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Re: hard dose of reality - need encouragement/stories [johnj121591] [ In reply to ]
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Last summer I started doing some road racing and was getting the fitness to make the race a race. I was pretty stoked to get a solid winter of training in then start working my way through the categories. Well, last August a pick up decided to put those plans on hold. I had a broken wrist, frozen shoulder, and knee surgery replacing my ACL, LCL and popliteus, my surgeon said they were not expecting how much of a mess my knee was when they opened, and considers my surgery the most traumatic they do, much above knee and hip replacements. I was non weight bearing for 11 weeks, then started the process of getting my fitness back. FTP is dismal to what it was 8 months ago, but as I see it tick up all i can think is, "I could hang in a pack at this power."

MTB racing is fun, but road racing is exhilarating. I've been through a lot of those emotions, having times where I wanted every F%^#ing bike out of my house, to the drive and desire to just bury myself to come back to form. My physical therapist has been amazing and kept me mentally strong. Now I just need to get my peak power back and I will be looking at doing some more racing. My wife thinks I have issues, and no self restraint.

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Re: hard dose of reality - need encouragement/stories [johnj121591] [ In reply to ]
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johnj121591 wrote:
hi folks,

trained my face off all winter on the trainer and was seeing some stellar results with big ambitions for the spring. first road race of the season (march 26) two dudes cross wheels in front of me going 24mph and over the handlebars i go... demolished my clavicle and with it all the races i wanted to do this spring. surgery on april 1, returned to riding the trainer a few days later and have been riding it more for the mental aspect than anything else. but now that the "acute" phase has subsided and the reality (i.e. medical bills and the realization that i cant ride outside in this gorgeous weather) has set in, i am going through somewhat of an existential crisis with regards to the sport. the amount of pain (mental AND physical) and hassle that came with the injury has really stripped the shine right-on-off something i thought was so much fun (racing) and now i'm wondering if it is worth it. like, is a "hobby" worth having your life potentially turned upside-down from a crash? fwiw, i ran d1 track in college and had MORE than my fair share of injuries. but none of them cost me this discomfort, inconvenience, money, and time... and all i injured was a collarbone! i simply cannot fathom the damage from something like a head/neck/back injury.

has anyone experienced this sort of thing before? thoughts?

Last September, two weeks before an MTB stage race I've been training my ass off for, and I'm faster than ever. My fitness is sky-high, my confidence is there and I'm flying through the trails like I mean it.

I met my team Saturday morning for an easy, 4Hr aerobic effort, nothing remotely taxing or risky. I was just done with a stint at the front and rotated to 2nd row on a road I've done hundreds of times, but I'm usually on the right side of the pack (two abreast). The guy leading takes us down a mild, straight descent... And suddenly I'm on the ground. He didn't mark a small crack on the road that, by chance, caught my wheel at the wrong angle. I had no time to react, no chance of saving it. Down I go - with three heavy dudes piled on top of me.

The damage? A broken bone in my thumb joint, of all places. Two weeks wait for surgery, then two months in a cast with an open fix (IE, the metal is going through my skin, can't do any sweating for fear of infecting it), then a few weeks of rehab until I can even safely grab a handlebar. A fucking thumb! To top it off, the week I finally went on an outdoors ride, my house is broken in to and my MTB gets stolen.

On the other hand, three months after removing the cast, I managed to smash my PB at a local HIM. The motivation this injury instilled on me is still there: I'm far less bothered by weather, tiredness, boredom - I'm here to get shit done. Since returning from this injury, a 20km Z1 run, two hours on the trainer or a 4k at the pool don't seem as boring as they used to.

ZONE3 - We Last Longer
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