Stepping it up to National Level

[wannalift]

Sorry to read about your crash. I know this is after the fact, but what kind of gloves/wrist protection do you wear? I wear these: http://www.xsportsprotective.com/evs-wrister-glove.html and they are pretty great. Haven't been in the kind of crashes that you have (I don't ride at that level), but theses gloves have held up very well going over the bars a few times. There are other supplemental wrist guards out there that may be better, but these are nice all-in-one units that are comfortable and actually give your support during the ride as well. Seems to make sense to protect your wirsts since your first instinct is always to get your hands down in a crash and thus your hands/wrists are always at risk. One drawback I will say is that the padding on your palms is a little light, but the fingertips have some rubber on them to help improve your grip on your brake handle.

[IronGirl]

OUCH!!! Just catching up with your log. (I've been doing a quick log and not reading much in the last few weeks.)

Hope you are soon well again. I'm impressed by your grit and determination to get on with things during your recovery. Great attitude, good for you.

[downhillingdemon]

Thanks Irongirl

Sorry to read about your crash. I know this is after the fact, but what kind of gloves/wrist protection do you wear? I wear these: http://www.xsportsprotective.com/evs-wrister-glove.html and they are pretty great. Haven't been in the kind of crashes that you have (I don't ride at that level), but theses gloves have held up very well going over the bars a few times. There are other supplemental wrist guards out there that may be better, but these are nice all-in-one units that are comfortable and actually give your support during the ride as well. Seems to make sense to protect your wirsts since your first instinct is always to get your hands down in a crash and thus your hands/wrists are always at risk. One drawback I will say is that the padding on your palms is a little light, but the fingertips have some rubber on them to help improve your grip on your brake handle.

Interesting linky and it's made me think - thanks I don't wear wrist protection and tbh, it may have forced the shock up my arm and left me with a broken forearm rather than a dislocated wrist, which would have been far worse and more inconvenient. At least I can get on with most stuff with just the wrist in cast. My first instinct has developed into laying the bike down or bailing as safely as possible, if I have time to think, rather than stick my hands out in a panic. I didn't fall on my hands as such this time, for example - they took all the force as I tried to hold onto the bike until the bitter end and direct it away from the face of the landing ramp into the (softer) vegetation. I can almost relive the whole thing in my head! Next thing to learn will be bailing in mid air like the pro's!

The only thing I am planning to get is a neck brace. I may even get rid of the majority of the armour and just keep a full face + spine board, if I can get one that works with the Leatt neck brace. Bones etc heal. Spinal columns are worth protecting!

Right - training

Thursday - rest day

Friday - 34 min run

Saturday - short bike ride on pavement

Sunday - longer ride (~30 minutes), even managed to ride down three steps AND change gear, woot!! (yes, still in the cast) Realised how much hill climbing power I seem to have developed - I'm probably short-duration-ride fitter than I have ever been. Downhilling makes me lazy

Monday - rest

Tuesday - woke up feeling a bit under the weather - sore throat and feeling cold. Luckily not on site so took it easy reporting at home and started feeling a bit better by the evening. Walked down the gym, did 30 mins on the stationary bike, some leg and abs work and walked home. Feel much better in myself, although still a wee bit throaty. Glad I'm no longer one of those people that lets the smallest of illness stop them getting on with life.

[wannalift]

Thanks Irongirl

Sorry to read about your crash. I know this is after the fact, but what kind of gloves/wrist protection do you wear? I wear these: http://www.xsportsprotective.com/evs-wrister-glove.html and they are pretty great. Haven't been in the kind of crashes that you have (I don't ride at that level), but theses gloves have held up very well going over the bars a few times. There are other supplemental wrist guards out there that may be better, but these are nice all-in-one units that are comfortable and actually give your support during the ride as well. Seems to make sense to protect your wirsts since your first instinct is always to get your hands down in a crash and thus your hands/wrists are always at risk. One drawback I will say is that the padding on your palms is a little light, but the fingertips have some rubber on them to help improve your grip on your brake handle.

Interesting linky and it's made me think - thanks I don't wear wrist protection and tbh, it may have forced the shock up my arm and left me with a broken forearm rather than a dislocated wrist, which would have been far worse and more inconvenient. At least I can get on with most stuff with just the wrist in cast. My first instinct has developed into laying the bike down or bailing as safely as possible, if I have time to think, rather than stick my hands out in a panic. I didn't fall on my hands as such this time, for example - they took all the force as I tried to hold onto the bike until the bitter end and direct it away from the face of the landing ramp into the (softer) vegetation. I can almost relive the whole thing in my head! Next thing to learn will be bailing in mid air like the pro's!

The only thing I am planning to get is a neck brace. I may even get rid of the majority of the armour and just keep a full face + spine board, if I can get one that works with the Leatt neck brace. Bones etc heal. Spinal columns are worth protecting!

I don't think wrist guards would put your arms at risk anymore than neck protection would put your lower back at risk. The wrist guards keep your wrists from flexing and the forces are absorbed by the guards. I've never heard of anyone attributing a broken arm to wrist protection.

I would suggest not ditching the rest of the gear either. Landing on an unprotected shoulder or elbow is no fun. Not sure what advantages it would give to wear less gear other than enhanced climbing/endurance? You'll never crash and wish afterwards that you wore less gear.

[downhillingdemon]

I don't think wrist guards would put your arms at risk anymore than neck protection would put your lower back at risk. The wrist guards keep your wrists from flexing and the forces are absorbed by the guards. I've never heard of anyone attributing a broken arm to wrist protection.

I would suggest not ditching the rest of the gear either. Landing on an unprotected shoulder or elbow is no fun. Not sure what advantages it would give to wear less gear other than enhanced climbing/endurance? You'll never crash and wish afterwards that you wore less gear.

Ah, yes, but improperly used neck protection (i.e. without a full face helmet) may increase your risk of spinal/neck damage because of the change to the pivot point in the neck and shock transfer. Braces are designed to be worn with full face helmets only to disperse the force. In fact it is recommended that neck braces are taken off when pushing uphill if the fullface helmet is removed, because of the risk of slipping and landing awkwardly and the brace providing an unnatural pivot for the neck. I would want to see studies which prove that a wrist guard would absorb the force and not transmit it. In addition, I didn't just land on my hands, I dropped from well above head height, with the bike and landed still holding onto the bars, that's a lot of force for a guard to absorb.

The advantage of loosing the upper body armour (especially shoulder and elbows) is increased movement, freedom, and flow on the bike. Some of my most comfortable times on the bike have been when I have left the armour at home. I don't believe that outer shoulder coverings prevent broken bones anywhere as near as the companies would have you believe. Grazes, yes, but shoulder injuries, I have my doubts. Again, I would like to see some extensive studies.

Training:
Wednesday- so the cold didn't improve much, but I did manage to get out for the last 15 minutes of evening sunlight







Thursday and Friday - the cold hit me full force, just in time for two site days - gawd blimy haven't felt soooo rough for a very long time. Plus my arm got really tired working and I dropped a cup of hot water on my foot. Proper in the wars

Still the aches and sore throat have eased off, now I'm just coughing relentlessly so I am praying for some sleep and a bit of riding over the bank holiday weekend

Oh, and one more thing - I finally sold that Marin Attack frame and brought, well, this little piece of far-heavier-than-a-trail-frame-that-small-should-be cuteness

If it rides ok with the bits off the chammy, it'll be built up asap to be ready for when I get back out on the trails. OH AND......I got an op date!! 23rd Sept, tfft! Only one month to go!!!

[downhillingdemon]

Saturday - woke up feeling loads better. Maybe it was that weekend feeling that did it Brilliant. Even managed a couple of hours on the bike and managed pretty much everything fine. It's amazing how much I can manage in the cast.

Sunday - rest

Monday - another couple of hours on the trails. Scared myself stupid doing Hitchcock which, although not massively technical, I don't like at the best of times, nevermind when I am bandaged up. Made me realise I'm gonna take time to get my confidence back, but that I'm more than capable of riding stuff that scares me!



Tuesday - gym. 30 mins on bikes, leg press, leg extensions and (ssshh) a wee bit of rowing. Very light stuff, but as long as I don't rotate the wrist in anyway, it feels fine pulling stuff.

Wednesday - 30 minute run

[Big Good Wolf]

Great pic, riding the Malverns with a cast on.
Love the way you're half my weight, but need bigger forks and better brakes.

[JP]

haha yeah, riding with a cast is a sure sign of an addict actually... its like me at the gym with various injuries and niggles...

but the tat is still awesome!

[downhillingdemon]

Great pic, riding the Malverns with a cast on.
Love the way you're half my weight, but need bigger forks and better brakes.

I think maybe it's just a slight rewording that is needed here - replace 'need' with 'want' and you are probably a lot near the truth

haha yeah, riding with a cast is a sure sign of an addict actually... its like me at the gym with various injuries and niggles...

but the tat is still awesome!

Cheers JP!

Gotta make the most of life, seeing as it's so darned short, haven't ya

Thursday - Evening Ride

Craziwayne came up to meet me and we had an hour or so blasting around the hills. TBH, I don't think the pace was any slower than normal overall, I guess I just took it a little easier on the descents. Probably not easy enough, considering I had no pads, no gloves and the cast. I keep forgetting about it until I start to loose my grip on the bars, normally at a critical moment Really good of Wayne to come out tbh, he had been expecting me to be a total trail-invalid and for us to manage very little, so it meant a lot that he made the effort to spend time on the trails. Luckily for him I wasn't too far off the normal pace and could've kept going if my wrist hadn't started feeling like it was time to stop.

[downhillingdemon]

Friday - Rest

Saturday - FoD Trails

Woot! 14 miles of swoopy off-road fun

[downhillingdemon]

Sunday - Rest

Monday - Another few hours of proper off-roading.

Tuesday - Rest

Wednesday - Gym - leg press, extensions, some light rows

Here's a video from last Saturday of the last bit of trail. Not a bad effort for a chick in a plaster cast

[wannalift]

Very nice work! What model of camera are you using?

[bob_summers]

Swweet. So smooth round those switchbacks from 2:55. Bit scary doing that with an injury but I know the pull... when I did my neck I was out in the woods before I could walk properly! Could only look at the ground up to about 2m ahead but the addiction has to be fed

[downhillingdemon]

Very nice work! What model of camera are you using?

Ah cheers Did better than I expected tbh. So funny seeing peoples faces when they realise I have a cast on and am still out riding!

The camera is my riding buddies go-pro which he had on a chest mount. I've seen footage from both the go-pro and contour and there is not much between them, but the mounting of the go-pro seems much easier and it also picks up sound much better when in the case on the chest. I love the chest mount footage, gives a better impression of what the filmer is doing than a headcam.

Swweet. So smooth round those switchbacks from 2:55. Bit scary doing that with an injury but I know the pull... when I did my neck I was out in the woods before I could walk properly! Could only look at the ground up to about 2m ahead but the addiction has to be fed

Blimy - that's hardcore Bob!

TBH the big switchbacks on this last bit of trail were the only place where I was a bit nervous because they were loose and I was worried about washing out and sticking my hand out. The earlier descents were in the woods and we mighty grippy so it was easier to really throw the bike around without worrying about the front going!

Thursday - run to the post office - about 1hr 10 minutes. Felt good and managed to avoid the cramps.

[wannalift]

Very nice work! What model of camera are you using?

Ah cheers Did better than I expected tbh. So funny seeing peoples faces when they realise I have a cast on and am still out riding!

The camera is my riding buddies go-pro which he had on a chest mount. I've seen footage from both the go-pro and contour and there is not much between them, but the mounting of the go-pro seems much easier and it also picks up sound much better when in the case on the chest. I love the chest mount footage, gives a better impression of what the filmer is doing than a headcam.

Ah, okay. I knew there was something different about that footage as I was able to better get a feel for the terrain. Often on a helmet cam I can't tell much about the trail, but this was a much better experience. Going to have to look into getting one of those as I have been close to pulling the trigger on a Contour, but the chest mount of the Go Pro changes everything.