I was a dedicated bike and bus commuter 1994-2010. However in 2010 certain lifestyle changes caused me to stop, and then intertia and my living situation made it too hard to get back to it. I finally got enough motivation up last week to finally blow up my tires and test-ride the commuter around the block for the first time in 2 years.
Well, my back was a little sore from a couple days of big wilderness expeditions. I strained it a bit more zooming around the neighborhood on my test ride, and went to bed a little more sore. Next morning I wake up still a little sore, but expect to walk it off quickly. Wait, big sneeze coming...OUCH! Worst back pain ever!!! Well, I stayed in for the day and the back pain disappeared by the evening.
However, after the back pain disappeared my leg started to hurt that night. I woke up at 3AM with the worst leg pain I've ever felt, and it won't walk off after over an hour. Pinched nerve? Blood clot? WTF? A couple hours later I'm in the emergency room taking a ride in their fancy MRI machine. To make a long story short my test ride tore a spinal disk, and the next morning's sneeze ejected disk material into the nerve channel in my spine and now a wad of it is pushing on my leg nerve - siatica. After a few days I can walk gingerly, but sitting and laying down is very painful so no sleeping. No working. No walks around the block. Definitely NO bike riding. Back surgery seems certain. My return to bike commuting set back by at least 3-4 months.
