Day 1?

Quick post:

• TODAY I felt my leg as a normal leg and that felt good!
• TOMORROW I have another ART appointment at SPC and hopefully that provides as much lift in the fix as the last session did!
• CANADA DAY (July 1 for all my American friends) I hope to start riding lightly

The rumor I heard is July is going to be far better than June-:) It doesn't have to improve by much to do that but improve it must and improve it will!

Thanks for checking in!

Confirming what I already knew still stings...

I have spent my weekend reflecting on the crash and how I could have avoided it, what might have happened if I moved slightly left or kept my eyes open when falling or put my arm out to the pavement. All those questions seem to land right back to the same thing I said that night, "I AM SO LUCKY!"

But it has been 2 weeks now and frankly, I am now angry. Not because I crashed, not because we clipped wheels without any reason, but I just can't figure out how my left Femoris Rectus would be so buggered when I landed on my right; how does the physics work around that? I can only thing when I flipped over and stayed clipped into the pedals the forces of bring the bike over me hyper-extended my leg backwards. I still though just sit and say "huh?"

My problem now is, I can't swim because of the whole on the side of my knee which is actually healing nicely; it is about half "filled in"! I can't run because this injury is the one injury that really makes running one stride unbelievably painful, and I can't ride because this muscle is THE engine for cycling. If it wasn't for this muscle injury I could be running and cycling but life is a punching bag and I need to dust myself off and get back up! So I sit in limbo for another week hoping the physio and rest takes hold.

Though I knew Ironman was out of the question right away and wasn't "all in" to begin with 2 weeks ago, it still stings to hear Dr Grant Lum confirm, "sorry Rhys, no way you will be fit for Ironman. You will be able to workout; swim, bike, run, but you won't have enough time between being pain free and race day to be race ready".

Hearing that hurt now that I reflect. I can take Ironman away from myself as my own decision but an injury taking it away from me stings.

Meredith has been great, especially yesterday when all this kind of came to the surface. Good on her for putting up with me this weekend!

Sting aside, today has been better mentally and hopefully Canada Day weekend I can ride a bit. I will obviously miss my first BIG goal of the season which was the Sutton Stage race in Quebec but that is ok. I will try and get fit for Green Mountain on Labor Day weekend and support Meredith as she trains for the Kelowna half marathon October 10th.

Tomorrow's a new day with new vibe; just gotta keep on keeping on!

Thanks for checking in!

diagnosed!

First, good news: no freaking ultrasounds or MRI’s required! This means I don't get stuck inside the medical system!

Second good news: injury can be fixed via Active Release/Physiotherapy.

First bad news: another 10 days off of any training except light spinning on my trainer.

Second bad news: no running for at least another 3 to 4 weeks.

Last bad/good news (?): Definitely NO IRONMAN given I cannot run.

Diagnosis in lay terms is a LM Rectus Femoris strain. Basically the connections of muscle to hip bone.

What is the rectus femoris muscle?

The rectus femoris muscle is one of quadriceps muscles. It goes from the hip to the knee and can be used to straighten the knee or lift the knee up. This muscle can rupture or become inflamed at the upper part where the muscle attaches to the hip. The main cause of this is overuse through kicking or explosive movements as in sprint starts

I bold type the EXPLOSIVE movement part as I think crashing at high velocity counts as EXPLOSIVE

Still quite painful but at least I know now what we are dealing with. Essentially 4 to 6 weeks post injury before really getting back into training. I am already 10 days past injury though I have to say, it has gotten worse not better since crash day.

So that bottle of Berringer Merlot I just had was quite good thank you very much!

NEW GOAL: Green Mountain Stage Race labor day weekend and maybe, just maybe, a marathon in October. Set goals important to chart course for success.

With downtown I might even start studying for the Canadian Securities Course. I have snoozed button that for 5 years!!!

Onwards we ride, once I can ride of course!

Thanks for checking in.

Post Crash Day 6 - First ride

Quick installment today to let friends and family know I am on the mend.

Today I rode my bike for 40 minutes really lightly but found myself shortly after on the couch having a nap! WOW! That tells me my body took quite the hammering last weekend!

Road rash healing up nicely, Hip Flexor still a problem but I see Dr. Grant Lum Tuesday to get a better diagnosis on the issue. Probably as simple as, "you fell hard, your body is reacting; RELAX!"

Otherwise Wales blew the 2nd half today and got hammered by the All Blacks. Brutal 2nd half for sure and they just can't seem to separate themselves from "potential" to "performance".

AS for the world cup? Well with those bloody horns in the background soccer just went from boring to boring AND annoying!

Thanks for reading!

Day 5, some good news!

Great news today:

1. X rays are negative

2. fixing my bike only cost $175 and Sir Lorne was at the helm of ensuring the fixes in place (AKA: McGivor and the best darn bike wrench ever!)

3. Tomorrow I ride again

4. only 2 advil today!

Yep, things are looking up! This said I couldn't jog 2 strides across the street without my hip flexor screaming so something is weird there. A light ride to loosen up? I THINK SO!

Post crash day 4 - Xrays.

What is more depressing? The fact that in 9 days I have had my i-phone stolen at work, then delivered a major divestment project (read: not a fun deliverable), then crashed, and now realize whatever is going on in the left groin area needs more than just TLC?

Again, I am happy because I am lucky that all is well but tonight I had to get some x-rays on my left hip and pelvis. Something is not right in the hip flexor area. Results come back tomorrow after some Dr. reviews it and sends a report to my team at SPC. I am VERY optimistic because you just don't fracture or break something and only focus on road rash for 3 days!!! That pain would take precedent-:) Still, something is clearly not right in the area which means I am now, OFFICIALLY, inside the medical system which in turn means, I am about to get bounced around from X-rays to ultrasound to MRI and non of those things are in the same place at the same time and all of those things take time.

I was hoping to ride tonight 30 minutes on the trainer but even that SPC said no to. Get the xray first, plan the re-hab second. No problem, I just finished a bottle of Mondavi Merlot instead!

That aside I really, really noticed today a positive vibration on the mental side of the rehab equation. The tension, anxiety, general on edginess is releasing to become smiles and good vibes again; even at work-:)

Thanks for checking in and send good vibes for the x-rays!!!!!!

Day 3...on the mend...

Friends and family, thanks for checking in. Things are on the mend on the road rash. Still VERY painful on the right hip where I landed but the shoulders are healing nicely and the knee oddly enough is easy peasy. It is disgusting to look at but it doesn't hurt a bit! Right elbow is really making progress and the other odds and sods of missing skin the same.

The issue is the groin. Tomorrow I visit Sports Performance Center in port credit for some Active Release Therapy on it and an assessment to whether it is muscular something more sinister. What I do know is I can't lift my leg straight up in air when lying on my back and it hurts to bend over. Sort of feels like something is all pinched in there. There is no bruising so I must admit I am a tad stressed of the injury.

Otherwise I was back at work today which was nice. Another day moping around the house and not relaxing at all because the mind is racing would not be good. Work focuses the brain (not the soul, lets be fair there!)

I will not be doing the Sutton stage race in Quebec July 2,3,4. I want the groin to be fixed 100% before hard efforts. I will take that weekend for long mile rides in the country and long hikes with Gatsby and Meredith in the park instead.

Gatineau road race is possible July 7 as my "comeback" race, we'll have to see how it progresses.

Thanks for checking in!

2 days post crash....

In the grand scheme of things I am very lucky. I could be like my friends Cary, John, Kim, Tara, Chris all with broken collar bones; Cary and John adding elbows into the mix. I think Chris had a broken shoulder too. Of course there is Tara Norton too with her facial lacerations, collar bones, back, and various other bone fractures. All of them from a bike crash; some racing and some training. I am indeed extremely lucky.

The gentlemen in the van that picked me off the course said, "someone was looking over you today" to which I said, "she sure was..." It was instinctive to suggest my mom had a hand in my safety but whatever higher spirit was on my side Sunday to he, her, it, I am really grateful.

It is this sentiment that is carrying me past the anxiety of looking back and remembering what might have been vs. what was.

My road rash is healing remarkably well. Today I am really feeling quite a bit of muscle pain and I suspect much of it is whiplash. Neck, shoulder, upper back are all very, very sore. I have a massage at 2:30 so hopefully she doesn't mind the bandaged welsh bastard on the slab as she tries to work around the various injuries to get at me sore muscles. I am also really tired, flu like tired as my body tries its best to get me better.

All this said, at about 11am this morning I did feel a surge of "I'm going to be ok!" I think that was more mental than physical but all the same it is an indication that maybe, just maybe, late this week I will be back on the bike spinning the lakeshore and getting myself healed enough to race North American Masters Championships in Sutton QC July 2,3,4. My goal for now is to get on the trainer no later than Thursday for an easy cruise.

Right now, it re-bandage time for a few of the wounds on my left side!

Ride safe, PLEASE!

and finally it happens - CRASH!

On Sunday we fielded our full team for the Kitchener-Waterloo Ontario Cup road race. I went down to the race early to carpool my friend MAdelyn Smith to her first bike race! She did awesome, always at the front of her race and easily covering moves on the climbs. Then I didn't see her and knew something was up. She finished a few minutes back after crashing when getting squeezed by the group as the race vehicle came by. NOT a good start to her bike racing career but she is ok and a trooper.

Me on the other hand has gone 10 years without ever hitting the deck. Only one minor skid out on wet leaves at 15km/hr is the extend of my bike riding crashes. That is about 15,000 kms a year without a single scrape until Sunday.

Our full team was there and we had a good plan in place and were executing it pretty well for the first half of the race. Then I attacked to try and bridge to 2 riders up front. I was catching them and a group from the peleton were catching me. Down the descent, hang a right, pedal in the 53/14 around the corner; drop 2 hears to the 53/12 and gliding at 70km/hr (so says bike computer) I look back to my left to see a few guys coming. Then Peter Mogg swerves around my right hand side. I lose my line slightly looking right and next thing I know Peter is coming around me really, really tight. BANG, his rear wheel fully into my front wheel and what felt like forever was from that point to the deck. I played this out last night and here is everything that went through my mind in those 10 seconds from going down to stopping:

1. Hang on tight, DO NOT LET GO OF YOUR BARS!

2. F-C-K!

3. hitting deck I felt my head crash into roadside and I thought "I'm dead" but the lucky Bell Volt helmet came out on top of that battle!!

4. Get your feet first like going down river!

5. roll onto that grass in front of you!

6. look for other riders coming your way so you don't get run over!

7. Stopped, feel for broken bones....nothing? Are you kidding me = DODGED BULLET!

8. PAIN, LOTS OF PAIN; SCREAMING PAIN! OMG PAIN!

9. put me back on my bike

10. F-K my bike, I need to cry.

11. a few minutes of "shock" ensued. Deep crying, deep calve cramp pain, unbelievable amount of self talk to stay lucid, "what's my name? what's my birthday? where am I?" All answered correctly.

12. I AM OK, holy shit!

I am bandaged up along the right side calve, knee, hip, shoulder, elbow. left shoulder has a nice strip off too and the left hip stings but is ok.

Worst injury in terms of keeping me off my bike feels like a left groin pull which probably came from being clipped into my pedals and flinging the bike over me as I rolled.

Here are some before and after photos.

O