Originally Posted by Rowan

I can't help with the broken arm experience, but I can relate after a major dislocation of my shoulder... then rode a 300 randonnee about 10 days later. I had to either lift my hand on to the handlebar or start at the stem and walk my hand around to the hood. At least, that was at the start. By the end, I had just slightly more mobility.

I was quite rando fit in those days, including core strength, so I don't remember road vibration being an issue. HOWEVER, jerky movement of the handlebars was. About 40km (IIRC) from the finish, in the middle of the night, a possum sauntered across the road in front of me. Naturally, I jerked the bars to avoid the animal, and the pain in my shoulder was enormous. I yelped, loudly. My riding partner who was about 200 metres behind, didn't know what was going on!

How is your cast set up between your thumb and index finger. It seems to me that in a normal riding position, that part of the cast would probably be useful for taking some of the load.

I do have a warning for you and using aero bars. If you can, get out for a decent ride beforehand and check that you can cope with the change in position. It's likely that your horizontal saddle position will be somewhat different, along with even your saddle height, and the fore-after adjustment. I suppose the question that may short-circuit these issues is: How much riding do you do on your drops on the single?

And just hope and pray that your captain isn't prone to gastro-intestinal issues when riding fast!!!

Originally Posted by LWaB

My first brevet (300) was ridden with a friend, 'Animal'. We rode round in just over 13 hrs, he on his extra-padded aero bars virtually the whole way round. The forearm cast stabilising the arm broken a couple of weeks earlier didn't seem to trouble him too much.