Speed bump in Munich
After the journey I
have had over the past four years, I was hoping the ‘excitement’ was
behind me and I could have a ‘boring’ year training and competing
without incident.
So far this year, that is pretty much what has happened, I have only
missed a couple of sessions when my back flared up for a couple of days
in March. Training has been going really well and in the last couple of
weeks I have made some good gains at higher rates culminating in a very
good race in Amsterdam last week. This has set me up well for the World
Cup this weekend and the Olympics in six weeks time.
Unfortunately the ‘boring’ times couldn’t continue and yesterday as I
was out riding my bike I had another collision with a car, which has
meant the past 24 hours spent in hospitals rather than out on the lake.
Yesterday afternoon I was out doing my session on my bike as usual. I
had ridden about 25KM and was just thinking of heading back toward home.
I came around a roundabout turning left, I saw a car stopped at the
give way waiting to go straight through and thought they were stopped
waiting for me (I am a little more cautious after last years experience
in Bled) Unfortunately they hadn’t seen me and as I was about to go in
front of them they pulled out and hit me. The car impacted on my right
foot and then hit the back wheel of my bike sending my bike skidding
sideways as I fell straight to the road landing on my right shoulder and
hip. I got off the ground feeling shaken up and winded through my ribs,
I could immediately feel my right shoulder, ribs and hips but when I
looked at my arms and legs they got away with only a few grazes. I
thought I would be Ok and could continue my ride. I picked up my bike,
which seemed to have very little damage, bar the back wheel,
unfortunately it wasn’t rideable so the lady that had hit me kindly
offered to drop me home.
The language barrier meant we couldn’t understand each other very well
so I was left trying to work out how badly I was hurt. During the trip I
felt like things were improving and by the time we arrived home and
switched details I thought I had got away pretty scot-free.
Unfortunately as the adrenaline wore off and I had time to get organised
and ice my wounds, reality looked a little more serious. My foot was
sore but going to be fine, my right hip was very sore to touch but
seemed like it was just impact and bruising but my right shoulder and
top left rib were pretty painful and I didn’t have much movement in my
right arm, with our physio suspecting an AC joint problem, so it was off
to the doctor to get it checked out.
As the night went on the pain increased and I think the lack of food
coupled with the pain and shock made me feel pretty queezy. There were a
few stops outside for fresh air and when the doctor examined me and
pushed the sore points I was eyeing up the nearest rubbish bin.
We were sent off to the hospital and were amazed with the German
efficiency as we saw the doctor, had xrays, ultra sound scans, got all
the results and at 1am as we were leaving were told we had a 9am MRI
date and appointment with the specialist straight afterward this
morning. Amazing service.
The Nausea continued most of the night. The x-rays took double the time
as I had to keep sitting down and have a cold flannel applied to my
neck. Thankfully after the x-ray our quick thinking physio Craig bought
me the magic cure (a Coke Cola) and 10minutes later I was right as rain.
Initial diagnosis is that thankfully nothing is broken, I have a level 2
(level 1 is mild, 2 not too bad and 3 and beyond very serious) AC joint
injury. Basically the AC joint is where the collar bone joins the
shoulder blade at the point of your shoulder, through the impact of
hitting the road these two bones have separated slightly, stretching the
ligaments (the next level is a rupture which thankfully hasn’t
happened). This means I am likely to be back on the bike (initially on a
stationary trainer) within the next day or so. Thankfully my lower body
is fine and my hip doesn’t inhibit movement. I should be back in the
boat and fully training somewhere between a week and three weeks,
depending on progress.
I had a very poor sleep last night and was in a lot of pain but have
woken up this morning feeling much better and have already gained a lot
of movement back in my arm. The World Cup starts tomorrow and while at
this stage I am a long shot to start, if I keep improving and the
specialist clears me I might even be back racing tomorrow. Ill be
positive and aim for that and worst case Ill be back to normal training
next week, which shouldn’t effect my Olympic build up too much.
I am hoping this will be the final ‘exciting’ moment of this tour and I
can get back to normal training and Olympic preparation shortly. The aim
is to have a normal preparation and hopefully avoid any more crashes
between now and then.
I am thankful that I got away without any serious injury and am
confident in my bodies healing powers making this just a small speed
bump in the road rather than a detour or road block. I won a World
Championship gold 8 days after my bike crash last year, so it may still
prove to be an unfortunate lucky charm!
05/20/2012 6:47:21 AM
05/16/2012 2:27:10 PM
05/16/2012 6:24:59 PM
05/16/2012 2:09:38 PM
05/16/2012 10:10:16 AM