and Chris and Jeremy did the 2 man division.
Long story short- I opened the throttle on the 2nd lap and didn't look back. I got my 2nd win of the year, had the 2nd fastest lap time, started hurting bad with 2 hrs. to go, had to stop and fix a rear flat 2 times, ended up 2nd overall and 1st in my race, and had 2 flat tires when I took my bike out of the car for the 2nd time this year- 2 days later. Shey got 2nd in the solo open, Bill got 5th, and our 2 man team won. Rode well and am looking forward to my 2nd XC race of the year on the 22nd in Macon, GA.
Later-
DH
Long story short- I opened the throttle on the 2nd lap and didn't look back. I got my 2nd win of the year, had the 2nd fastest lap time, started hurting bad with 2 hrs. to go, had to stop and fix a rear flat 2 times, ended up 2nd overall and 1st in my race, and had 2 flat tires when I took my bike out of the car for the 2nd time this year- 2 days later. Shey got 2nd in the solo open, Bill got 5th, and our 2 man team won. Rode well and am looking forward to my 2nd XC race of the year on the 22nd in Macon, GA.
Later-
DH
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Dream Bike
Motorcycle that is. As far as a bicycle goes, it doesn't matter to me. As long as the bike has 2 29" wheels and a decent ride- it'll do. This is the motorcycle to end all motorcycles as far as I'm concerned. The perfect package. All I've got to do is find $12,000!
Later-
DH
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The Darkness
Had a sketchy ride home tonight. Got off work around 7:40 and hit the road. My light went out around 7:55. On Rifle Range Road between the IOP connecter snd Coleman Blvd. Pitch black. If you know this area then you already know how sketchy it is riding here in the daytime. Normally I feel safer at night. With all the lights, the cars should have no excuse for not seeing me. They normally give me a 3-4 foot larger berth than normal. Meaning 3 feet 1 inch to 4 foot 1 inch. But now I couldn't be seen as well and not at all from the front. That light didn't flicker out either, it died in about 2 mins flat after being full brightness when I left. Fortunately I still had a couple of high powered blinky lights on the back so I figured I'd be OK. I'd have to really pay attention and look ahead.
Everything ended up fine witha minimal ammount of evasive manuvering. Some spots were actually very nice when there were no cars and it was quiet and very dark. Very quiet. Fortunately, I've ridden these roads so much I didn't hit any holes and made it home in record time. I was feeling strong and for some reason in a hurry so I got home faster than ever!
Quick race recap for SERC #1 in Gainesville, FL:
Hot- Hilly course with alot of steep climbs. Went down after work on Sat w/ Liza. Got up Sun. after a decent night's sleep to a beautiful day. Made it to the race after breakfast and went to pick up my number. I had registered for the Singlespeed race but saw that no Pro's were allowed to do that race. I told on myself and got my registration changed to the pro race. That was fun on a singlespeed. I feel like I can go about as fast on a singlespeed as I can on my geared bike when I am on the right course, and geared right. Neither one of those were going on at this race! 10 mins. in I knew I was geared wrong. Not much I could do now except to run wide open till I couldn't turn the cranks over anymore. Through lap 3 1/2 I was rolling really well and moving up through the field. The flats were killing me on the first laps, by the end however, I was barely making it over the tops of the climbs, I mean I was creeping over the tops. Downhills and the rolly, technical stuff were still great though. I faded some on the last lap and a half and wound up 16th out of I think 22 that started. I rode as hard as I could and felt good doing it. That was my second XC race in a year and a half. I forgot how quickly you recover from a 2 hr race compared to the longer stuff I've been doing. I feel great now!
I'm glad I raced the Pro race instead after all. Turns out another Pro did the SS race and won by 6 mins. My lap times were the same w/ 5 laps instead of 3. We'd have had a good battle but it would have been very lopsided for the rest of the SS racers and not fair at all.
Later-
DH
Everything ended up fine witha minimal ammount of evasive manuvering. Some spots were actually very nice when there were no cars and it was quiet and very dark. Very quiet. Fortunately, I've ridden these roads so much I didn't hit any holes and made it home in record time. I was feeling strong and for some reason in a hurry so I got home faster than ever!
Quick race recap for SERC #1 in Gainesville, FL:
Hot- Hilly course with alot of steep climbs. Went down after work on Sat w/ Liza. Got up Sun. after a decent night's sleep to a beautiful day. Made it to the race after breakfast and went to pick up my number. I had registered for the Singlespeed race but saw that no Pro's were allowed to do that race. I told on myself and got my registration changed to the pro race. That was fun on a singlespeed. I feel like I can go about as fast on a singlespeed as I can on my geared bike when I am on the right course, and geared right. Neither one of those were going on at this race! 10 mins. in I knew I was geared wrong. Not much I could do now except to run wide open till I couldn't turn the cranks over anymore. Through lap 3 1/2 I was rolling really well and moving up through the field. The flats were killing me on the first laps, by the end however, I was barely making it over the tops of the climbs, I mean I was creeping over the tops. Downhills and the rolly, technical stuff were still great though. I faded some on the last lap and a half and wound up 16th out of I think 22 that started. I rode as hard as I could and felt good doing it. That was my second XC race in a year and a half. I forgot how quickly you recover from a 2 hr race compared to the longer stuff I've been doing. I feel great now!
I'm glad I raced the Pro race instead after all. Turns out another Pro did the SS race and won by 6 mins. My lap times were the same w/ 5 laps instead of 3. We'd have had a good battle but it would have been very lopsided for the rest of the SS racers and not fair at all.
Later-
DH
Monday, March 09, 2009
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