has anyone ridden with one, or should i stay off the bikes... it kinda hurts, but i can deal with the pain.

road biking was okay for me. mt biking not so good.

I'd take it easy. You gotta let it heal properly.

What if you crash? Even a small one or a fall off the bike will REALLY cause the rib to puncture a lung or something.

I wouldn't risk it.

This coming from breaking ribs on a car AND a tree. Both while riding.

Hope you feel better soon!

Early June, 1997 ... I was stumbling around in the morning, getting ready for work and basked my left foot against a drafting table, breaking a toe, although I didn't fully realize it at the time. However, did that foot ever hurt!

That evening, I decided to go for a ride. I had platform pedals in those days but my shoes had stiff soles so I thought they'd support my foot. I was drafting a friend, he slowed down, and I plowed into him. As I was going over, my first thought was to drop my left foot and save myself, but then my brain told me to leave the foot where it was because it was too painful to support the amount of weight I'd put on it if I dropped it ... and over I went landing squarely on the left side of my rib cage ... cracking my ribs.

So I went to the clinic and explained the situation with the toe and ribs. Yes they were broken, and the Dr noticed I'd scratched the skin a bit on my toe. "When was your last tentanus shot?" he asked. I hesitated. Next thing I knew, they gave me the shot in my left arm, completely incapacitating the left arm. Great.

The next day I tried to ride ... I headed out, turned around and came home ... and threw up. The pain in my arm, ribs, and toe was just too much for me. Oh, and throwing up with a cracked rib ... NOT something you want to do!!

However, the next day I tried again, and I was fine. In fact, I discovered that the cycling position was the most comfortable position for me. Leaning forward with my arms in front of me (in cyclist position) meant that my rib cage hung forward, freely with no pressure. And that was, by far the most comfortable position. Sitting or standing put some pressure on my ribs, and lying down was even painful (I couldn't lie of my left side at all for at least 8 weeks). Sometimes I'd just try to sit in something like the cyclist position just to give my ribs a break.

Anyway, I kept cycling all while my ribs and toe were healing. I didn't go far, and it was definitely on the road, but I kept at it.

I cracked 2 of my ribs a few years back. It took about a month.

When I fractured my rib, cycling was one of the few things I could still do. As noted above, sitting up in bed, coughing, even taking a deep breath, were all quite painful.