Feeling the fear
- Thread starter jefmcg
- Start date
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Mo1959
Legendary Member
Oh no.....just caught up with this. Hope it's a straightforward break and mends well. I used to think breaking a collar bone was one of the better bones to break if there can be such a thing, but as I found out, it is not.
Haven't been out on the bike for nearly 3 weeks myself as I'm terrified of coming off again so haven't risked any chance of icy conditions. Hope you mend well and regain your confidence. Afraid it does take time.
Mo1959
Legendary Member
Mine was so bad I ended up just propping myself up on a comfy chair with the duvet over me. Lying down was just too sore initially. Tuck a pillow/cushion under the bad arm to rest it on too.
si_c
Guru
More or less what I did when I shattered my clavicle. In the end I invested in a proper V shape pillow, which helped a huge amount, as lying on my left side I couldn't easily roll onto the right shoulder. I also found taking painkillers before going to bed helped.
As TMN said the first week was pretty awful but I got used to it. Hope you're feeling better soon!
John the Monkey
Frivolous Cyclist
Likewise, although I've been hit (car and a bus, in separate incidents), had a fair few serious near misses. I don't know how you ride so people don't try to enter roundabouts through your backwheel, or decide that they can beat you around illegally parked DHL vans when they have neither the room or the speed. Or how you stop people deciding to "punishment pass" you just because they're having a bad day.
I think it helps that I tend to take a break from the long commute in winter - around the time I'm getting sick of it all, I get a rest, and by the time the weather's better, I'm sick of being stuck on the train and ready to get back to my bike.
I really don't like cycling in Britain very much; there's an undercurrent that mixes indifference to our safety, and active hostility that I find difficult to deal with at times. I like cycling more than I dislike all that, so I carry on.
mythste
Guru
Amen.
GWS, try to remember those wonderful summer runs! You don't have to ride your bike all year round, and certainly not if you're uncomfortable!
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
We can't really stop them, but I can be a stroppy so-and-so sometimes and if I think someone is about to put me in danger, I tell them so and basically start trying to direct the traffic near me in a minor way (oi! You! Stop! that sort of thing). Usually it works. White-on-dark-blue or black-and-white coats/hats and social compliance is a wonderful thing!
I agree that many road users have a bad attitude - I suspect it's as common amongst cyclists but they're less dangerous to me than most motorists.Ice is more worrying though. I think my last fall off the bike was on ice last year. It made a change for it not to be my fault, although I don't crash much and fall off even less. I fixed enough of the bent bits (with some help) and continued the ride, returning home after another 60 miles or so, although I was wary of any more icy bits. Just keep reminding yourself, cycling is safe and you can reduce most of the risks by taking care.
I do have a rather atypical commute now though, where I can remain off-carriageway if I like (thank you Norfolk!), although I do usually use the left lane of some multi-lane sections because they're much faster. So at least I get to choose whether to deal with possibly some drivers on the carriageway or some bad surfaces and junctions on the cycleway, depending on my mood.
Sadly, off-carriageway cycleways here are ungritted (damn you Norfolk!
and this is part of why the surfaces are bad, as the repeated freeze/melt breaks them up) but I've just been out on the ancient MTB with new spiked tyres and those tyres are a revelation. I wasn't even sure it was icy until I turned to put the sun in front of me and saw it shining off the solid puddle surfaces! 
Any time the bike started to slide, the spikes on the edge bit and the bike corrected, which does make the steering feel very strange (at first I thought it was just an MTB/tourer difference, but once I saw the ice, I realised what was going on). I heartily recommend them to anyone who can stomach the £30 cost and 20% slow-down... and think how much faster the road bikes will seem when conditions are better!
John the Monkey
Frivolous Cyclist
My last properly nasty encounter was with a bus driver who wanted to beat me through a pinch point.
As a cyclist in Britain, your Hobson's choice is take primary (and prevent the dangerous overtake, possibly provoking worse behaviour afterwards) or ride near the kerb and get squeezed.
I chose the former, and got a tailgating through the obstacle (accompanied by continuous horn sounding) then a close pass at speed that became increasingly close.
I regularly encounter a guy in a shitty old Green land rover who habitually close passes me, despite my frequently expressed dislike for that. I've seen numerous ped crossing phases of a local toucan crossing blocked by drivers going nose to tail in slow traffic, even when a disabled man in an electric wheelchair was clearly visible waiting to cross (that lasted five phases). I could go on.
You can do all this stuff, the taking the lane, the waving at people who let you out, and blah blah blah, but ultimately, enough British drivers are convinced of their absolute right to the road that it doesn't make a lot of difference. And it doesn't even have to be malicious - I doubt the woman who damned near clipped me because the two litre bottle of water she was drinking from made it difficult for her to steer gave a second thought to the close pass she gave me.
That's the part of the equation I struggle with. My like of cycling exceeds my dislike of all this stuff (just) but I have days I get back and wonder what on earth I'm doing, and why.
Came off the bike in december 2013 not through ice but spilled fuel seeping up to the surface of the roads due to the cold and damp conditions,even though i was really going slow at the time it still resulted in taking the skin off my thigh and wrecking the rear derailleur.
I recently bought a giant defy 2 composite and i'm itching to get a first ride on it but my head is ruling my heart in saying wait for better conditions.
I recently bought a giant defy 2 composite and i'm itching to get a first ride on it but my head is ruling my heart in saying wait for better conditions.
OP
OP
jefmcg
Guru
So I've mixed feelings about the NHS today. Apparently a consultant looked at my x-ray, and wants to treat it conservatively. But I didn't speak with him; I got call from a nurse who clearly did not know what the x-ray looked like. I'd seen it and it looked like a huge displacement to me. I asked you about this, and she said there is a separation in a bone at the shoulder. I assumed, therefore, that what I had thought was displacement was the normal bone structure and there was a hairline fracture in the clavicle. She clearly had no knowledge of anything except that I wasn't going to see a doctor for 4 weeks. She was the gatekeeper and could not give me any more information.
To cut a long story short, I got a copy of the x-ray and to my GP. There's a centimetre displacement. GP called registrar. Registrar thinks it should heal without any treatment. Seeing GP on Monday, and decide where to go from there
To cut a long story short, I got a copy of the x-ray and to my GP. There's a centimetre displacement. GP called registrar. Registrar thinks it should heal without any treatment. Seeing GP on Monday, and decide where to go from there
OP
OP
jefmcg
Guru
Fascinating. My brother broke his collarbone in 1970 or 71. I remember we saw doctor he wasn't a regular GP and didn't know us very well. He wrapped my brother in a figure 8 bandage. My brother had eczema, so his skin was sensitive. Our regular GP saw the bandage and removes immediately, taking a layer of my brother skin with it. So I know what you mean. Surprised they were still doing it 40 years later
You are right, the GP doesn't know any better than I do; but At least he knows what a collarbone looks like. I just googled clavicle X-rays and realised most of them are worse than mine.
You are right, the GP doesn't know any better than I do; but At least he knows what a collarbone looks like. I just googled clavicle X-rays and realised most of them are worse than mine.
deptfordmarmoset
Full time tea drinker
Sorry you're having a bad winter of it. I've had bad winters that I've had to expel from my memory and it sounds like you're having one of them. Hope you heal quickly.
OP
OP
jefmcg
Guru
thanks for advice everyone. I'm snuggled in bed with my laptop, and a body pillow and lots of other pillows. I'd like to point out that the body pillow does not have a picture of an anime character on it.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwrf8loXceA
night
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwrf8loXceA
night
OP
OP
jefmcg
Guru
Just thought I'd update. Irrational fear has been replaced by irrational fearlessness. My broken clavicle has not healed, but I've been told I can still ride, so I have been. Done a couple of 200km rides and one 300km ride, without worrying at all. Maybe I'm just bipolar?
The folder has been banished to the shed until it sees fit to apologise.
The folder has been banished to the shed until it sees fit to apologise.
raleighnut
Legendary Member
I've been riding with a non-union fractured clavicle for about 8 years now (too close to the end to plate and if I fell on it with it plated there I would be in schtuck) The only thing it affects is lifting weight over my head (and it aches like a begger in the cold but the pain-meds for my broken femur knock that on the head
)
