Manchester - Llandudno 25 April 2015 featuring the Inaugural Hill Climb Sausage Challenge

[Cubist]

Condolences Cubist, that all sounds pretty awful. It can get better though.

I'm learning the cost of being injured in my 50s.

 

[I like Skol]

Prompted by @Crackle , and wary of @vernon 's love of wallowing health threads, here's a bit of an update.

My collar bone is not knitting as fast as it should. I have now seen three consultants, and the guy leading the treatment on my hip has taken over n the clavicle. He ordered a CT scan which I had last week. I see him again in December.

The osteoarthritis in my hip was never going to improve, but I'm now having regular physio, and they have manipulated the joint so that I can at least walk in a straight line. The consultant above has agreed it needs replacement, but was concerned about the soft tissue damage which he described as catastrophic. To that end he ordered anMRI scan of my entire pelvis, as I was experiencing a range of symptoms, including a permanent feeling of having been kicked in the knackers. The MRI scan revealed a peritronchial Morel Lavallee lesion, which is a capsule of fluid built up between the muscle degloved in the fall, and the IT band around the hip joint. That needs to resolve before he will operate on the hip, and to add complications he will also insist that the clavicle is resolved. Apparently it's a straight race between new bone growth and metal fatigue from the plate.

The feeling of being kicked is diagnosed as osteitis pubis, trauma and inflammation of the pubic symphysis. It adds to the woes, and again needs treating with physio.

My life seems to revolve around painkillers, with up to four doses of codeine, paracetamol and ibuprofen a day depending on how busy I try to be. I was off work altogether until the end of July, and after a family holiday in August I was set up with sufficient IT to work from home. I can do admin and project work to support someone who is acting up into my role. He needs the help, and I needed to avoid further sick leave.

I have built or rebuilt four bikes since the accident, but have ridden only two of them outside. I can do a bit of gentle turbo work, and have had a couple of off road rides, but the pain in my clavicle suggested that I needed to keep the wheels on the ground.

I have built up enough stamina to walk the dog for an hour or two, but if I go on uneven ground intend to pay for it afterwards.

I can just about withstand a full day out shooting, but again, spend all the next day in serious pain. What the hell, I can't just stay in the house,it's driving me mad.

Well, I hope you have learned your lesson and don't do it again.

If you are itching for a gentle MTB bimble around your local area let me know and I will round up @potsy to come along too so you have at least 1 responsible adult to call an ambulance if needed

Keep pushing the medics, fifty is no age and I reckon with an intensive bit of bionicism and some recovery time you will be out on more rides, lagging at the back just like before the accident

 

[Crackle]

Jeez, that sounds pretty testing. It's an impressive array of medical terms too. Though I do understand the metal fatigue bit. here's hoping things speed up. Still 7 months to get fit for the next Llandudno ride!

 

[potsy]

If you are itching for a gentle MTB bimble around your local area let me know and I will round up @potsy to come along too so you have at least 1 responsible adult to call an ambulance if needed

I think I'm busy that day

 

[fossyant]

All the best and I hope you get sorted. Pain meds constantly aren't funny.

 

[Cubist]

Jeez, I'm so sorry to hear all this @Cubist! Now I wish I'd been more assertive in not letting you get up and walk off up the hill to the rendezvous with the ambulance, although perhaps it might not have made that much difference overall, who knows. Plus I'm not all that sure how I could have stopped you, since you were stubbornly sure that you were fine. Hope things start to resolve soon - I'm not clear why there's a problem with keeping the clavicle plate? I still have mine after more than four years, and my consultant didn't seem that bothered about it staying in situ. (I opted to keep it because I had a large bone graft and I wasn't confident the clavicle would be strong enough on its own - the consultant just said ok that's fine, leave it in place.)

Good grief, don't blame yourself.... It wouldn't have made any difference, and we'd all have missed @I like Skol and @nickyboy teasing me with beer.

As for the plate, well one consultant was really grumpy, and appeared to be letting me feel stupid for agreeing to have it plated in the first place. It would appear the treatment of clavicles has the osteopathic world divided!

Oh, and will everybody please stop feeling sorry for me? Although I may end up facing early retirement if there's no great improvement in the next 22 months, that's no great pity in the grand scheme of things...

 

[nickyboy]

You've got a few months until I run the ride again @Cubist

Might detour around the offending downhill mind you. But lightning couldn't strike twice could it? Come to think of it, it wasn't a lighting strike that knocked you off was it?

Without feeling sorry for you in any way whatsoever, I wish you a full and speedy recovery

 

[theclaud]

Oh, and will everybody please stop feeling sorry for me.

Absolutely not - I've only just come across the update, and insist on sending you a virtual cwtch from Wales.



[Meanwhile, TC enjoys a real Cwtch from Wales. This sympathy thing isn't all bad.]

 

[Cubist]

Absolutely not - I've only just come across the update, and insist on sending you a virtual cwtch from Wales.



[Meanwhile, TC enjoys a real Cwtch from Wales. This sympathy thing isn't all bad.]

View attachment 105484

There's lovely! Last time I drank a welsh ruby it was Evans Cwrw, during a night near Brecon. The pub was opposite a rugby club, and both teams came in for a few post-match pints.... it was a pretty raucous night, and I rode the Gorlech Trail the next day with a clattering hangover.

 

[rich p]

Blimey, what a stoic.
I've always assumed that cycling was an accident waiting to happen, but you seem to have mopped up more than one person's bad luck.
Onward and upward from now on.

 

[DiddlyDodds]

@nickyboy is this a ride you are thinking of repeating in 2016, ive just been reading the last 20 pages or so, and it only seems like 10 minutes since April, it was a cracking ride and well worth another outing.

 

[nickyboy]

@nickyboy is this a ride you are thinking of repeating in 2016, ive just been reading the last 20 pages or so, and it only seems like 10 minutes since April, it was a cracking ride and well worth another outing.

Yes, planning on running it again next Spring sometime. Surely the weather can't be as bad again can it?

I've got a plan for the rather boring A548. There will be a route choice. Boring but flat A548 or interesting but hilly NCN-ish route inland which will meet the coastal path just after Rhyl. Mileage is the same but inland adds 1000ft of climbing so folk can choose which they prefer

 

[fossyant]

I'll try and make it. I'll also do the inland route. There are some lovely roads, but get it wrong and you'll hit something nasty. Ohh can we come down the 1 in 3 at Prestatyn !!

 

[nickyboy]

I'll try and make it. I'll also do the inland route. There are some lovely roads, but get it wrong and you'll hit something nasty. Ohh can we come down the 1 in 3 at Prestatyn !!

Won't be coming down at Prestatyn as a certain person who shall not be named has expressed an aversion to cycling through Rhyl again. A certain Welsh person who can't be named that is

 

[fossyant]

Won't be coming down at Prestatyn as a certain person who shall not be named has expressed an aversion to cycling through Rhyl again. A certain Welsh person who can't be named that is

Pah it's only 1 in 3 and tricky to just stand up on. Our caravan is in Gronant for emergency stops !!!! PS the front is finished now in Rhyl !!