HTFU or just stupid?

[eduardo76]

Tomorrow: forecast calls for 72F, Sunny, little wind!!! i've been waiting for weather like this for over a month!
Tomorrow: 6pm, the "fast" group ride sets off on my favorite rides of the week!!!
Today: I am struggling in pain - either pulled a back muscle at the base of my right rib cage, or something is up w/ my kidney!!!
Tomorrow:HTFU and ride, or rest to give the back a chance to heal?

more info: pain goes from "0" to uncomfortable to painfully stabbing when i take a deep breath...started saturday morning (i think i tweaked my back sleeping - signs of age!) at first, it just felt a bit uncomfortable at my right oblique when taking deep breaths, but it got progressively worse during the weekend...i did get two moderate rides during the weekend (36 and 42 miles) and it felt ok even on the drops (yesterday's ride did get uncomfortable when taking deep "belly" breaths after a hard effort)

right now the plan is to take it easy tonight use a heat patch, pain killers, and see how i feel tomorrow...

when do you guys draw the line in between htfu and being stupid?

[ericm979]

when do you guys draw the line in between htfu and being stupid?

It's stupid to ride if it means that you have to take more time off as a result.

When I'm not sure if I should ride or not, I'll start out and be prepared to bail on the ride if it becomes obvious that I shouldn't be riding.

[chasm54]

If I know what's wrong with me and am therefore in a position to assess the risks, I'll often ride. If I have no idea what is going on, I won't.

[Doohickie]

St00pid.

[Carbonfiberboy]

Fairly simple - I try not to do anything that will make it worse, like Eric said. OTOH, if it's healing, and the ride won't interfere with said healing, or at least will interfere with later riding less than the loss of fitness from not riding, then I'll ride with a bail-out plan. The trick is to bail early enough, because there's still the getting back to do.

I had pain 50' into Sunday's ride and finished pedaling one-legged 55 miles later, but I'm still glad I went because it gave me a better idea of what might be wrong, and the pain was less the day after than it was a week ago. So I didn't lose fitness and have some ideas to discuss with my PT. I take my best guess and am prepared to be wrong. OTOH my more commonly used handle is The Demented.

[gregf83]

I would load up on Advil or the strongest NSAID you have today and tomorrow and ride if it felt better before the ride. Worst case you don't keep up and go for an easy spin.

[KBentley57]

Given all the odds, unless you've been loading up on nothing but protein, or antifreeze, your kidneys are probably fine. I'd say give it three easy days to heal, maybe 5, and hit it fresh over the weekend. A good rest does the body some good!

[eduardo76]

well, tuesday evening came and i found myself at the ER instead - anything besides very shallow breaths felt like really intense stabbing pain, and laying down but just excruciating...although they weren't fully convinced it was muscle, everything else was clear (kidney, gall bladder, lungs, no infections,etc etc) - so they put me into 2 days of constant muscle relaxants and strong pain killers and told me to rest for the rest of the week...

so...yes, tuesday night ride would've been stupid! (new rule of thumb could read: if you are not sure whether to drive to ER or go to your ride, go to ER!) thinking back, i probably shouldve taken it easier over the weekend...

[bfloyd6969]

Sorry to ask, but what is HTFU? I thought it meant "hurry the ---- up", but in this case it doesn't make sense...

[antmeeks]

@bfloyd6969: It means Harden The ---- Up... An acronym bandied about quite a bit in the 41 (road) forum.

As for drawing the line between HTFU and stupid, I'd say riding with any pain that is sharp, sudden, and not directly related to any exercise previously engaged in is stupid.

However, for example, if my legs are sore and tender from a long, hard ride I did yesterday, and I have another ride scheduled for today, then I just HTFU and do today's ride.

[bfloyd6969]

^^ Thanks!

[rjc100]

I hope all turned out well. My friend just went thru the same thing, with having mid back pain while riding. He went out the next day and after the pain geting stronger, had to be taken to the hospital, and found he was having a heart attack, sue a blockage. The EMS people said mid back pain like this is also a sign of heart issue. Listen to your body and get it checked to make sure.