comeback - will i be able to?

digestive

Hi everyone.

Decided to join this site at last - i have been trying to avoid it for the past 12 months.
On 3rd Jan 2010 i had quite a nasty accident whilst out on a ride and ended up with a nice trip in a helicopter, broken thigh, arm, c/b and 3 slipped discs (herniated disc) - somehow no actual fracture of the spine though thank god. its been a very long recovery and the physio has said i am ready to start training again.

i wasnt a great cyclist before the crash but i just loved getting out on my bike. i had planned to do a few races in 2010 and a few more sportiffs...obviously that didnt happen. so i find myself now desperate to get back to where i was this time last year. however, im now 30, over 12stone (as opposed to 10st 5 in dec 09) witha resting heartbeat of 70 (was 40 before) and all my muscles have wasted away. i have even found it tough going doing the gentle exercises with the physio! i know with time the body gain strength and fitness but how long a road will that be? and will my body be able to get back to the level i was at??

but the thing most worrying me is the fear i have of having another accident and riding. whilst during the last 12 months (especially the last 6 months) i have been dreaming of getting a new bike and riding again, now that im at the start line i find myself very nervous and almost like im unmotivated. i think its fear...im know its fear. its as if i want one thing but i cant. i knew all along that i would be nervous about starting over, but i was fighting on with the thought of maybe doing well in a few local races in the future. but as i get closer to going out on the bike i have suddenly started to doubt whether i will ever get back where i was and ive realised that i will never have the legs to compete respectedly in a race. all of which i guess is part of the mind of matter. basically i find myself questioning the hope which got my through the past 12 months.

anyway, im rambling now. :oops: guess i just thought i would put this on here so as to maybe get some advice and guidance on recovery plans and training...andhow to get back on the bike.

sorry for the waffling.

thanks in advance

petemadoc

Hi Digestive

Your accident sounds pretty horrific, I'm no expert but I'd guess that would make anyone nervous about getting back on the saddle. How did it happen?

With regards to getting your fitness back I really wouldn't worry about it. Just try and ease yourself back into it over the next 12 months. I don't know how much your injuries will affect your riding and I guess you don't either until you try. If you can ride ok then your fitness will come back naturally over time.

I hope you get your confidence back, good luck.

I'm sure you'll enjoy looking for a new bike

Mark Elvin

You can do it. In May 2009 in suffered an assualt by a group of 7 thugs who stamped on my head & kicked me in the face whilst I lay on the floot inconcious.

The surgeons basically pieced together my face & skull using nothing but skill, titanium & screws.

You'd hardly know anything happened to look at me, my right eye is a little lazy & I have a small bald patch on my head. I suffer quite bad double vision at times, hence my awfull typing & my memory is bloody awfull now.

I've been told to try & avoid any hard knocks to the face/head, but you have to weigh it up. If I wandered around, doing nothing exciting in fear of bashing myself I'd be bloody pi55ed off if I got run over by a bus.

At the time I was critical, it was touch & go apparent;y for a few hours, but I've made a comeback & it's made me more determind to get fit & challenge myself to do things I have never done before.

It's actually made me a stronger, better person.

digestive

thanks for the words fellas.

tbh i have no recollection of what happened. i was out for about 30mins apparently. i can remember approaching the bend and then the next thing i remember is waking up with the paramedics and being put in to the helicoptor. apparently, or so the police tell me, there was a patch of oil on the road which i must have hit, come off and bounced across the road off the pavement and in to wall the other side. guess its a good thing i cant remember that part! one thing i will say, thank god for my helmet. i literally owe my life to bell! if it wasnt for my helmet i wouldnt be here today.

i guess like you say it will just take time. just seems to get harder every day as i get closer to riding.
think i might just force myself to go, maybe even start on a mountain bike first? what do you think? wider tyres so balance will be easier to start with.

did think about getting a turbo to get back doing bits indoor to build up a bit more confidence, but then i think thats just prolonging the inevitible.

never felt so much of a coward in my life tbh.

anyway, thanks again for the advice. will let you know if i do make it back out on 2 wheels.

Velonutter

Digestive,

Sorry to hear about your injuries, but good to hear your fixing and just need to sort the psychological side out.

Get yourself some rollers or turbo or even both, find out out what is physically difficult to start with, it will help ease your muscles into a riding position again, it will also help knowing that you can actually ride a bike again and will help get you into a better shape to ride.

I wouldn't even think about going on the road until the conditions improve significantly, you're just risking another accident, if you have a track near you why not book a session in there then?

Remember little strides to start with and ease yourself back..

Good Luck

Spudboy

Really sorry to hear of your ordeal.

I think getting out on the mountain bike is a great idea. Just get out and feel the wind in your hair (or through your super ventilated lid!). Just turn the pedals maybe off the beaten track or a cycle path so you get used to riding again. Don't put any pressure on yourself to get fit just enjoy riding, the fitness will come as your confidence and enthusiasm comes back.

Take it easy.

looking4phil

I am sure there are lots of folk on here who have there fair share of accidents as I did. Fell of my MTB in June and badly broke my Collar bone which had to be screwed together. Resulted in more than 3 months laguishing around the house generally getting in the way of my understanding wife. I couldnt wait to get on the bike again and on the trails found my confidence had taken a bad knock. I made excuses to myself not to try anything remotley difficult. I bought some low rolling resistance tyres for the bike and just got out for a ride on the local costal path. This helped get the taste for biking again.

Main problem I found was muscle wastage. Your physio will no doubt have given you excersises to do at home, they can be a pain to do but over time they do make a big difference.

My accident seems pretty trivial to some of the stories I have read, yours included, but keep at it. Its pretty amazing what the human body can recover from. As for the racing, for me biking is probably more social than competative, and without some of the other bikers in my area I wouldnt be back to riding at all.

All the best.

upperoilcan

Digestive.....

I also have had terrible injury's to my arm's and leg's involving metal plates being put in and so on,these injury's were courtesy of my MTB Downhilling/freeriding days..

Looking back on it it now and also feeling the same way you do,i found the only thing to do was get back in the saddle......

By all means take it steady and enjoy being back on the bike,after a few weeks/months your injury's/accident will be a distant memory and your confidence will be restored...

Good luck.

Bozman

Get out on a bike asap and just take your time. 5 yrs ago a car pulled out in front of me while i was travelling at 70mph on my motorbike, i didn't even have chance to brake.
As soon as i was better i went out and bought another bike, i didn't really want one but i just had to do it for me, i think that it was just part of the healing process.

kayakerchris

Really sorry to hear your story. Scares all of us when we hear things like that.

fear is normal in a situation like this. fear is not cowardice.

I would suggest some sessions with a counsellor to try and understand the feelings, learn how to cope with them and then to use them to make yourself stronger. sounds easy but is actually very hard work.

Good luck

Chris

racingcondor

Digestive,

Sorry to hear about the crash, not much comfort knowing that crashes as bad as yours are relatively rare once you've been in one. Good luck with the recovery though, it sounds like you're one the way and still feel the hunger to ride which is a great start. As others have said, start slow, expect it to take time and you'll get there.

If you have a velodrome nearby that would be well worth trying out (stable environment, ideal conditions every time).

I'm sure you've heard / read the story before but I thought you might benefit from one of the more recent inspiring stories of recovery. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/cycling/article7120040.ece

Good luck.

Monty Dog

Some excellent, sage advice. All I can add / reinforce is the need to take is easy / steady a the outset. Choose a ride/route that will help restore your confidence - perhaps on quieter roads with little traffic and then progressively build from there. If you have the motive/inclination then a regular turbo session will help build your fitness without the hazards icy roads. Set yourself some realistic and achieveable targets for every month, perhaps leading to a bigger goal / reward in the summer e.g. sportive / new bike / kit etc?

Pokerface

Short answer - yes you can come back. And possibly be even better than you were before. My situation is different - but I'm about to turn 40 and am cycling better now than ever before. (All with just one leg!) 8)

Don't rush things and eventually the fear of crashing will subside.


And welcome to the forum!

Pross

Providing the medics say you are physically OK to ride then there is no reason you can't comeback. I had a break of about 14 years, I didn't have any injuries other than picking up a herniated disc playing rugby in the intervening years, and piled on 4 stone with less strength and fitness to power it. I haven't had a massive success as I haven't put the effort in but even with infrequent riding I could feel things improving. I have seen quite a few people come back after similar length of time and be competetive.

There is no physical reason you shouldn't be able to do things so it really comes down to the mental strength to get back on the bike. Think of all the times you rode without a serious crash, you are far more likely to ride accident free than to have another major accident. Do things bit by bit, ride in traffic free areas to get your confidence back and then move onto lighly trafficked roads.

anthony59

hello mate sorry to hear you are a bit neve about getting back on a bike on the road . i had a big motorcycle racing crash in o7 i hit a wall at over 140mph it took me 3years to get back to race pace but the best thing to do is to just take your time build your body back and all the cofidents will flow back to you hope this helps.

spinndrift

I had 11 years off the bike after my accident before I got the bottle up to go on a bike again and I wish I'd done it earlier.

Good luck.

rc856

Glad that you're on the road to recovery.
Remind yourself what it is about cycling that you love?
Watch some cycling dvd's etc. If you get a turbo, have a look at Sufferfest.
It doesn't have to be hard if you don't want it to but if might help with the motivation.

Fear is only normal.

As already stated, maybe try and get out on a cycle path to get used to riding and enjoying being out and about again.


And why not treat yourself to a new bike?

All the best

Alumin-Liam

IMO one of the great things about cycling is that you can get out and enjoy it whatever fitness level you are at. Coming from a standing start you will see big fitness improvements very quickly so that should help with the moticvation!

carrock

I badly shattered my tibial plateau ( shinbone ) - they had to take a bone graft from my opposite hip, and rebuild the leg with plates, screws, synthetic bone, and the bone graft. I was told I would not walk properly again, or cycle.



I was in a wheelchair/crutches for 3 months non weightbearing- also had infections and lost about 3 stone in weight

9 months after walking again, I completed the c2c ride. I found cycling was the best way to rebuild my muscle tone in the leg

I'm still not a great cyclist, but no worse than I was before

Good Luck

rc856

Carrock - jeez! How did that happen mate?!
Good story of recovery though!!

carrock

RC856 wrote:

Carrock - jeez! How did that happen mate?!
Good story of recovery though!!

Ermmmmm....well I was on my stag weekend in 2007, doing an army assault course, and lost grip of the knotted rope whilst on a 4m high wall.

Wife to be was sympathetic- at least until I got her to ring the lap dancing bar from casualty and cancel the evenings entertainment

The pain from the bone graft was worse- as you can see- a little bit of bruising...

Stone Glider

Digestive, well done for getting this far. You are, at last, in a position to make a comeback. The key is to be very patient and plot out an incremental path to recover the enjoyment and then the capability. If you are not enjoying it, you will be unlikely to persevere.

May I suggest that the first machine you ride is not a high-end aggressive racing c/f dream but a hybrid with flat pedals (prepares for flaming). Choose quiet roads, factory estates off-peak are ideal and take your time. Sheldon Brown (RIP) use to advise small sessions of only a matter of minutes to people returning from injury. Keep control of your time/effort by listening to your body and not the, well meant, advice of friends or even those sage pundits on the interweb. Only you know how things are going, take your time and enjoy it.

Happily recovery is achievable, the first stages can come quickly, the thing to remember is that it is not simply linear, there will be setbacks and disappointments, accept them and press on. Good luck

carrock

something I forgot to mention- I couldnt manage a full revolution of the pedals until 6 months after the injury- so bought a stationary exercise bike and spent most days trying to get full ROM- then once I felt safe went back on the road. Sounds crazy but it worked for me

meanredspider

My tip is to take inspiration from those that have done it - it proves that it can be done and that the rest is in your head.

A colleague nearly cut off his foot with a motorised brush cutter. He had nearly lost his other foot aged 17 in a bike accident. Within two years of his accident he came in the top 5 (IIRC) finishers in Maggie's Bike n Hike (30k on a bike and 40k on foot) which he did in circa 11 hours (oh, and he was nearly 50 at the time!)

Good luck to you. You've been incredibly unlucky but your will to conquer this will see you through. I, for one, will be rooting for you.

Richard

carrock

some thing someone said to me recently- he wasnt surprised I recovered so well because of my positive attitude

In other words- if you think you will make a full recovery, you're probably right

If you think you'll never be the same again- you're right as well....

Mark Elvin

carrock wrote:

some thing someone said to me recently- he wasnt surprised I recovered so well because of my positive attitude

In other words- if you think you will make a full recovery, you're probably right

If you think you'll never be the same again- you're right as well....

That's what my surgeon said, signed me off last week, and whilst I haven't made a full recovery & never will, he said the mental attitude I had through the whole thing has helped massivly with me making good recovery, also said how unusual it is for somebody after an attack like I sustained not to suffer depression & require ounculling.

It's all about the PMA.

Easyriding

Bl***dy hell guys! You should all be held up as an example to the rest of us who are tempted to wimp out at the first sign of discomfort/pain/cold/heat whatever...

Digestive - you've already taken the first step by coming on here and expressing how you feel and looking for help. Other people have given knowledgeable advice about what you should do and I can't hope to add to it but you and the others on here have my respect and admiration for your determination and perseverence (that didn't mean to sound quite so gushy - sorry!)

Good luck to you, let us know how you get on.

carrock

Mark Elvin wrote:

carrock wrote:

some thing someone said to me recently- he wasnt surprised I recovered so well because of my positive attitude

In other words- if you think you will make a full recovery, you're probably right

If you think you'll never be the same again- you're right as well....

That's what my surgeon said, signed me off last week, and whilst I haven't made a full recovery & never will, he said the mental attitude I had through the whole thing has helped massivly with me making good recovery, also said how unusual it is for somebody after an attack like I sustained not to suffer depression & require ounculling.

It's all about the PMA.

exactly- I will never be 100%- but my 90% is much better than a couch potatoes 100%

redvision

sorry to hear about your accident. its no wonder you hold reservations about getting back on the bike.

i myself have been off the bike more or less for 6months now because of injury. and i find myself questioning if i will ever be able to get the fitness level i once had back. but like others have said all you can do is jump back on the bike and just go for a spin (although i do admit that i am waiting until the weather improves).

i know its hard, but try and forget about getting fit or training. just try and remember why you loved cycling and you will soon get the bug again.

let us know how you get on.

take it easy and enjoy!

rob13

Digestive, having just seen this post I can sympathise with your predicament. A couple of years ago, I had a particularly nasty crash on a motorbike and snapped my femur and crushed a lot of the small bones in my wrist, chipping both radius and ulna in the process.

It took me months to get back into some semblance of order and get back to full physical activity. But as soon as I could walk on crutches I bought a turbo and put the MTB on it and just did that every day where I could literally feel the strength coming back into my legs day by day. I found my quads were what took the biggest loss in muscle strength.

The wrist was still causing me discomfort and the prognosis from the doc was pretty poor. However, I have persevered with injections and physio and have made constant use of it to the point where I reckon its probably 90-95% now.

Positive mental attitude is the greatest assistance to coming back.

7 Months afterwards, I bought myself another motorbike and the first few rides were pretty worrying, nerves didnt get the better of me though and I'm back to normal now.

My advice would be to buy a turbo and get started on that. In 3 months you will feel a world of difference, will be some way to being bike fit and no doubt itching to get out onto the road!

Good luck, and keep us updated.

sagalout

Hey Rob13 - it wasn't a Versys you had by chance was it?!