ivanooze
08-12-2017, 01:14 AM
-on a fateful afternoon of august the 1st 2017 i participated in a weekly mountain bike race at irvine lake called over the hump. it was my first mtb. race so i was pretty excited/nervous.
-i knew that the race will have a cyclocross feel to it in that you have to explode from the gun to get a good position going into the climb or into any single track parts of the course. this is the type of racing i love, being at threshold from the beginning and holding it for the entirety of the race. Full on grinding through the course with no real strategy, no covering moves for teammates, no slowing down, etc.
-race starts and i get left behind from the beginning. I've never had a good start to a cyclocross race which carried on into this race as well, but i wasnt worried because before the technical stuff came, i had a huge amount of dirt and rocky pavement to move around in and pass all my competitors which i did.
-coming up on the one major climb of the race i knew i had to do some amount of pacing here otherwise i would blow up and get caught (the 1 piece of strategy that i followed). Regardless of how i went up the hill, there were still 2 other guys that passed me, and my hat goes off to them. at the top of the hill there lay waiting the descent, a tricky (in my mind) single track descent through some slightly muddy, yet solid, bee infested trail that takes you down for about 2 miles or so.
-i had the chance to pre-ride the course so i knew what to expect, but... seeing as how there were 2 guys ahead of me, i knew i had to make up some amount of time. and this is where my ego got the best of me...
-as soon as i approach the descent, i ramp up the speed and make it all of 30 feet down the single track before going shoulder first into the dirt beneath my wheels. yep... i endoed pretty hard and flipped over the bars. as soon as i made contact with the dirt i heard a snapping noise. i get up right away and feel my collar bone. this is the part of the story where my kinesiology degree came into play and i didn't feel like a complete idiot.
-i felt a lump on the lateral side of my clavicle and did a self-diagnosis of my injury. My self-diagnosis was correct in it being an AC joint separation.
- luckily, there was a medical cart at the top of the hill just 30 ft. above me, i figured the logical thing to do was to go up instead of take my bike with a tacoed front wheel and try and ride down. i get to the top, they drive me down and i get a makeshift sling from the paramedic.
-here's where i thought the story was a bit tragic: the medic that put the sling on me asked what happened, so i told him the story then i told him that my AC joint had separated, he was what that was. In my mind i rolled my eyes and was thinking to myself "bro.... you're a medic and you dont know what that is? wasn't anatomy a prerequisite to get into any health field, especially when you get a job that deals with people in a life or death situation?"
-anyways.. I digress from the main point in all of this. i saw the ortho. and he mentions that i dont need surgery. I asked him if i'll be able to have FROM because i need to be able to rock climb as it is my passion off the bike, he says yes but in such a nonchalant tone. Does anyone have any experience with this particular injury? had surgery or not had surgery?
-i knew that the race will have a cyclocross feel to it in that you have to explode from the gun to get a good position going into the climb or into any single track parts of the course. this is the type of racing i love, being at threshold from the beginning and holding it for the entirety of the race. Full on grinding through the course with no real strategy, no covering moves for teammates, no slowing down, etc.
-race starts and i get left behind from the beginning. I've never had a good start to a cyclocross race which carried on into this race as well, but i wasnt worried because before the technical stuff came, i had a huge amount of dirt and rocky pavement to move around in and pass all my competitors which i did.
-coming up on the one major climb of the race i knew i had to do some amount of pacing here otherwise i would blow up and get caught (the 1 piece of strategy that i followed). Regardless of how i went up the hill, there were still 2 other guys that passed me, and my hat goes off to them. at the top of the hill there lay waiting the descent, a tricky (in my mind) single track descent through some slightly muddy, yet solid, bee infested trail that takes you down for about 2 miles or so.
-i had the chance to pre-ride the course so i knew what to expect, but... seeing as how there were 2 guys ahead of me, i knew i had to make up some amount of time. and this is where my ego got the best of me...
-as soon as i approach the descent, i ramp up the speed and make it all of 30 feet down the single track before going shoulder first into the dirt beneath my wheels. yep... i endoed pretty hard and flipped over the bars. as soon as i made contact with the dirt i heard a snapping noise. i get up right away and feel my collar bone. this is the part of the story where my kinesiology degree came into play and i didn't feel like a complete idiot.
-i felt a lump on the lateral side of my clavicle and did a self-diagnosis of my injury. My self-diagnosis was correct in it being an AC joint separation.
- luckily, there was a medical cart at the top of the hill just 30 ft. above me, i figured the logical thing to do was to go up instead of take my bike with a tacoed front wheel and try and ride down. i get to the top, they drive me down and i get a makeshift sling from the paramedic.
-here's where i thought the story was a bit tragic: the medic that put the sling on me asked what happened, so i told him the story then i told him that my AC joint had separated, he was what that was. In my mind i rolled my eyes and was thinking to myself "bro.... you're a medic and you dont know what that is? wasn't anatomy a prerequisite to get into any health field, especially when you get a job that deals with people in a life or death situation?"
-anyways.. I digress from the main point in all of this. i saw the ortho. and he mentions that i dont need surgery. I asked him if i'll be able to have FROM because i need to be able to rock climb as it is my passion off the bike, he says yes but in such a nonchalant tone. Does anyone have any experience with this particular injury? had surgery or not had surgery?