Five months !!!!

[velotel]

November 5, the road to Col d’Allos, late afternoon, a quickie ride to see the colors. Cold but not freezing. Rode up past a short section that was damp from being in the shade all day. Rolled slowly looking hard to see if there was any ice. There wasn’t. A few K later decided I was high enough plus the light was fading. Headed back down. Got to the section that was wet, slowed down, but not enough. Should have stopped and walked. You’d think at my age I’d know better than to test it. Black ice, verglas in french, a thin layer of ice that you can’t see. I went down hard. A week short of five months later I finally rode again. That’s how long it took to heal from a cracked femur. And that was all I had, no abrasions, no torn clothing, bike in perfect condition, just the crack femur.

Surgery to insert a steel pin in the bone the day after the crash, a week later transferred to a recovery hospital near where I live. Three months in that hospital, two sessions a day five times a week with physical therapists (all young, pretty, and female) plus four sessions in the pool and three sessions in the weight room each week. After the first month or so my wife would collect me for the weekends. Finally got kicked out of there and told to go home. Four days a week since then sessions with physical therapists luckily only a five-minute drive from the house. And just to satisfy some americans possible curiosity, the cost to us for all this has been nothing, or so close to zero to not even be noticed.

Still not finished. Probably another month and a half of work before I’ll be back to normal. Back in early December I was thinking I’d be on my bike quickly enough to start training to celebrate my birthday on Ventoux again! So here I am not even three weeks from turning 78 and I only now finally got back on the bike!

First time I’ve ever been injured on my bike. Sixty-five or maybe more years of riding, skiing, rock climbing and never hurt, or at least nothing of any consequence. Definitely no fun. Oh well, life rolls on. At least now I’ll have lots of time to train to celebrate 79 on Ventoux.

All of that thoroughly freaked out my wife. So under massive pressure I went and bought a helmet! Amazingly light but I still don’t like it. I almost never put anything on my head. I can live with it. She also wants me to ride with a bike computer that will live track me on her phone. Given a lot of the places I like to ride that’s probably a good idea. Thing that’s driving me nuts with that is that to have live tracking I have to buy one with a huge number of things it does that I’ll never need or use. Like mapping and directions. Where I ride I don’t need all that. I’ve got paper maps, damned good ones in fact, for navigating.

Anyway, from all I’ve read the Wahoo looks like a good call. Any advice on the subject would be welcome.

Cheers

[NHAero]

Glad to hear your recovery is going well, and we missed you! Happy birthday in advance.

[tv_vt]

Whew, that sounds like a long hard recovery, Hank. Glad you checked in and are better. And have to say, about time you got a stupid helmet.

Looking forward to the next installment of photos from awesome Alpine climbs.

[makoti]

You did go down hard if you cracked a femur. Those just don't break easily.
Helmet....yeah, good idea.
Tracking your ride.... Wahoo does it, but so does Strava on your phone. Not sure if that's a premium service or not. Probably.
Lastly, I'd suggest a RoadID. The app will also track you AND the band has every bit of info you'd want to tell someone when you can't. Worth it, imo.

https://www.roadid.com/

[weisan]

Velo pal, glad to hear from you, I was beginning to wonder and a bit worried ...

Press on!

[nmrt]

Good to hear you're well on your road to recovery.
One crash in your cycling life? I'd count that as a blessing and continue cycling.

[Ralph]

Hope you heal quickly with no lingering effects. At our age, (I'm 81), sometimes it takes a little longer to get back. But you will. My adult kids insisted I wear a road ID, so I do. Helmets have saved lives.

[clyde the point]

Hank: we want to live your full and adventurous life, so damn, keep it up!

[Polyglot]

I suffered two falls last year and since then I use my Apple Watch for tracking and for fall alerts. Initially it was for my wife's peace of mind but I now realize it is for my good too.

[Spinner]

Hank, you'll still be cool if you wear a helmet.

[rnhood]

Always best to not try and ride past your capabilities. Descending takes skill, and it takes time to master it. Good that you are on the mend. Just be careful and don’t rush it.

[wc1934]

Your wife is a wise lady - listen to her!!!!

[yarg]

Great to hear you are on the road again! Wise to start again with helmet and tracking just in case. Keep posting.

[Elefantino]

I want to be Hank when I grow up!

[climbgdh]

Originally Posted by Elefantino

I want to be Hank when I grow up!

^^^^ This X 1000.