Yearly Archives: 2015

Ten Months in – Broken Hip

This entry was posted in Important Life Stories on by .

Like I posted yesterday, it has been pretty much exactly 10 months since I fell in Quad Cites and broke my hip.  I have to admit that I am pretty surprised about how this last 10 months have went.

Historically, with injuries, I can usually jump the “doctor’s gun” and get back at it in about 1/2 the time that I’ve been told.  But, this has been different.

This has been a learning experience.  It’s not the bone that was/is the issue.  It is all the soft tissue they  cut through to get to the bone.  Having a 12 inch incision completely through my IT band wasn’t anything I had experienced before.  I’m not even sure what an IT band is, but whatever it is, it is an important part of leg function.  And that is the problem.

It was really slow going initially.  I have a very hard time believing that I raced the Chequamegon MTB race a little over 3 months after surgery.  That seems nearly impossible 7 months later.

I’ve only done two races since the break.  Chequamegon and then a team member of a 24 hour MTB race in February.  Looking back now, I am much better than I was in February.

The last two months, I‘ve had a lot of improvement.  I get pain when I ride, but only when I do an abrupt movement.  Something like my rear wheel slides out on sand and I have to do a quick response to stay upright.

Standing on one leg to put my jeans on has been impossible.  The last couple months, I’ve been doing one legged squats, while standing in the shower, and I think that has helped a ton.  I can now balance well enough to dress standing up, which is more important than you’d think.

And, yes, I plan to start running some.  Just for life.  I want to be able to do everything I did before breaking my hip.  Riding a bicycle is important, but it isn’t everything.  Running is something that has to be available to do when I don’t have a bike or just don’t feel like riding.  It might be a bit before I can go out and do a 5 minute mile again.

I plan to get back to racing pretty soon.  I was sick a lot the last month and missed all the early season training races around here.  This weekend is Easter, so there isn’t much racing going on.

Last night, on the evening ride, everyone seemed pretty animated.   I’ve been riding gravel the last week and it was really nice getting back on my road bike.  The lack of resistance was a pleasure.

The ride was fast.  And pretty hard.  The wind was blowing from the Southeast at about 25 mph.  That isn’t that usual for Kansas in early spring, but it still was a 25 mph cross/headwind going out.

Anyway, my brother Kris, started going hard maybe 10 miles from “the sprint”.  And it really didn’t slow down from there.  I was trying to keep a few guys on, that were getting dropped on hills, etc., so I was in the wind a lot.  I was surprised how out of shape I am for going fast.

I’m not sure why that surprised me so much.  I haven’t raced and don’t really do intervals, so what wouldn’t I be out of shape for riding over 30 mph.  Acutally, I was okay pulling, just the changing of speed when rotating to the back was hurting me.

So, I think I’m fit enough to race some.  There is a 100 mile gravel road race in Lawrence next Sunday, that I think I might do.  I might look around to see if there are any other races around that might suit me better.  I don’t need to be doing criteriums.  I need a hilly road race or circuit race.

Anyway, I think I am 80% of the way recovered from this whole broken hip thing.  I have to thank all the people that helped me.  All the doctors, plus friends.  But really all the emails and contacts from other riders that have had this same problem.  I got so much valuable information from other cyclists.  It kept me focused and gave me insight to what to expect, realistically.

I was told, many times, that it would be 12 months, or more, before it would feel natural.  That seems to be timeframe I’m on.  Wonder what I’ll be doing Memorial Day Weekend this year?

Lots of guys have had the hardward taken out. I have no idea how you make that decision. Hopefully it won't be one I have to figure out.

Lots of guys have had the hardward taken out. I have no idea how you make that decision. Hopefully it won’t be one I have to figure out.

The soft tissue trauma was the real issue.

The soft tissue trauma was the real issue.

My doctor from University of Iowa, Dr. Karam. He is a very good orthopedic surgeon.

My doctor from University of Iowa, Dr. Karam. He is a very good orthopedic surgeon.I was very lucky crashing near him.

 

 

“Astana is a symbol of clean and honest sport” – Vincenzo Nibali

This entry was posted in Comments about Cycling on by .

I hate being a total copycat, but I can’t think of a better title of this post than the exact same title that an article at Velonews  today.

According the article, Vincenzo sent his own personal letter to the UCI to voice his opinion, and support, of his team.

In the letter, he says, “The team must continue to participate in all competitions. It is in the best interests of cycling, of sport and of justice.”

Of sport and of justice?  Well then, by all means, let’s welcome them with open arms and forget the past.  Bygones should be bygones.

Maybe Vincenzo should have sent them his earlier opinion.  In December, 2014, he said, “The problems in this team are also in many others. I don’t think our team is the worst because in other teams there are worse people than there are here, I won’t name names.”

I guess things changed in the last 3 months.  Problems of last December have cleared, and now, “Astana is a symbol of clean and honest sport”.

Maybe Vincenzo should have testified to CIRC and named names.  Seems he thinks he knows names.  At least he implied that in December.

Nibali also wrote about the Padua investigation dossier that states that Astana was working with Dr. Ferrari for two years.  Not the whole team, just the team director, Alexandre Vinokourov, plus 17 of their riders.

About this, he says, “The dossier can’t be used.  The documents still have not been presented in the court, and so can’t be considered credible.”

I’m sure that the prosecutors that did this investigation probably just made up the 550 pages they gathered and that they really did no work and are just picking on Astana because they are Kazakh team, messin‘ around in their sport, bicycle racing.  Bicycle racing is an Italian sport, not an Eastern European sport.  They stole our rising star, so we’ll get back at them and make up a bunch of shit so they can’t race.  Makes total sense to me.  Completely not credible.

Vincenzo is sitting in Tenerife now, a very credible place to train, according to CIRC and Chris Froome.  It is the same place that Alexandre Vinokourov and Maxim Iglinskiy used to train for their respective wins at Liège–Bastogne–Liège.  Too bad Maxim and his brother both tested positive for EPO last season, while racing for Astana.

I don’t really appreciate, Vincenzo Nibali, supposedly a model rider and spokesman for “clean sport“, to spew silliness for his own benefit.  If Vincenzo is truly interested in competing  in a clean and fair sport, he needs to acknowledge and confirm what he knows to be truth and then behave accordingly.  If he decided to race for a team, such as Astana, then he needs to understand the potential pitfalls that decision had.

And one, which seems imminent, is that his team won’t be racing as a PRO Tour team.  Only seems right.

This is probably the UCI dope control that is sitting at the summit of the 3,718 meter volcano on Tennerife. I'm sure Vincenzo is being tested on a daily basis, even though it has been shown to be a "dope testing free" area.

This is probably the UCI dope control that is sitting at the summit of the 3,718 meter volcano on Tennerife. I’m sure Vincenzo is being tested on a daily basis, even though it has been shown to be a “drug testing free” area.