Cast came off on the 31st and replaced it with a small splint, thought I would be home free. Hasn't worked out that nicely for me. Have the expected tightness and weakness in the hand where the hardware went, but have a more severe, and unexpected (by me) tightness and weakness in the wrist, where the time spent in the cast was apparently sufficient to put the tendons and ligaments into lockdown. I've been pushing it hard to regain flexion and some dexterity, but the trade off of pushing it hard to regain the range of motion is that it feels severly sprained under any kind of weight bearing activity, including the bike. It's going to be a game of baby steps, and I suck at and hate baby steps, just not wired right for that kind of process.Road vibration agitates it badly, and anything more than a moderate bump knocks it off the bar. It's getting better - first big test was over the weekend on the cross bike and it's more forgiving 60 PSI tires, it lasted all of 30-45 minutes each ride before getting to the worthless stage and despite and conscious effort to make the left hand take a normal workload, there was some overcompensation fatigue on the right side, even after such short outings, which meant I wasn't doing very well forcing it to take it's half of the workload. Did a quick 30 minutes on the road bike tonight, testing a different handlebar, and it felt a little better and a little stronger. The reality of the situation is that this damn hand will probably add LOTOJA to it's toll of carnage, I won't start if I don't think it will hold up all day. And, being back on the Mtn bike for Xterra is not a slam dunk. Cross season should be a slam dunk however, and looking forward to it, a lot. Had plenty of fun in my virgin season of road racing and on the Mtn bike this year, but they don't hold a candle to Cross.
Other notes:
* Talked to a couple of local buddies who race as pro's regarding a one week crash course reconditioning plan for LOTOJA before realizing the hand had further to go than anticipated. Two completely different angles in their advice - one said hard intervals for a few days with one long ride, one said several long rides with zero interval work. Both are fast, well respected riders, goes to show how different the approaches can be, even at that level.
*Despite all my moaning about the hand, I've enjoyed the heck out of some positive's that come from the time it freed up for kids, business, etc..., to be shared in later posts....
*Am a Ute graduate and fan to the extent that I dislike the Cougars - but huge props to them for the win on Saturday, didn't hate rooting for them as much as I thought I would. For the record, I'm married to a BYU alumnus... and live around a whole gaggle of them, peacefully.
1 comment:
well. at least you got vail and durango in this year.
we could always use a good crew for LOTOJA - may not need the lube as much as leadville, but the smiling face would be great just the same.
still looking to find a cross bike to come out and join you on saturdays.
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