Your ride today....

[Donger]

After another couple of 27/28 milers around my usual lanes that were nice enough but not different enough to be worth reporting, I met up with @Dark46 and our mutual friend Claire today at her house in Minchinhampton for a great ride in the Cotswolds. We headed out past Kemble and the wonderfully named "Upper Up"to the Cotswold Water Park, getting a little lost on the way back before skirting Kemble Airfield, with its collection of Jumbo Jets destined for destruction and recycling.

Near South Cerney, at the main entrance to the Cotswold Water Park, we had a cafe stop, ordering coffees in disposable cups, consumed while social distancing in the open air. @Dark46 got the drinks (Cheers, buddy) and then attempted this selfie:

Sadly that is the best picture I have to offer! Another great ride in the best of company, and another 43+ miles towards my total. I have worked it out that I am so far ahead of my original 250 miles per month target (3,000 miles in the year) that if I continue with just 250 miles per month from now on I'll hit the magic 10 miles per day for the year (3,660 miles). Sounds like a target that I really have to go for. That's 72 miles done so far in July. I'm also looking forward to our first club ride for 4 months on Sunday. We will be riding in groups of no more than 6 riders, and socially distancing, so it won't be the same .... but I have missed those rides so much.
Donger.

 

[footloose crow]

That' was very unlucky. I have had a couple of close shaves when something suddenly appeared around a bend on a single track road. I hope you have the pain under control and you don't need an operation on the break.

Consultant says double break close to shoulder. Might heal itself. Come back in three weeks and he will decide if I need some titanium. It hurts a lot!

 

[Shropshire65LW]

4 July An abrupt ending

The physical shock, the sheer visceral experience of hitting granite at 20mph is hard to describe. The pain comes in a few seconds. At first it is just a feeling of shock. What happened?. Being unable to breathe for a few seconds. The world goes quiet and then with the tidal wave of pain come voices. Faces appear. I stand up and then quickly sit down. I know something is wrong. I can feel the bone ends grating.

It started badly. After I had pushed the bike up the half mile 20 per cent hill at the bottom of which I reside in splendid isolation (the delivery drivers describe it more prosaically) and then gone another two miles back down another long hill, I wondered why my eyes were watering. I reached up to check my glasses. No glasses. Worse, patting my head reveals no helmet either. I have a legendary capacity for day dreaming and not noticing stuff. Hmmm...go back up the hill, down to the house and then repeat the walk uphill again? Or take a chance? It is short route on quiet roads - just 15 miles. I press on.

The back lanes are indeed very quiet despite police warnings about holiday traffic. After ten miles I have seen three cars. The roads are wet after days of rain with a thin layer of mud where tractors have come off the fields. The bike gets dirtier.

View attachment 534302

I stop for a photo and text Madame Crow to assure her all is well. I wonder how I will sneak home without her discovering the lack of helmet. Despite the wind and rain showers the ride is good. I am not rushing. Enjoying the scenery. The hills are getting easier after three months of cycling 600 miles and 50000 feet a month. We are off to France for cycling and campervanning in few days. No return ferry booked. See how it goes. I am looking forward to warm, empty, smooth roads.

Up the penultimate hill and down the other side, thinking about France, thinking about whether to try for a Strava PB on the way home. A bend ahead. Not even conscious of pedalling. A white van fills the road suddenly and I need to squeeze down the side. Everything happens quickly now. One second I am on a bike. The next I am lying on the ground about three metres in front of the bike. I try to process my memories. I braked. The wheels locked. I couldn't slow. I hit the gravel at the side of the road and then into the hedge as the road bent and I went straight. All so fast. Brutal.

The van has stopped. I tell the driver that my collar bone is broken. I am holding my right arm tight to chest. My ribs hurt. Breathing hurts. The pain is intense. The van driver puts me in his front seat and the bike goes in the back. I feel every bump in the road,

We arrive at my house and I can't move. Madame is white faced. I don't know what the van driver told her. I am soaking wet. Madame cuts my new Jersey off me and then it is the urgent care centre in Truro. Three hours, two X rays; I move up the hierarchy of doctors until I need a consultant. The bones don't meet. Sent home with painkillers and an appointment om Monday. On RidewithGPS I can see I was doing 22mph and then zero. Thats why it hurt then.

Madame Crow is fussing about where my helmet is and do I need new one? I confess. Hell hath no fury like a woman whose explicit instructions are ignored.

This morning I texted my cycling friend with the story, the possible need for surgery and that I had inspected the bike and it seemed OK.

'Glad the bike OK' he replied.

Speedy recovery , helmet 🤔 mmm yes I keep thinking about one of those .

 

[itboffin]

Sorry to hear your story and speedy recovery but no helmet and you lived, how can that be possible 😋

 

[ianbarton]

Consultant says double break close to shoulder. Might heal itself. Come back in three weeks and he will decide if I need some titanium. It hurts a lot!

I broke mine years ago. It was a simple break. Painful for a couple of weeks, but bearable. Just make sure that the alcohol level in your bloodstream doesn't fall too low. Also, remember don't roll over when you are in bed!

 

[Dark46]

haha good mention @Donger ! It is a perfect picture as I hate having my picture taken and that photo today is taken how I wanted it.
Such a great ride with great friends even though my legs are still hurting!
I was expecting a 30 mile ride but Claire obviously never went to guides and did a map reading badge and we got lost! The fact we were 7 miles outside Royal Wotton Bassett meant we were definitely heading in the wrong direction!!!
With the end result being 43.3 miles I don't mind the pain I have now as its worth it for my longest ride this year.
I did take another photo of @Donger while Claire was congratulating her daughter on getting a first in her Hons degree! So big congratulations to her.

 

[Mike_P]

Consultant says double break close to shoulder. Might heal itself. Come back in three weeks and he will decide if I need some titanium. It hurts a lot!

Have you got a proper sling rather than a fabric one that the hospital pinned together in probability. Helped me no end when I broke mine, and how helpful shop assistants and cafe staff were is more what I remember than coping with the break.

 

[Archie_tect]

...Across the waterway again at Fishpond Lock and almost all the way to Lemonroyd Marina. Turn away from water here and head towards Oulton on Fleet Lane...

You passed within 200 yards of the room in the house where I was born OJ .

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

No rides for me for just over a week, so seeing a weather window this morning I was desperate to get out.

Although the forecasts I looked at said it should be dry until the afternoon I still put the waterproofs in and used the knockabout bike. The planned route was one of my longer regular ones: Condover, Longnor, Acton Burnell, Cressage, Walcot, Upton Magna and back via Atcham and Condover again.

The ground was wet from earlier rain and although very overcast it was quite warm and humid which was actually not bad to be out in. I thought I'd head over Lyth Hill at the start to avoid the main road (I was setting off just at the peak of rush hour). Halfway up the hill I came across signs warning that the road was closed which I hadn't expected but carried on in the hope that I'd be allowed to push the bike through the works....... but it turned out there weren't any (and none shown as being scheduled for today when I looked online later )

Getting through Condover to Longnor and Acton Burnell was all pretty straightforward apart from avoiding the Severn Trent vehicles gathered round the Ryton turning (that work is not shown on the list either ). After passing through Cound Moor and nearing Cressage I noticed there seemed to be rain ahead. It looked like a shower so I carried on hoping that it would blow through.

The light drizzle started around Cressage Bridge and by Eaton Constantine I needed to stop and put waterproofs on. At Uppington the drizzle had got heavier and definitely wasn't just a shower. I had a rethink and with it looking set in I reluctantly decided to head back the shortest way possible, along the "old A5" to Atcham, then the lanes to Condover. Although it's quiet compared to when it was a trunk route I'm still not a fan of riding this road unless I have to, but it was okay, with only one driver that could have been a bit more courteous.

The shorter way along Chilton Farm Lane seemed a good idea, not just for the distance but because it avoids the junction in Cross Houses where I know there has been a recent diesel spillage. A driver who crunched their gears then spun their wheels when overtaking on the lane to Condover just made me laugh rather than causing annoyance - chill, you're on the wrong road to be in a rush mate.

By now the rain was what I'd class as Lake District drizzle - doesn't look like much but before you know it the roads are flooding, you are wet to the skin and your shoes are starting to slosh..... which mine were. I can confirm that the "waterproof" label on them is correct - when water gets in it can't get out.

As happens more often than chance should allow, it stopped raining just after I got home.

I'm glad to have got out but can't in honesty say that I enjoyed the second half of the ride.

30.8 miles at 13.4 mph average.

Not long after Acton Burnell; a view of the Wrekin and the threatening low cloud brushing its summit.

A couple of miles later, nearing Cressage; where did the Wrekin go?

Near Uppington. Getting thoroughly rained on.

 

[Old jon]

You passed within 200 yards of the room in the house where I was born OJ .

Ah, must look out for the blue plaque . . .

 

[theloafer]

first ride since 24 June so give my head a good shake and forced myself out the door even though the sky looked like rain (coat in bag just incase) ... just did my fav loop of mostly traffic free lanes , but it seems lots more cars out now all though everyone give lots of space when passing even the trade vans. rounded it up the mileage to 40 with a few errands when i got back (OCD) kicked in again
https://www.strava.com/activities/3732095726

Eppleby tea rooms

The Tees

Whorlton suspension bridge

 

[theloafer]

wondering why i cant get pics to load

 

[itboffin]

Consultant says double break close to shoulder. Might heal itself. Come back in three weeks and he will decide if I need some titanium. It hurts a lot!

Ah man sorry to hear that, no chance of going private or asking your GP to look for an alternative consultant, patient choice is great. I had my shoulder fixed by a private consultant under the NHS, waiting three weeks doesnt sound right what's meant to happen in that time apart from more pain for you?

 

[Mike_P]

wondering why i cant get pics to load

File type? Make sure they are not PNG - jpg work

More paperwork to collect from the office today and a game of Russian Roulette on the ebike in avoiding the TTLs, cycleway or car park as the latter was in use as a CV19 testing place😷. Opted for the cycle track outbound and the car park on the return, as that was further from the testers and those being tested than it would have been outbound. Tried and failed to improve times on two climbs then after stopping at the Co-Op for some milk managed a new PR on another climb without actually trying, proving milk works wonders even if still in the bottle

 

[footloose crow]

Ah man sorry to hear that, no chance of going private or asking your GP to look for an alternative consultant, patient choice is great. I had my shoulder fixed by a private consultant under the NHS, waiting three weeks doesnt sound right what's meant to happen in that time apart from more pain for you?

Appreciate the sympathy. My wife feels differently! I am in so much trouble.

Going to France tomorrow for three weeks. Was going cycling! We have a camper van and also a static caravan in the Lot region and sunshine is good for bones. Consultant is divided on whether surgery necessary - would prefer to avoid it. 90% chance of healing without surgery. 99% chance healing with surgery BUT hospital acquired Covid 19 infection is higher than community rate, risk of nerve damage where the break is when drilling screws, general risk round all with operations and I am 60 (which apparently is an issue). Titanium plates get removed in 20-30 % of cases because of skin irritation. Consultant is a keen cyclist - he gets it. If it was him, he said he would wait and hope for mending. But there is a 2.5cm gap between bone ends......

As for alternative consultant - not in Cornwall! We are short of consultants in every speciality. Small hospital, lots of summer visitors who are not funded. Shortage of cash. Cornwall in winter is wet and windy and there are few attractions beyond surfing. Summer is lovely though . We get younger doctors here (especially surfers) but they move up country for promotion.