Oops!

I seem to have dropped my mileage somewhat over the last month. This is partly due to the weather but also because my weekend rides have been mountain biking which tend to be shorter in distance if not time. I have been commuting to work though which is 13 miles each way, quite easy to build up some base mileage.

However last week added another reason. I was riding home from work along the canal when an unlatched gate swung in to my path. I was only a bike length or so away from the gate and had no chance to stop and hit it end on. The bike impaled itself on the gate whilst I took an early bath. I remember thinking either just before or as I was entering the water "It's not very deep!". The bottom of the canal had a few rocks so I got a few bruises but since I hadn't made contact with the tow path surface I'd no gravel rash.

When I got out of the canal my bike was still entangled in the gate. The handlebars were crumpled on the left side and the rear brake lever was at a funny angle. A quick test and the rear wheel didn't move so I loosened the back brake off and tried again, still no movement. More loosening and still the bike wouldn't roll, looking round somehow I'd missed the rather buckled front wheel! There was no way it was rideable.

It was only when ringing Cath that I noticed blood dripping (I wonder if iPhones have a blood sensor as well as a moisture sensor?), I'd managed to bash my chin on the rocks in the canal. It's the nature of things like this that a lot of the niggles take time to appear, especially when you are older, and some of the sprains are still making themselves felt several days later.

The initial pain points are getting better (chin excepted) and the bike is at the doctor's - fortunately I've a spare front wheel for this bike but I'll need to rebuild the one that took the impact, hopefully the frame hasn't been damaged and it's just the handlebars that need replacing.

Was speed a factor? In this instance, no, I checked my GPS trace on Strava (useful for something other than willy waving for once) and at the point of impact I was doing 20Kmh (12mph) which is hardly speeding. I'd just slowed down to pass a pedestrian, who incidentally completely ignored me, not even asking if I was OK.

Hopefully my bike will be back in the next day or two and I'll get back commuting. Got a Munro compleation weekend coming up - not me I hasten to add, I've got 230 to go.

To the Left ...

It occurred to me last night that all my major injuries have been to the left side of my body. I'm not talking just about the last week but throughout my life.

My first major injury, i.e. one which required hospital treatment was when I broke my left thumb skiing down the Mer de Glace above Chamonix in 1987. Not being a very good skier plus skiing in mountaineering boots and carrying a sack full of climbing gear meant that the accident was inevitable. It must have been something to see me nearly make the backward somersault when I hit the pressure ridge in the ice! My left thumb took the full force of that one - and again when I repeated the feat ten minutes later.

It was 1993 following an altercation with a Peugeot 405 estate outside our house that I next made the acquaintance of A&E facilities. A short flying lesson followed by a slightly longer journey in a very nice ambulance lead to three days in hospital and thirteen weeks in a full length plaster on my left leg. The main break was a fracture to the fibula but there was also some knee damage: a fractured tibial plateau and it was this that led to the extended time in plaster. At the time I didn't realise just how bad the injury to my knee was and it was only last year when the arthritis started that I found out.

Now this.

Currently the right-hand side of my body is very worried!

The Only Way is Up

Well, after thirty years of climbing, it had to happen. On Sunday, 6th Sept I was soloing some easy routes at the far left end of Stanage when a hold broke and I fell 6 metres , landed awkwardly, dislocated my left elbow and broke my left wrist.

We were at the the far left end of Stanage soloing some easy routes at the start of the day to get warmed up. I had backed off the top move of a route because I wasn't happy with the sloping holds and moved into the top of the neighbouring route and was pulling on a boulder in a crack and moving my feet up when the rock broke in two, a piece about the size of a laptop bag came away. I flew outwards about ten feet and landed on the edge of a small step formed by small boulders. My feet slid from under me and my body twisted to the left and my elbow and wrist hit the rocks, then my back landed on them.

Once the initial panic died down, my climbing partner, Mike, checked my arm for breakages but couldn't find anything. Since I was able to walk, I headed slowly back to the car, about two Km away. The low point was having to ask a group of off-roaders to help me over a stile! They weren't interested in offering further help though. Once Mike had caught up with me (he'd had to tidy up and carry both sacks) he drove me into the A&E at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield.

Sat for what seemed like ages in the admissions room watching people with minor cuts and the like being turned away - what some folk think of as an emergency beggars belief. When it was my turn with the triage nurse, within two minutes I was trussed up on a stretcher and being whisked into the treatment area.

Once admitted, I had lots of x-rays, the worst bit was when the x-ray recording plate fell onto my arm, even though I was on morphine, the screams were loud enough and horrible enough that those outside were turning pale. I ended up having two attempts at resetting the elbow before being taken into surgery and having the elbow set and the wrist pinned on Sunday night. I was due to have another op yesterday but it was cancelled - the first I knew about this was when they said they were discharging me - because I'd been due in theatre I hadn't eaten or drunk anything since coming out of the first op - a total of two pieces of toast in thirty hours.

The arm is better today but wiggling my fingers still hurts, it'll just take time I suppose.