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08-24-06, 04:30 PM
Had a bad day on 7/28: joined an annual memorial ride for a policeman who had a cardiac arrest and died while riding with a friend. This year there were 40-50 riders and as a group of us were going down a hill about a mile from the start, one of the front runners in the group inexplicably stopped in the middle of the street and I got knocked down in the ensuing melee. As I was knocked out I have no idea what happened but was told I took a flying header over the bars and landed on my L scapula, which broke, along with my clavicle. Spent the night in the hospital because of a minor intracranial bleed, home next day. Shoulder slowly getting better and orthopod says get it moving. Yesterday I was able to lift the recumbent off the hook in the garage and sit down and wonder of wonders ride circles in the driveway. I decided to give it a try and went out and did 26miles. Ached a bit but not much so did 33mi today. My worst fear after the first few days was how fast my conditioning would evaporate, and sure enough it is definitely off. Had to stop for a breather coming up the hill to my house at the end, but it felt great to be out again on the bike. I will be off the DF for a while while the scapula and clavicle heal but the recumbent puts no stress on the shoulder, and besides at 15" seat height it is a lot safer. It will take awhile to get some of my confidence back re riding with groups I am not familiar with and riding the DF again, but now the job has started. I will miss doing the centuries that start in 10days and had planned to do one each Sat for the 3 wks in Sept. Might try the Sequatchie Valley in 6weeks, I will see how it goes.