zzOtherlandzz

Hello........

I see that Ron is back at it again, and wondered how you guys were doing?

Linda ... Hows the rehab going after the surgery?

Funky .. Are you healing up ok? Did you get the recumbent?

Let us know when you guys get a minute...

Jay..... aka.... zzOtherlandzz

RonH

Linda hasn't posted in the Did You Ride Today thread since 7/25. I hope she started getting the regained weight off. Wonder how her knees are doing?

zzOtherlandzz

I think her last post may have been in the "why I didn't ride" threat, around the same time funkystickman posted the pictures of his leg.. (may edit later if I go look... LOL)..

Hope they are both doing ok...

Jay....

Lindaosm

Hey there!! I'm here!!
Thanks for asking about me. Haven't been posting or reading much but rehab is going well. In fact, this knee seems to be healing quicker than the last one. It will be 3 weeks since surgery this Friday and I'm up to 110 extension on the CPM machine at home. Home Therapist is impressed at my progress. I finish up PT at home this week with him. Next week I am planning to go back to work part time and I start pt @ the doctor's office. I think I can start the recumbent then. Once that happens, I'm getting back to the gym so I can get on the spinner. I've been working alot from home this time (I do accounting and manage a tax/accounting firm) so I've kept kinda busy....thankfully. Had alot of issues the first week or so with the pain meds but finally have weaned myself off. I hated the way they make you feel.

Luckily I've not gained anymore weight from all this sitting around. I'm anxious to get back to riding and back to more cardio at the gym so I can continue with my weight loss. I am not going to gain back anymore. It took me too long to lose that 100 pounds and it's been so discouraging to gain 20+ pounds over the last 6 months. So, my first goal is to lose those and then continue on....one pound at a time.

Hubby has been riding lots @ Santos by himself which is scary. He's had another few spills and earlier this week he came home pretty banged up. Thinks he's done something to a rib this time. I told him he needs to stay off the blue trails but he's hard headed. He is having issues with the front shocks on his bike too. He's been trying to decide what he wants to do. I think he needs to upgrade his Gary Fisher. The one he has now he's had for 4 years and it was more for a beginner. Now that he is doing more riding, I think he needs to upgrade. We'll see.

Anyway, sorry this was so long..gonna go check out some of the posts I've missed and thanks for asking about me again. I am so ready to get back on my bike!

zzOtherlandzz

Sounds like your ahead of schedule on the rehab.. very cool. The weather will start to cool down a bit soon (I HOPE).... And by then you will be ready to hit the trails again. Every time I think about going down to Santos..... You say something about your husband taking another spill.... Ummm you trying to scare me off LOL... I have looked at some video on youtube of the trails down there.... I might ride some of them..... but if I did.... it would be WAY slower than those guys riding them on the video's ...

Lindaosm

I only ride the yellow trails and even some of them are a little intimidating (to me at least). I am WAY slower than most everyone I've seen but I manage to get out of their way. Our LBS has a women's group that rides out there and I thought maybe I might try to ride with them. Then I heard that they averaged 10 mph and decided I needed more practice.
When I first started riding out there we started at the Land Bridge Trail head (just east of I-75) and went east. Hubby seemed to think those were the easiest and I agree. If you ever decide to come down, let us know. Hubby goes almost every day and I'm sure he'd love someone to ride with...and don't worry...he's good about not going real fast if someone is with him that is new to the trails. I don't think I'll be riding Santos for awhile. My first venture will probably be on a paved trail...probably the Withlachochee since it's close to us.

FunkyStickman

Whoah, hey, good to see everybody still rolling! Linda, great to hear you're recovering! I totally understand what you mean about the pain medicines, I had to stop taking them because they were screwing up my body functions and I wasn't really hurting that much after a few weeks. Everybody said they noticed a huge difference when I stopped taking them, even though it was the smallest dose you can get.

Well, as for my leg, it's been almost 8 weeks now. I have been riding a stationary trainer for about a week. My doctor said I could start putting weight on it (at 50%) so I'm able to stand upright on it, and I can just about walk with only 1 crutch. I also started physical therapy, which is basically just building my thigh muscles back up. Knee extensions/curls aren't bad, but lifting my straight leg from the hip is extremely difficult. I'm sticking with it, but man, it's just going too slow for my liking. I want to run! The worst is the muscle running down the side of my thigh (the one that pulls your leg outward sideways). It was completely cut through, so I'm starting from scratch. Good thing I don't use that muscle much when cycling.

The trike will be done in a few weeks, I now have the welding machine and CO2, the tubing, and 90% of the parts. As soon as this tropical depression stops dumping on us, I'll be able to get started on building it. I'm sitting here at 5:00 AM in my easy chair cause the rain keeps waking me up, and the low atmospheric pressure is making my leg ache like crazy. I can't wait for winter to see how the cold will affect the rod in my leg. Fun fun!

I have had sooooo many people helping me out during this whole ordeal. One guy actually offered to buy a new fork for my LHT! I was just floored by everybody's generosity. It's truly been a learning experience (not one I'd recommend) and I've had a lot of time to think about things. My wife has politely asked me not to go back to riding in traffic until she gets over the fear of me getting hurt again... as much as I hated to say it, I agreed. I will just have to ride the trainer and maybe some weekend group rides until she gets over it. I cannot be selfish to the point of ignoring her needs for now, especially after all she's done for me in the last few weeks. I hope and pray that all this will seem a distant memory not too far in the future. It has been both a nightmare and an incredible blessing all in one. It's kind of difficult to explain.

I go back to the surgeon in 10 days for a checkup. She's supposed to release me for work then, but I'm debating on whether I even want to go back. I will probably have to at first, as my disability will run out at 12 weeks. Now that I have a framebuilding setup, it's very possible you will see me selling custom bikes soon. I think my dream of building a tallbike isn't going to happen for a while, though.

Everybody out there, take care! Jay, thanks so much for thinking about us. We're still here!

RonH

Glad you're both doing so well.

Lindaosm

Funky, glad to see you post. I've been wondering how you are doing. I can certainly relate to how your wife is feeling. My hubby has had several really bad spills on his mb. One required surgery on his shoulder which is still not right. But, being hit by a vehicle, that's the worst! I am so reluctant to road ride unless it's on some of our back roads here that have very little traffic. My idea of road riding is on a paved trail. I am planning on riding the Trek Breast Cancer ride which is scheduled for the first week of Oct here in Ocala. I'm hoping by that time to be able to at least do the 10 mile. It's a pretty casual ride and we have lots of support from the local PD as far as the traffic goes.

Love to see pictures of the Trike when you get done. Hubby used one when he had his shoulder surgery.

Good luck on your recovery! Hang in there with the PT. It really does help.

zzOtherlandzz

Wow.... I didn't realize you were going to actually build the trike from the ground up. That Is way cool. Like Linda said keep us posted with pictures. I knew you did a lot of mods to bikes having looked at a bunch of your pictures though.

Keep at the rehab and like you said maybe one day sooner than later it will just be part of something that happened in the past.

FunkyStickman

Okay, here's the photo journal of the trike build!

Cutting the tubing (this was my dad helping me)


Welding up the rear stays/fork:


Main part of the frame finished:


Lacing up the wheels (the red one is for my daughter's bike)


And here I am today, back on my LHT for the first time in 2 months! I miss her!

zzOtherlandzz

I was just going to post in this thread again to see how you were doing.... after seeing another post of yours on the forum. Looks like your making some progress on the bike and also on the rehab. How is your leg actually feeling though?

Keep it up.... and post more pictures when you can......

Jay...

FunkyStickman

Much thanks! I am still in therapy, they are working on getting my balance and strength back. AS of this week, I can now balance on my bad foot. I have worked up to about an hour on the trainer, but I don't think I could do much more than that yet. I can walk without a crutch now, but it takes a lot of concentration and wears me out quickly.

I'm trying to work on the trike, but I'm back at work full time now, which puts a cramp on my time! LOL
It will take some time, but the local bike club has gone out of their way to help me out. More pics will come!

zzOtherlandzz

For me an hour on a trainer when I wasn't trying to rehab anything was VERY painful (mentally), I can't imagine how bad it is when your trying to rehab also. You have WAY more determination than I do for sure.... I sold my trainer after owning it for about 6 months only used it a few times... It was as if time stood still when I was on it...

Anyway keep up the good work and you will be back outside riding sooner than later...

Jay.....

Lindaosm

Funky! great to see your progress! Wow, an hour on the trainer? That's great. Keep up the good work. I've backed off a little for the next few days. Overdid..(I posted in another thread the details). Hoping that within a few days I can get back on the trainer. I'm working on the balance as well....at least I was. Love seeing the progress on the trike too.
Keep at it. Slow but sure....as zzotherlandzz says.

Lindaosm

Went to PT yesterday and Doc. Progress is going well. Maybe another 2 weeks of PT. Have been going to the gym as well along with riding the trainer. First time I have been able to get on the treadmill in years AND the first time ever I didn't need to hold on.
Think I'm gonna attempt a short ride today since the temps have cooled down. But, gonna try not to overdo and go backwards again. I really want to do the Trek Breast Cancer Awareness ride next week. The short one if only 10 miles. I'll just have to see how the week goes.

Funky...how's the trike going?