Weekend Ride Reports

[RC Vikings]

Yesterday three other guys and myself set out to do a 100. About 20 miles into it we are going up a slight hill and the guy in front of me goes to shift down and his chain slips, he slows down a little and I ran into his back wheel. Down I go and the two guys behind me. I landed on my left side hard and my head bounced once. One of the guys behind me skinned his knee up a little and the other guy made it through okay. It felt like when the air get knocked out of you but after about ten minutes I thought I could nurse it back home. After about five minutes of that we stopped and I one of the guys called his wife because he could tell I was hurting. Came home and the wife dragged me up to the hospital. One broken rib, some swelling around the tissue of my new knee and some lost skin on my hip. It's hurt today but I'm glad it wasn't worse. Yesterday was one of those rare calm days up here and it upset me it happened on such a beautiful day to ride.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Ugh, glad you're okay (well, sort of okay) but man, I hate reports like this. This is what bothers me about pacelines and drafting close. There's essentially no room for error. I hope this doesn't affect the knee rehab or the LOTOJA plans.

[RC Vikings]

I hope this doesn't affect the knee rehab or the LOTOJA plans.

I felt like I was finally getting back up to strength and was getting ready to start working on endurance so it's a little discouraging but I've still got time. Thanks

[Joe Public]

Tough luck on that one, RCV. Here's to a speedy recovery.

[mtnbiker]

What a bummer, sorry to hear about that. What's the time frame for healing a rib and getting back on the bike? 2 weeks? 6 weeks?

[Topper]

RC I hope you recover.

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[RC Vikings]

What a bummer, sorry to hear about that. What's the time frame for healing a rib and getting back on the bike? 2 weeks? 6 weeks?

The best I can find online is 3 to 6 weeks for a full recovery. I'm hoping to be able to just spin easy by next weekend and gradually build from there and be fully better in three.

[Bo Diddley]

Yikes! Fast recovery, bro.

[Eddie]

Went on my longest ride to date Saturday. The Garmin cut out at 77 miles, but it seems like I hit right around 82-83 if my estimates are right. Including a couple of decent hill climbs. The group I'm riding with doesn't really do fast, so I'll need to keep working up speed and strength during other rides. But it's fun to hit new milestones.

About 40 miles in I had a MUCH more mild experience similar to the one RC described. We were going through a part of town, I took a drink and was putting my bottle back when someone stepped into the road in front of the guy I was following. He stopped, I didn't have a hand on the brake and went into his rear wheel a little. Luckily we were traveling at relatively slow speeds at that point, but I went down - skinned a knee and popped my helmet on the road on the side. We ended up finishing the ride - but for someone who hasn't ridden enough to have a "real" accident yet it was kind of scary. Caused me to tighten up on the descents that came after - I'm a bit of a chicken.

RC - sorry to hear about your setback. Here's to a quick recovery!

[PaloAltoCougar]

We had a really fun ride this morning, covering one of our usual rides (Palomares) in record time for us (let those who scoff at our humble average remember we're a couple of sexagenarians). Training for the recent century paid off. We didn't max out in our effort at all, but it helped that we were only going 30 miles which seemed blessedly short. Brethren, once again I exhort you to have your wives pay heed to the benefits of cycling, esp. once the kids are gone or at least self-sufficient at home. Cranking along with the missus and alternating pulls while we chat it up is a great way to start the weekend.

[mtnbiker]

My wife and I managed to get in a flat ride of around 31 miles, but at a relatively leisurely rate. I'm always in front pulling, though, because she's so much smaller that I get no draft from her.

[bluegoose]

I went for a quick ride with a buddy this morning. Total was about 32 miles. He wasn't feeling so hot, so we went pretty easy for the most part, talking through most of the ride.

When I got home I had a friend that was moving so I grabbed the kids and we rode around town to and from the old and new houses on our bikes. It was warm, but with the light breeze it was really pretty nice. that was about 6 more miles, for a total of 38 easy miles. A couple of dunks in the pool and it was a very good day.

[RC Vikings]

105 mile ride today down to Shelley and back home, it wasn't fast but I've got to get some miles in my legs and today was a good start. Physically I'm feeling about where I was before the crash but I'm still nervous about riding with other riders. I wonder how a flak jacket would look under my cycling jersey.

[mtnbiker]

Wow, RC, that's amazing, especially just 3 weeks after breaking a rib. Glad you're coming along so quickly.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Mrs. PAC and her cycling buddies do the same route once a week (and other routes during the week as well). They have wanted to hit 17.0 as an average, but the closest they've come is 16.9. With her buddies on vacation this week, she asked if we could do the same route and work together to break the 17 barrier. She promised me all manner of post-ride delights if we succeeded.

It's funny how motivating certain promises can be. Anyway, we had a great ride, and she did a fair amount of the work as we averaged 17.8.

But as I engaged in some self-adulation at the end of the ride, I thought of RCV who's not that much younger than I, and who rode nearly 100 miles yesterday averaging 18.3, and this while recovering from broken ribs and replacement body part surgery. So I'm not so smug after all. Still, I'm satisfied, and feel like I've paid my dues for ingesting the equivalent of several animals this weekend. And now the weekend's going to get even better, having kept my end of the bargain.