man... 'twas an awesome ride today up till halfway, when i was riding over a sandy breach and the bike ran off the shoulder. bike went crazy and my body went flyin into the ground. got some superficial scrapes... but i landed on the ground with my left hand to break the fall. i had some major pain in my wrist, but i was able to position my hand in such a way that it didn't hurt so i could limp home. i was ridin strong up till that point, and afterwards though it didnt hurt THAT bad, it was as if all the strength and will to ride had been drained from my body. what is totally scary is that i wear my helmet EVERY time I ride... well every day except today, and today was the first time i've fallen since i bought the helmet. i realize how stupid and lucky i am that i didn't land on my head. the admitting nurse at the ER was telling me how there were some pretty bad biking injuries today.. and none of them were wearing their helmets. maybe it's some weird kinda retribution from the bike gods LOL. anyways now i am totally depressed, cuz i won't be able to run bike or go to work for a whole week. a whole week of sitting in front of the boob tube, wishing i were outside. the doc told me that i'll have to have a splint or maybe even a cast on my left arm. man i might not even be able to drive!! . what sux most is that i was plannin on doing a half marathon next week, and then a ms150 after that. now i highly doubt that i'll be able to .

May you heal quickly! Time to look for another event a little further down the calendar to help with the motivation. Any chance at all of making the MS?

thanx for the encouragement. i MAY be able to make it to the MS', but i havent seen the orthopedic specialist yet. then i will know how long u will be out of comission for. you know what is funny though... no one stopped to help when i fell. i know they musta seen it, cuz i saw a few cars brake as they passed me... but after that they were gone. kinda sad

Yes there is not enough compassion in the world.Hopefully if they saw you were not up and around they would have stopped...By the way as a buddhist I like your signature

I cracked my radius April 17, 3 weeks later I did a 70 mile ride. It will be good for your form, it broke me of the habit of resting on my hands! (At least my left hand.) Actually, I worked 3 weeks before going to the MD, who chewed me out royally, but did nothing more than send me to the orthopod who sent me to PT. They don't want to immobilize your elbow if at all possible. Good luck, and don't despair yet.

I'm glad you're alright.

Get well soon!



(I had a wrist fracture once, just in one of those small, tiny, "floating" bones. Hurt like the dickens, but only for what seemed like an eternity! If I kept it immobile, it stopped.)

I did you one better, I was in a short paceline and the leader did rode really close to a pothole and I ended up doing a header at 25 mph. I later found out that the leader crashes about 4X per year . I shattered my helmet, put a gouge in my shoulder, broke my collar bone (clavicle), broke my shoulder blade (scapula), and broke the ulna in 2 places in the elbow joint. Three days later they screwed the thing together with a 4.5" wood screw (a metal screw with large threads) and about 12" of bailing wire to hold it all together. It looks like they filleted my elbow.

Now I was up and out walking in 2 days after the operation. I could not drive for 5 weeks. I was able to windtrain in 5 weeks and ride in 8 weeks. I managed to get pretty decent exercise in the meantime by just going on fast walks . I lost relatively little in the way of conditioning. Right now, I can do about 65 miles before my elbow starts hurting fairly seriously.

Do not sit on your keester. Get out there and do something, anything.

Have them cast it hard in an "onhoods" position, make sure you have a plastic bag that will cover it in case it rains and ride.

You can either hurt and sit, or hurt and ride!

LOL

well just though i'd update yall. unfortunately, the day i went to the doc, he told me he'd have to put me in a cast that would immobilize my elbow. this i endured till today. i was so looking forward to today, when my cast came off. i was expecting to do all my favorite activities today to celebrate - run, bike, play guitar. unfortunately i'm gonna be in a less restrictive splint for another 3 weeks. i was surprised to find that my wrist still majorly hurts. well looks like the biking season will be almost over by the time i am through with this. on a positive note, went for a 3 mile run today and found that i really did not lose that much in the way of conditioning.

fellow riders, count your blessings everytime you ride. i am gonna be so grateful when i can finally get in the saddle again. i will never take it for granted, and i'll go ride every spare chance i have . oh yeah, and if you're gonna fall, dont put down your hand to break the fall. use your head. at least it's protected by a helmet j/k.

Your story actually makes me wince. Fortunately, after a bit of time, we humans just make reference to these types of incidents like they were very minor inconveniences.

I've broken an ankle on three occasions playing racquetball. Each seemed like the end of the world and the most painful experience to date. Now, they are just incidents to comment on. Lost all of July this year to a kidney stone problem. Agony then, simply a memory now. Think of the ladises from whence each of us came. Hours of torturous discomfort and pain. Two weeks later you overhear them telling someone, "My delivery was easy." That's hard to believe!

I don't mean to minimize your suffering. And, I do feel badly for you and wish you well. just wanted to sugggest to you that within a short while, you will minimize the pain of this incident yourself.