Oh, man, I'm sorry to hear this! Is there a race report somewhere? Hope you heal up fast and completely.

Dang, tetonrider, what race were you in? La Vuelta de Emergency Room? Heal quickly and well!

Saw the end of that. He didn't look as bad as the other guy.

Heal up Teton.

I'm sure you're all aware of the rain in SoCal. The water has come with wind and at a great personal cost to Mrs. Ex and I.

I hope you can all keep our fallen hero in your thoughts.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=366667

Cleave, the guy at the turnaround was in our class, and collapsed for what was, at the time of the podium ceremony, still unexplained reasons. Teton was taken out by someone swerving suddenly (not your typical TT maneuver), I believe just after the turnaround.

Storming here as well. The text bells are chiming with people letting us know they are wimping out on the party. Gonna be LOTS of leftovers!

<calculating whether I can afford the gas money to Phoenix...>

no, that wasn't me.

apparently a rider in an early group (65+, i think) missed the turnaround then jammed on the brake and launched over the bars. he was air-lifted to the hospital after being unconscious for 20+ minutes. that guy really needs our good thoughts.

i was in the 3s (i'm 40) and am well on the road to recovery. the main challenge was getting myself and my stuff home so that i could get the surgery i needed. that ultimately took 3.5 days.


no, no report as it wasn't terribly interesting.

the rider i was overtaking swerved (i guess maybe i startled him because he turned his torso left to look over his shoulder and then swerved left); i went down. still 100% my fault as whatever space i thought was safe to pass was clearly not. we had the wide shoulder and a lane, and although i was in the lane and this rider was in the shoulder it was still not enough. if not in full aero position, i might have been able to recover or do some better evasive move.

the funny part: it was a TT, so i was suffering exactly as one should. legs are burning, lungs are screaming...then in a second i'm on the ground. i knew instantly that the bone was broken, but it was actually a relief! the pain of the broken bone was much less to bear than the pain i had been inflicting on myself during the event. it puts what we choose to do to ourselves in racing and training into perspective.

thanks for the good wishes. this is NOT a big deal injury to worry about. i was psyched that this was just a break with no soft-tissue damage. every surgery carries risk, but this is a super easy one compared to others i've had.

my spirits are high and i view it as an opportunity to improve myself in other ways and come back stronger. got on the trainer for 5' today (surgery happened on wednesday). i'll have to give up a few events on my calendar but hope to be ready in april.

"no one gets surgery to fix a broken clavicle." (that one's for Ex.)

I couldn't believe that doc said that. Short of a cracked one, virtually everyone I know who broke one gets surgery.

the thing that i was most upset about was not getting the full TT as a data point, so i'm left to wonder a bit longer how my work over the fall and winter translates to the road.

i was riding more powerfully (+20W, so non-trivial) and i believe i was more aero than last year, but i just won't know for sure whether i would have held the pace or faded. i think i would have held it, but doing is much different from believing.

the signs sure were encouraging, so i'm still quite optimistic for what this season holds.

glad you are in such good spirits, tetonrider, and on the mend.

me neither. those were the ER doctor's words (a friend was there to witness it). up to that point i had been extremely reasonable and patient.

it could have just been a bad day for the doctor, but it is by far the worst experience i've had in healthcare. it was so egregious that i plan to do something about it -- just need to figure out the best course of action. i intend to bring it to the attention of hospital administration.

he literally put me in a sling and sent me on my way with no instruction whatsoever (i asked) and outright refused to let me speak with an orthopedist. he didn't even show me my x-ray in the total of 90 seconds (not exaggerating) that he spent with me.

that my clavicle turned out to be broken in 5 pieces suggests to me that his actions were rushed to the point of being dangerous.

That's all very sad to hear, tetonrider. Sounds like AZ was a rough time for many. A friend went down in the RR, and his elbow is getting screwed together this Monday. I have often wondered what would happen if the unexpected happened in an out of town race. I'm glad you made it to home ground.

The sad thing is that the company I work for owns the hospital where Teton was treated, and it is generally considered the one you want to me taken to. I'll be talking to someone as well.

Teton asked me for help but I couldn't give him much. I broke my collarbone so long ago, they put me in a harness that pulled my shoulders back, sort of like a medieval torture device. Compound fracture, no surgery. Not very relevant to today.

Heal up Teton, and don't push it. Listen to your body. Healing takes time.

Just hanging out shooting the bull
 

Teton, I can't add anything to what anyone else said, except my wishes for a speedy recovery. Get well!

thanks for the good wishes, all. they are appreciated.

AZTR--that hospital got good reviews online (all i had to go by when assessing the situation), and all the people i dealt with -- with the exception of the doctor -- provided good service. unfortunately, the 2 negatives from that visit were the most critical interactions.

they got me in to take x-rays quite quickly. it did take 4+ hours before anyone cleaned my wounds, but that wasn't a huge deal. the nurses and administrative staff were very friendly.

i tend to give people the benefit of the doubt and would like to think it could have been just a bad day for the doctor (though judging by the staff's reactions this was par for the course). i'd also chalk things up to me being injured and lacking perspective, but i was pretty clear-headed and had a friend with me who witnessed it all.

the other problem was that they told me both when i phoned in advance and when i arrived that i would be able to see an orthopedist. i specifically chose not to go to urgent care (cheaper + faster) because i thought it would be easier as a non-AZ-resident to go to the 1-stop shop. that turned out to be bad info that cost me time and money.

in more positive news, i am 4 days out of surgery and have taken nothing stronger than tylenol since yesterday. so happy to be off the heavier stuff. that stuff was necessary but evil for me.

i pedaled for 5' on the trainer yesterday and today did 10' easy endurance. no stress. it was good for me mentally and got a little bit of circulation going. i'm very relaxed and upbeat about the long-term prospects. i truly believe that i will be stronger in 2-4 months than i would have had this not happened.

looks like i won't be able to make SDSR, Ex (4 weeks post-op is probably too soon to be racing). gila was a target race for this year, and although it is 9 weeks out it is a lot of stress on the body and mind. i think i'll be back into good shape in terms of fitness but the ability of the shoulder to handle jolts and high-speed descents is something i just don't know about...yet.

probably be skiing again in 2-3 weeks. in the 10 days since i left for AZ, we received 73" of snow. 17" last night. i'm not so useful for shoveling, though.

Heal up fast Tetonrider. It sounds like you are making great progress.

For what it's worth, I was on the trainer the day I could take the dressing off. Low cadence, higher power, and I was able to hang onto the handlebars. I was amazed how mobile I was, and I did a 6 hour, 8,000 foot ride, 5 weeks post surgery. I honestly think the work did untold amounts of good, regarding the healing process. You obviously are well in tune with your body, and you know what you can and can't do. But, I have confidence you're on the leading edge of the healing curve.

looks like i won't be able to make SDSR, Ex (4 weeks post-op is probably too soon to be racing). gila was a target race for this year, and although it is 9 weeks out it is a lot of stress on the body and mind.

Maybe you could volunteer, maybe over see the medical tent.:p

Glad to see you're keeping a positive outlook and hoping for a speedy recovery for you.

It's not a bad idea!

There was no neutral feed at VOS so I spent 4h handing up bottles to riders the day after my break. Figured I was going to be in pain anyway, I might as we'll be useful.

I liked being part of helping riders--good perspective on what friends, spouses, volunteers, etc., experience. It was a little nerve wracking to try to protect my wing while riders cruised by...hard to be close enough for the hand up but far enough to feel safe. Wasn't so easy to reload with one arm.

Thanks for sharing that experience. I visit my doc on Thursday. I changed the dressing on Saturday.

I, too, was thinking low cadence work will be good....main question is when. I do not want to compromise long term healing, but if i am feeling up to it doing some light riding these next few days seems fairly innocuous.

One thing I am grateful for is that I had spent lots of time over the last 6 months working on core strength. Got hit by a car in September and have struggled with back pain. Felt I was turning a corner and was hoping to report a win. Life happens...but the work I did is going to help with this recovery, I'm sure. I hope. :)

As luck would have it...
while I was typing that last post I got a reply to an email I sent to a world tour team doctor I had some interaction with.

In a nutshell he said he has riders return to the rollers in 4-5 days, keeping some intensity with up to two sessions per day. This assumes no pain and the ability to keep the bandages dry.

hey, LAJ--
did you leave your arm in the sling? i'm in an immobilizer that basically holds my bicep to my torso (lower arm is free)--been in this for 10 days now (5 days prior to surgery). i feel like i could probably ditch it or maybe just wear it when i am asleep so i don't roll over on that side. going to get on the trainer today for a longer session. the immobilizer makes things a bit awkward at best.

curious as to what you did. i think i'll be told i can ditch it at my follow up visit (post-op day 8) but suspect i can get rid of it a bit sooner.

tetonrider, the nurse said the only real reason to keep my arm in the sling was to remind me not to use it. Like you're thinking, it was mostly ditched in a week. I did have it on the butterfly removal day, and that's when she said that.

Side note: Getting stitches removed is the only thing that has made me near queasy enough to faint, for whatever reason. When I went to get these out, it was like magic. The strong tape/butterfly stuff came off, and come to find out, the Doctor did some kind of cool under the skin deal. I celebrated.