Dealing with injury
March 26, 2009 at 8:12 pm | In Injury, soreness | 5 CommentsTags: Injury, soreness
Since I began biking almost two years ago, I’ve been lucky when it comes to injuries. I haven’t had any to speak of. Oh, I know I’ve griped about my numb toe too often. (By the way, those new shoes of mine have indeed taken care of that problem. On a two and a half hour ride last weekend, I had barely a twinge out of it.) There was some soreness after my crash last fall, but nothing to keep me from riding.
That’s a nice departure from my running days, when I used to develop injuries fairly often. If I could, I’d run through the pain. Sometimes that was fine — sometimes, it aggravated the problem.
I bring this up, because I got a recent email from reader Don, in California. He said:
Last week I injured my back and left hip, I believe it came from having my left foot too toed in while riding, which caused aggravation along the tendon that runs in that area. I took two days off, iced and did Tylenol. I’m fine. But that still leads to the question of how to handle biking injuries?
We look on with amazement as Lance Armstrong has surgery for a collarbone fracture that was worse than first thought, then gets patched up with a five-inch steel plate and a dozen screws, and is expected to be on the trainer in a week, and back to racing in eight to twelve weeks. But that’s Lance.
How about you? What kind of injuries have you had to deal with, and what was recovery like? What did you do to come back, and how long did it take?
Bowling and biking don’t mix
December 13, 2008 at 3:25 pm | In Odds 'n ends | Leave a CommentTags: soreness
Went to a Happy Hour with my wife last night — one of the groups she belongs to had a holiday get together at local bowling alley.
I haven’t bowled in more than 15 years, and didn’t intend to last night, but things happen, and the next thing I knew, I was wriggling into some rental bowling shoes and picking a nicked and gouged ball off the rack.
When I was a little kid, I bowled a lot. My grandparents were bowling fanatics, and Grampa taught me a five-step approach to the line. Those five steps are short, mincing little steps, and as a grownup, I feel like an idiot when I roll a ball that way, so I decided three long steps would be the way to go.
I picked the spot on the lane where I intended to roll the ball, and began my approach. Left, right, left — rightleft! That five-step move I had learned so long ago wouldn’t go away! The additional two steps automatically happened. I sailed the ball down the lane as I tried to catch my left foot from crossing the foul line. BRAAP! The foul alarm blared. The newfangled electronic scoring thingy flashed FOUL! in big red letters. And I grabbed my left hamstring.
Holy cripes, did it hurt. I pulled something back there. The combination of trying to check the two added steps plus rolling a 16-pound ball and trying to look graceful while doing it (Who am I kidding? I never look graceful at anything) put my leg in an awkward position and caused the muscle pull.
It was still sore this morning when I got up. Mrs. Noob wanted to go for a ride, so after some chores around the house, we saddled up for a jaunt to the Veloway. Not too bad, except for a stiff wind that almost knocked us off our bikes a time or two.
At the Veloway, I took off for some quick laps. Pat held back, fighting the wind. I could feel the hamstring, but besides a little soreness, it seemed okay. No doubt the exercise was warming the muscle and making it feel better.
Pat decided to do only one lap, and I caught up to her after I finished two. We headed home with the wind mostly at our backs this time. I stretched and showered, and wow! does that hamstring hurt.
I’m walking around the house like an old man, kind of hobbling. I know it’ll work itself out in another day or two, but I really can do without this kind of strain. I think I’ll avoid bowling from here on out.
Post-century soreness in unmentionable places
October 21, 2008 at 6:10 pm | In soreness, training | 6 CommentsTags: bike fitting, saddles, sore butt, soreness, Veloway
I got home from work and decided not to ride this evening. Tuesdays are the only day of the week I get home at a reasonable time, and can fit in a ride of an hour or so. My usual Tuesday routine is to head for the Veloway, and do several laps around the track. Five laps will give me a nice 21-mile round trip from the house and back.
But today when I got home (after stopping to cast my ballot in early voting) I thought twice about it, and decided not to go. The reason is simple. My taint hurts like someone kicked me there! On Sunday, I did an easy nine-mile recovery ride, and was very uncomfortable the entire way. Today, when I assessed the tender spot, it felt as though there was some bruising there. Can’t see anything, but I sure can feel it.
So — no biking for a few days. I’ll be out of town Friday and Saturday, and wouldn’t be able to bike in any case, but I’ll see how I feel on Sunday, and with any luck, I’ll be back in the saddle then.
Looking back, I’m kicking myself for not taking advantage of an item in the century ride’s goody bag — a one-use packet of Chamois Butt’r. I had made liberal use of my new favorite 
– Body Glide — before heading out to the century. But of course that stuff will wear off. If I had half a brain, I would have put the Chamois Butt’r in one of my jersey pockets, and used it at about the halfway point in the ride.
I know that some veteran riders will tell me to HTFU — but I’ve ridden 2,300 miles this year, and I think I’ve done enough saddle time that I ought to be hardened. Wonder if I need a new saddle? I’ve always liked the one that came with the bike, but lately, I get uncomfortable on it after an hour or so. Maybe I need a thorough professional bike fitting? I got the free (and rather cursory, in my opinion) fitting when I bought the bike. I’ve made some adjustments since then that seem to have improved things, but obviously, it’s not enough.
Well, time heals all wounds. I’ll take a few more days off, then hit the roads again.
Anticipation
October 16, 2008 at 9:16 pm | In Rides | 3 CommentsTags: MS 150, Outlaw Trail 100, Rides, soreness
What a week it’s been. First the crash Sunday, then rain Tuesday when I wanted to do my regular evening ride. I was late at the office both Wednesday and today. In other words, I haven’t been on the bike.
Soreness from the crash persists. I’ve got a beauty of a bruise on my lower back where I landed on my cell phone, and my knee is tender. Full range of motion has returned to my right arm and my neck, so I should be good to go.
I’m still managing to do bikey things, though. Tonight I thoroughly checked over the bike to make sure there were no funny noises. I cleaned the chain and the rear cassette. I inspected the tires for any cracks or cuts or other weak spots. I cleaned the brake pads of gunk (there wasn’t much to speak of).
Why all the attention? My first-ever century ride is Saturday. I’ll be in the Outlaw Trail 100 in Round Rock, Texas. It’s an event I’m looking forward to. Weather around here has moderated some, and the forecast calls for a low of 54°F Saturday morning, but a warm up into the 80s during the day. That should make for easier riding, I hope. I’ll have the good, the bad, and the ugly here Saturday night.
On an unrelated note, I’m happy to report that I was able to register for the MS150 Houston-to-Austin ride next April. The field of 13,000 riders was filled in only six and a half hours. Amazing. Now, I’ll have to find a team.
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