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Rotator Cuff Recovery |
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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Bill Turner
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Friday, 18 May 2007 |
Studded Tires & Rotator Cuff Recovery Part A
By Old Guy #2 Bill Turner
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Last August at the NORBA Snowmass race I finally purchased my first pair of studded snow tires. This winter in Maine was great for my riding. I figured out how to stay warm down to around 20 degrees or so. I learned that a water crossing in January is a no-no, unless you get off and carry the bike, duh, or no rim brakes. Riding on into the winter also kept my weight down to a respectable riding weight as I really don’t enjoy indoor riding on the Cateye CS-1000 trainer unless it is raining hard.
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By mid February, when the days got longer, I was managing to leave work early enough three days a week that I could get a great 1hr ride in and still eat dinner with my wife at 6 and not need a headlamp to make it home. I had made the Bikeman.com team and hoping that this might be the year this old guy could move up to a Sport category. On February 28th, I left work 1.5 hrs early and had an awesome ride up the old dirt middle road in Harrison to the top of Chapman Hill Road where they clear-cut a year ago. You could see Mt. Washington and Pleasant Mountain and I just caught the sun setting in a ball of orange glow behind Mt. Chocorua. Knowing I could watch the sun set and just make it back before dark, I quickly bolted down the road looking forward to conversation of the ride with Kate & Kirk and a dinner with the four of us together that my wife Lily was preparing for us. The dirt road was now pretty much frozen solid so I road fast headed home with no ice accumulating on the brakes. The blacktop stretch down the Willey Road hill was cold, but I new the numbness in my hands would soon be gone. I sprinted up the Lewis road and headed down the dirt road to our home, arriving just before it was totally dark with five minutes to spare before being late for dinner. I skipped washing off the bike as the mud had not been bad and hung the hardtail up in the garage. What a great way to finish a day and I had not even got around to putting on the studded tires yet. While crossing the 20-foot space between the garage and the house my feet went out from under me on the melt water for the day that had covered the sand I put on the ice the day before. I was rather surprised to find my right arm not movable after the attempted landing on my hands; I later learned I had separated my right AC. After an ambulance ride to Portland, three welcomed morphine shots, and a 6-hour wait, the emergency room staff at Maine Med got my shoulder back together and sent me home on ice and painkillers. Yes, I did manage to convince them not to cut off my 2 jerseys and base layers and I got Kirk to yank off the tights, knickers, booties and shoes and help me to pull on sweat pants before the ambulance arrived.
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Now here’s some of the best part of this whole thing. On 3-5-07 I was functional enough to think about riding again someday and I sent my first email out the Bikeman Team list hoping to find some experienced folks who knew the course. Well you folks are great, I got lots of good advice and ended up at Orthopedic Associates, yes thank you Mary Longhofer! for the solid comments and support during surgery. On 4-12-07 Dr. Murray arthroscopically reattached my rotator cuff to the bone, moved and reattached a tendon, and sent me home on ice. The trainer now has new meaning. It has become my remaining direct attachment to a saddle and a longing to ride a bicycle again. Something I maybe took for granted. I have been managing 10 to 15 mile stints with one arm in a sling three times a week since the accident. Not great but better than no training. I am anticipating longer sessions once I am released to begin PT. Looking forward to seeing you all at races in a support role till August. Best news I got today is that one of my co-workers has a tandem and an offered an open invitation to some road riding. I will wait a few more weeks. The studded tires will have to wait till next winter.
Bill
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