Tour of California Stage 9

Hamilton: 5 min. before roll out.



electro shimano on zabriskie's bike.



goldfish

Racing weekend

my team mate, eli richbourg, got 11th at devil's punchbowl. guess they dropped around 2/3 of the field. temps. never got above 45 degrees for the day. i choose not to race. another crit is on today, Roger Millikan Memorial Criterium. got three guys going out. again, i choose not to go. under normal circumstances there would be no question...as a come back race...eh?

THC 'er the Tour of California is well underway. Should be a great race. I'm looking to watch the last two stages in person. Other randomness. Lucas Euser scores 7th on the CG at Langkawi! nice.

happy to have a 4 day holiday from work. training in the morning blows doors on doing it in the dark after work.

the rain in spain

it's been a bit wet in southern cali. so i broke out the classic plastic jacket (clear plastic rain jacket). never used one before. kind of a dated contraption but it keeps you dry...or kind of tropical when you start to heat up. another dusting of snow on the mountains. very nice to look at.

the rain in spain...spent one year in cantabria back in '97. got an autograph from abraham olano. saw the tour of spain when rominger, zulle, etc. were going at it. i think indurain retired that year.

Cantabria, Espana.


Galicia, Espana.


forma de vida...

Team Helen's Bro-ha-ha

Team Helen's Training Camp in Carpinteria was perfect.

PSA (public service announcement). you can never be too careful. keep that in mind my friends. we are fragile creatures in spite of what we think.

2009 Cycling Season

(2004 or 05 Boulevard RR. I'm somewhere mid-field. Notice Aram D. catching on after a flat.)

The 2009 Southern California Cycling season has begun. Normally I'd be itching to get out there and mix it up in spite of my fitness...compared to guys that don't have full time jobs and limited training / recovery. It's kind of different now. After getting totally jacked this summer, I'm willing to ease back and not hurry things. Besides the field will be loaded with elite level talent. So...if some of my team mates are up for the flogging, I might be persuaded.

We've got a training camp this weekend in Carpinteria. The venue is awsome. good times will be had. pics to come.

Sporting Life

Wresting is a really hard sport.
My weight category was 152lbs. back in the day / circa 1990.
Got back down to that in undergrad / circa 1994.
Back again in 1999.

Now, 10 years later...I've got some work to do to get back to fighting weight.


Looked at my x-rays again last night (clavicle). My physical therapist had some great insight. "You really did a number on your shoulder." wisdom abounds.

Ano Nuevo

whew...the last 6 months of 2008 put my family to the test. all things considered the storm was weathered quite well. 2009 is off to a good start and the updated team kit just came in. the splash of color is a great addition in my opinion. we're on another great american made bike for 2009. again my sponsor HELEN'S BIKES came up with an unreal sponsorship package. I've never pedaled a TREK.

hooked up with some guys over the past two weekends for some sweet training rides in the local hills around Redlands. very nice. a former Jelly Belly pro: Norm Carter lead up the climbs. i had no idea who he was at the time. proves that these guys have something special even years after their hey day.



Six months out from THE crash. This has gone on long enough. If you ever break your clavicle... hope for the best. Most of the time you'll heal fine. If not the technology is there for operative treatment. Locking plates and screws plus bone "stimulator's" work in the right hands. Mine feels fine I guess. No problem yet under the stress of climbing and easy sprinting. i could go on for days on this topic...just ask those close to me.

got a proper stand for the fish tank. the three amigos are getting big.













a friend sent me this photo of a surf trip from back around 1992. ah...california dreaming. after a long hike we had this spot all to ourselves. camped out for a few nights. a bit unnerving due to it's isolation and sharky waters. i imagine my shoulder will be strong enough to surf by this time next year.













liked this vid so much i put it up again.

dark days

yesterday was the shortest day of the year in terms of sunlight.
did not notice. it appeared very bright to me.
the best training day yet.
think i have reached the end of a block.

out of darkness comes the light :)

cold days

i've been really cold before.
sledding as a kid. we'd stay out till real late at night. warm our boots at a fire made from sticks and trash. melt the boots. no curfew.

remember coming home one night. it was really really cold. my hands. they were so cold. really really cold. biting cold. thought running them under warm water would help. big mistake. made it even worse. ahh. lesson learned. best to wait it out a bit.

it's been cold. nothing like that though.
layering the clothing on the bike.
weekdays are about 2hrs. 4x per week.
weekends are about 5hrs. 2x per week. :) :) :0

getting older

honestly getting older.
honesty is good.

big week

BIGgest week yet. a whopping 23hrs. nothing feels as good as an early wake up, coffee, grub and a 5 hour jaunt in the sunshine. Yesterday was perfect. all sun and no wind.

shoulder feels better out of the saddle. better not perfect. but i'll take it.

feels good to finally explore the terrain in my area. although i must say i think the counties east of LA proper don't have the proper shoulder requirements on roads. the world ends on the white line. tarmac meets tierra. gggggsssssssssssshhhhhhhhh. scary in spots.

all right...

Barbara Walters interviews Obama. We get the see the family man.
We got a dog. I got a job. Legs feel good on the bike...shoulder is tagging along.
With gracious caution I feel like the tides have turned in a positive direction.

OCD

Funny until you realize you do pretty much the same thing everyday for your entire adult life.

It's dark and I'm not riding & 17 weeks from crash

Got a job which means no time to ride during the day.
No riding in the dark for me. Not yet.
Since I got back on the bike about three weeks ago I have yet to ride in the dark. Even though the Nigthrider MiNewt keeps things bright I don't feel ready to venture out past sunset. Partially because of my new residence and seemingly lack of night friendly roads.

One thing I've learned is that decent riding exists anywhere. It just takes time to scope things out. So I'll gradually find some safe nocturnal rides. I'll be lucky to find night rides similar to those in West LA. During the past four years I managed to rack up many miles in the dark.

Went to the doc yesterday and got more X-rays. Looks like there's some bone knitting and signs of "healing." Not definitive if there will be a bony union as opposed to a fibrous bridge. I'll leave it at that and hope for the best outcome.

Bike-Obama

Now that's what I call a president.

Square one...back on the bike.

The house had a visitor.







Bliss



Started riding again... slowly and carefully.

crack, crunch, crack...12 weeks out

Got to hand it to them bones. They did a good job of protecting the soft stuff underneath. Almost at 12 weeks here. Ribs-check, scapula-check, claivcle-?. C'mon do yur thing.

meltdown.

Cervelo alu. Rezpect



Jens. Rezpect



Lunada Bay (when all of so. cal. was firing.) Rezpect



Our economy. nice job guys.

Wet dream

Epic day in May of 94.

Went for a swim today.
Well depends on what you define as swimming.
Kind of like backstroke with out the stroke.
Just the kicking part.

Paperless. Went to drop off some documents at an office today. I was told this was a "paperless office" and I had to scan my documents. Uh? The paper has been used already. Scanning it so it can be printed later will use...twice as much paper. Still a "paperless" policy. Besides in this particular office there would be no place to put my paper work...because they are paperless.
Surreal.
Did you put something in my drink?

It's a no brainer....

Breathing out the pain.

It was hard to breath. I'd been through this before.

Slid out in a criterium last year and landed hard on my hip/ass. Got really lucky and just tapped my chin on the curb. (Actually, I've been lucky all these years. Riding on a regular basis since 1991 and always managed to walk away with road rash. Damn So.Cal)

Anyway it seems that if you just focus on breathing the pain goes away in about a minute. You get up and walk away. Later, when you're washing off and the stinging sensation is almost intolerable you realize that all things are in their proper place and for this you are happy. That was the hard part. Laying there with my head against the curb realizing I was pretty messed up. Breathing helped though. But with every exhale I was reminded of the pain. It was kind of like: breath in, breath out "agggghhhhh", breath in, breath out "aggggghhhhh". You get the idea. I was hoping that I'd just some how breath my way out of this like I'd done before. Not sure if I was near the top end of this scale. Maybe around 8 in retrospect.

Well here we are 10.5 weeks later. Feels like things are better. Ribs and scapula are non issues. Waiting on the clavicle. C'mon body do yer thing. Just have to get the guys to make friends, take a hold of one another and not let go...for the rest of my living days.

Mountain memories / volume up plz.

Years back I was lucky enough to live and work in Japan. Kanagawa prefecture. The riding in Tanzawa National Park was epic. Nice roads no traffic...for the most part.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Maybe he felt better later?

check your volume up.



Yes. Better.

Clavicle Malunion

Not lucky. It's one thing to break yourself. It's another to have to do it again. Disclaimer: surgery in this one.



About two years ago I got a long board during the off season. There were some nice smooth hills in the area. So I felt like I was fifteen again. Good times.
These guys are charging pretty hard. I went a bit slower. Anyway. Don't think I'll be quite that reckless anytime soon.

Breaking bones is a common occurance. People fall at high speeds. They hit things. They break. Seems like the treament could be improved. Science has cloned animals. Probably could clone humans. We've isolated DNA. Transplants. The list goes on. My guess is there's not a whole lot of research dollars dedicated to the study of how bones heal. The body is supposed to do that bit without intervention. Each case is different depending on the outcome of the break. So there's a lot of variables for you and your "medical professional" to consider. I've heard of some synthetic compounds that can be used to help the bone heal through is various stages. Kind of like skin healing. Thank god our skin works just about every time. What if it stopped at the scabbing stage. Whoops. That might be the case here. If the bones just make scar tissue and don't get the "message" to make bone or calcify then you are in trouble. Seems like these aquatic creatures would have no trouble with regeneration?



I want to be near the end of this. Kind of good to bring when you see your doc.



Dave Z:He's broken himself many times. Really badly. He's always smiling. Sometimes a bit smug. Probably not reached his potential yet.



Former pro w/ Motorola. Check out the tatoo and veins. If you didn't know his athletic history you'd assume he spent years leading a hard life.

9 weeks out

Riding off in...not really heading toward a sunset yet. As you can see I don't really get too far on my rides. An hour in the morning. Maybe another in the afternoon. Yep. At 9 weeks and still no for sure signs of a bony union. I've spent hours studying the web for info on clavicle breaks. Basically the old school would not touch 'em. The new school considers delayed or non-unions much earlier in the game. My doctor did not want to prescribe a bone stimulator yet. Thanks doc. Seems like clavicle breaks are not so straight forward these days. High velocity impacts cause a lot of trauma to the area and sometimes the bones start forming scar tissure before they get the message to form bone. In spite of this I'm OPTIMISTIC! Bones take time to heal. The general range in two to six months. Doc said surgery would be considered at six months. Six months. Well I'm at two months one week. Not even a consideration. Surgery does come with complications due to all the sensitive bits that sit under the clavicle. Youtube "clavicle surgery". Nothing to modern or marvelous about clavicle surgery. Seems pretty mechanical to me. The future might hold synthetic compounds that help the bone heal through all stages of growth. I'm all for it.

Bone Links

http://www.velonews.com/article/4557
Uh-oh. I'm in this for for the long haul.

http://www.jpy.com/john/clavicle/
Who else is out there?

http://www.hanskellner.com/archives/2006/04/24/chads_broken_collar_bone_report.html
This list goes on and on.

Tour ends. Month two begins

A month ago today. Yahoo! One more to go. This has been very difficult. Not just for me.
Good news is I'm getting more mobility. Still wondering about my treatment. Is it better to plate and boldt the sucker. Maybe not in the long run.

Sastre wins TDF. Still great racing on the horizon in the pro ranks. I was planning on going till the second week of Sept.

Hours away from one month...one more to go

The pics speak for themselves.
Tomorrow will be the one month anniversary of the crash. Just within the last few days some anger towards the other rider who may have been the cause of this is starting to surface. Not at all productive but it finally is coming out. I've handled this much better than I ever would have imagined.

There's a lot of info out there in terms of supplements and things to avoid during the recovery of broken bones. Next few posts should be more informative.

1.Happy dog in Panama.

2.TT course at Mt. Hood Stage Race

3.Rest stop on Hood River...pre TT recon.

Half way there...

Getting close to the half way mark. Been very careful in terms of diet and movement. Things seem to be connecting and I've got more mobility in the shoulder. I can now shower with out help. Even lay down flat on my back. Ah, the simple things.

The list of injury: 6 ribs some front and back (ribs 1-6! close to the heart and arteries), mid clavicle overlapping fracture, lower tip of scapula, small pnuemothorax and a bit of bruising to the lung. The last two items clear themselves up. Considering the extent of the injuries, I took a massive blow to the upper left quadrant of my torso. Did I hit the curb? Was the damage done just by smacking the cement? Don't know. When I came to a stop my head was at the curb with feet facing the opposite direction of travel.

All accidents can be avoided. I don't blame the other guy. The crash played out something like: As I was moving up on the right side of the field a rider jumped right and slammed my bars. Now one month later with one more to go I'm pissed. Pissed at myself and at the other guy. His move was erratic and sudden with catastrophic results. For my own sanity I just assume he was avoiding a wheel in front.

One month more. At the end of the day I know I'm lucky to have escaped further injury. Looking forward to winter. Funny it's not even the end of July.

http://www.bikeblogs.com/

Day 19: On the mend

On day 19 of recovery. Sense of humor is an invaluable component of health and healing. Laughing doesn't rock the body with so much pain these days. I did sneeze yesterday. That was a vivid reminder. Body exclaims, "Yes, aside from other bones, you did break six ribs as a result of your crash."

Moving forward. Things are much better. This is good. Without any unforeseen complications, the recovery phase will pan out as a steady climb in a positive direction. I'm looking forward to some level of normalcy. In the mean time I'm very cautious and controlled in my movements. Of course I accepted that my next race will be sometime next year. There's no hurry to get back on the road (Never imagined I'd say that). I will get on a trainer soon though. I've always used rollers...never really got on a fixed trainer?