Crash plus 14 days, now what?

Two weeks ago I went down, hard. The time since then has had some ups and some definite downs. It's been one of the most frustrating periods of time since I started riding again three years ago. In some ways I've started over in terms of feeling strong and fit.

Late afternoon two weeks ago today, I was rolling about 20 mph when my mind started to wander. I was trying to decide how much longer to go that day. I was lost in my iPod. In a split second I went from rolling 20 mph to sliding on the pavement and then sitting on the road stunned and bleeding.

My wife knew I had fallen badly when I called her to pick me up rather than getting home on my own. That day and the next couple were very painful. Showering with road rash is a unique experience in pain you really can't explain or appreciate unless you've dealt with it. My road rash stretched from mid calf on my left side to the top of my shoulder. Mercifully, showers returned to normal in the first week. Another interesting thing happens, at least to me, after a hard fall. I have bruises appear the first day, but the real bruises don't "bloom" until a couple of days later. This is something you should warn your spouse about if you go down hard, otherwise they will be shocked when it happens.

The real problem has been my ribs. I really don't know how my upper rib cage got hit-whether it was my handlebar or the road or something entirely different, but after two weeks I'm still not right. So what do you do about bruised or cracked ribs? Not a dang thing. It's really not worth getting an x-ray because there's nothing to be done if they are cracked. Analyzing what huts, I'm pretty sure I cracked two ribs and bruised others. I think I cracked a couple because I thought I felt at least one of them shift when I sneezed a few times. What fun.

This has affected more than my riding, but definitely adversely degraded my fitness. I haven't slept very well in the last couple of weeks. Sneezing or coughing, something that can't be avoided when Raleigh is covered in a yellow haze of pine pollen, is probably the most painful thing. The only thing worse is trying to suppress a sneeze. I only did this once, only once, and learned my lesson. I can't begin to tell you exactly how it felt other than it hurt so bad I had to sit down for a few minutes.

Riding over rough road is not easy. Luckily my carbon fiber bike helps dampen the vibration, but I definitely feel every bump on the road in my chest, but that's not the worst problem. Breathing is a unique challenge. My legs have gotten back to normal quicker than I expected, but I can't go with same intensity, strength or distance I could before. Today I wanted to go 60 miles, but I had to pull up at 30 miles because I couldn't go much longer. It got to the point that nearly every breath hurt and I felt significantly more worn out than I should after only 30 miles. It was 80 degrees today and I had time to go longer, but my body betrayed me. Frustrating, massively frustrating.

My cyclist friends have counseled patience. They have told me repeatedly ribs take a long time to heal-maybe 6 to 8 weeks, before I can count on not feeling any pain. I don't do patience well and never have.

This is a big set back for my goals this year. It's not going to keep me out of the Giro d'Italia or Tour de France, but I'm not racing and probably won't for 3 months or maybe at all the rest of the year and that's very disappointing.

On the positive side, I could probably have been hurt worse, but I wasn't. Maybe that is what I should remind myself. I can still ride, not as well as before, but I still can ride. That's what I can try to tell myself when my frustration rises and my patience disappears.