The long ride is over

Close to 3 months post crash now. Still healing up - shoulder is still giving me some dramas, but it's headed the right way. Back & ribs seems pretty good though. 

The driver who hit me was registered (& had CTP) but had no crash insurance and (apparently) not a lot of cash. That has meant trying to sort a payout for the damages to the bike has been long and drawn out. I've grudgingly accepted a payout plan that runs over 8 months. 

I've also put a CTP claim in (with the help of a lawyer), but that's a slow burner. Maybe I'll get a payout in 6 months or so.

The upshot of that is I won't be able to replace my bike for 6 months at the very least. 

I have though made the call that I'm going to quit riding.

On the road anyway.  I'm still planning to revisit mountain biking when the docs give me the all clear to get back on the bike.

I simply think it's too damn risky to ride on the roads, and the impacts of accidents too severe.

This was my 3rd notable crash on the road:

• 1st was in 2013. My front wheel washed out on a fast descent, and I landed crazy hard. Without sounding like a drama queen, it damn near killed me: 2 weeks in a coma, 4 months in hospital, 9 months off work. 
• Crash #2 (I'd guess it was in 2020) was a relatively minor stack. Rider in front of me crashed on a bit of road detritus, and I had nowhere to go. Lost a bit of skin, cracked a helmet, but pretty much OK. 

This crash was no where near as bad as crash #1 but loads worse than crash #2. 

And this crash could have easily been much worse. The guy hit me bloody hard - the fact that my aluminum frame was cracked in two places underlines that. The road is also bloody unforgiving to land on. So as much as I was messed up and by bike was destroyed I do feel as though I got a bit lucky.

It also really bothers me that I was doing everything right: bright jersey, brilliant headlight, the sun had risen (and glare wasn't a factor), I wasn't riding fast, traffic was incredibly light, I wasn't riding anywhere where the angles were tight or the view was limited. Literally everything was as good as it could be and I was doing everything correct, and I still got smashed, because the bloke it the car wasn't paying enough attention.

Well maybe he was paying attention. He just wasn't looking for cyclists....it's well worth watching this video:

It's kinda hard to be saying goodbye to the road after 47000 Km of riding. It's been not only a fun hobby, but a big part of my life.

T-boned

I was due a new blog post. I had been thinking it would be about my progress into the world of mountain biking (and I had indeed made a bit of progress).

That all changed rather suddenly about 6.58 am on Tuesday morning. I got T-boned by a ute going through a roundabout in suburban Townsville.

I don't remember the accident (I was knocked out cold) though based on the state of me and the bike, they hit me rather hard.

The good news is the ambos & police were on scene fairly fast, and Sue (my wife) wasn't far behind. 

The ambos got me on a stretcher in a neck brace and carted me off to hospital. It's fair to say I wasn't looking my best.

Upon arrival in the ED, I got a heap of scans, got hooked up to a bunch of machines, an got saw to by a number of docs, specialists & nurses. The police also swung by.

I'd broken two ribs, cracked a vertebrae, had a concussion, needed 5 stitches in my ear, had a lot of bark off me, and my shoulder was on fire. I seemingly had landed on my left shoulder perhaps, breaking my fall somewhat with my ear.

Oww.

The vertebrae crack is in one of the processes of one of the upper vertebrae. Hopefully it heals up OK. Fingers crossed.

Ribs and shoulder kinda suck though, as does the concussion. I do though think the concussion fog lifted a bit over the course of the day. 

Still rather sore. On a diet of Endone, Panadol & Nurofen at the moment. It's manageable though. And these days OTs & physios want you to get up and moving rather than lie in bed. So I'm up and about. Granted I'm not mowing lawns or lifting bags of concrete, but I got down the shops today and did a couple of simple chores around the house.

The docs don't want me driving (let alone riding bikes) for another 7 days at least. I'll check in with the GP sometime this week, and also pencil in a time to see the physio. Early doors, but I'm pretty hopeful once the dust settles I'll be OKish.

My bike less so. It's well fucked.

Top tube snapped, seat tube near snapped, rear stays bent to hell, crank bent through rear wheel, rear derailleur snapped off (might just be the hanger), seat post bent at right angles, seat likely stuffed, wheels, brakes & gears yet to be tested, but no doubt there are issues there.

It's a write off. As was my helmet.

Hopefully dude's insurance comes to the party. He was clearly at fault and I'm told was quite apologetic at the scene, so hopefully he'll be fine when it comes time of claiming.

Joining the Dark Side (and the March and April updates)

March distance: 495 Km (longest ride 52 Km)

April distance: 536 Km (longest ride 58 Km)

# of rides March: 18 rides

# of rides April: 20 rides

Weight: 94.7 Kg

I'm racking that up as a win. I was away the last 5 days in March and the first 6 days of April, so that's cost me 8 or 9 rides and probably 200 Km. I feel like I'm riding well. Yep have put on few kegs, but I think I've got a lid in that now. I don't think I'm as strong as I was for the Alpine Classic, but I'm stil riding well and in decent shape.

Now I  have though done something daft. I've bought a Mountain Bike:

Now I've ridden road pretty much 100% since jumping on a bike in 2011. Mountain biking always seemed a bit dirty, a bit sketchy and basically seemed a younger man's game.

There is though an excellent mountain biking scene here in Townsville, there's a large and active club locally (Townsville Rockwheelers) with a lot of established trails to ride. 

I guess over the month or two I'll see how I pick things up and see how well my skills transition.

The February Update

Distance: 487 Km (longest ride 42 Km)

# of rides: 20 rides

Weight: 92.7 Kg

Not exactly a brutal month. I think there was always going to be something of a let up post Alpine Classic, and so it proved. Though at 92.7 kegs, I don't feel I've pulled the ripcord.

I am though working on a few things to improve my riding:

(1) More riding out of the saddle. I used to ride 99.9% of the time in the saddle. It's very efficient way to ride, but being able to spent time standing is a good thing on long days & long climbs. It allows you to relieve the pressure and use other muscle groups for a short while at least.

(2) Descending in the drops. Descending in the drops is safer and faster - you lower your centre of gravity, and you're in a more secure position if you hit something on the road. I used to descend in the tops, as I couldn't really reach the brakes in the drops (which is kinda important). I did though get a set of new shims for my levers and tweak the lever positions a bit, so I can now sit in the drops when descending. 

Neither descending in the drops or riding out of the saddle is super comfortable yet, but no doubt it will provided I stick with it

So what's the plan?

 Alpine Classic over. What's the plan from here?

We'll I've backed off the cycling a little. Only did 5 rides last week and punched out a muscular 95 Km. Part of that is just taking a bit of a break post AC, part of that was the fact I was riding my single speed waiting to reassemble my Emonda post travel (now completed), and part of that was down to the weather in Townsville - it's rained for 6 days in a row to start February, and it's still been bloody hot - the humidity has been sickening. Might be a lot of Zwifting in the short term.

In terms of my riding moving forward, I'm going to ride harder when I'm out. Maybe ride 4 or 5 days a week rather than 6 or 7, but make the riders more purposeful. More hills, a higher average speed, (and when the weather allows me) longer rides. I think there were a few too many gentle coffee rolls: 20 Km, no real vertical, and a fairly serene pace. I think this sort of ride is a good recovery roll after a hard session, but I don't think the ratio of recovery rolls and hard sessions was right.

I think that'll help regardless whether I'm targeting Tour of the North 23 or AC 24

Snow on Hotham

30 degrees last week, snowing this week. Check out the Webcam:

https://www.mthotham.com.au/summer/on-mountain/conditions/web-cams

I really did dodge a bullet with the weather last weekend. Granted snow was always pretty unlikely, but wet & cold would have sucked. And I'm badly equipped for such things (Edit: Apart from having a solid layer of insulation)

So what happened?

I went down to do the 200 Km ride at the Alpine Classic, and only ended up completing 100 and ended up DNFing. What happened?

Well I always thought the 200 (which included over 4000 m of vertical) was a stretch target. Longer than I’ve ever ridden on a single ride (my longest to day is 140 Km), more climbing than I’ve ever attempted on a single ride (I’ve never climbed more than 1700 m in a day).

Biting off more than you can chew and chewing hard sounds cool, but it only gets you so far.

On reflection it was also probably a mistake not to change my plans when the route changed from Buffalo-Mt Beauty-Front of Falls to Buffalo-Hotham. (Based on the thoughts of others) Hotham is significantly tougher than the front of Falls Creek. Don’t get me wrong – the Front of Falls is no picnic, but it never gets beyond 7 %. Meanwhile Hotham has sections like the Meg, CRB Hill and The Diamantina, all of which go to over 12%. And yes, you do add Mt Beauty, but it too steep isn’t nor overly long. Not saying I would have finished the old route, but to me it looks an easier day out.

I think I tripped over my ego in that respect. Having originally said I was doing the 200, it seemed a bit weak to drop back to the 130, especially when there was still a 200 on offer.

I also now realize the shortcomings of my training. Did I become a stronger cyclist over the last 6 months? Absolutely. I think though my training lacked specificity. I ran around the pancake flat ‘burbs of Townsville with the odd Castle Hill thrown in. Castle Hill is tough (2.5 Km at 8%, with ramps of up to 14%), but it’s no Hotham. I needed to be doing longer rides and longer climbs. Yes, I’m limited by the NQ climate and the local topology, but perhaps I should have Zwifted much more? Or even better, started the prep properly in February rather than June, so I could have my fitness to the point where I could put those 150-200 Km rides in the legs when the seasons allowed.

And as much as I lost 13 kilos, I’m still a Clydesdale in cycling terms. Dragging 90 kilos up Mt Hotham is bloody hard work. I need to get that down to at least 80.

I don’t want though to rake this over to damn hard though. I rode strong on Saturday - 106 Km & did 1900 m of vert - it was almost certainly my biggest single ever day on the bike. 

 Unfinished business for 2024 perhaps.