RR First Ride Post Op

My shoulder surgery was almost two months ago, but the doc told me no riding
off road for now because it takes upwards of 8-12 weeks for the tendon to
heal down to the bone where he reattached it. The guy's a sports medicine
surgeon and a cyclist, so I am inclined to do what he tells me most of the
time. He did say riding on the road was okay, but to avoid anything too
rough on the shoulder.

Well today was just too damn nice to be a psuedo-roadie. 72 deg F, sunny,
dry trails, I couldn't pass it up. I figured I'd drag the boy wonder with
me and that would force me to keep the speed down and just take it easy. We
went to the local trails and started with the first little one mile loop of
single track. The BW actually mastered all the bridges without incident and
his confidence level shot through the roof.

The bumps and roots on the single track were a bit much on the wounded wing,
even with the fork set as soft as I could get it. So I decided we'd better
stick to the fire roads. We rode for a little over an hour and the sun was
starting to go down and BW was starting to complain about being hungry. We
"raced" back to the parking lot and I dug out the last of the granola bars
in my camelbak to feed the starving child. He looked so cool -- mud flecked
legs, gloves still on, helmet hair, and bar hanging out his mouth and a big
grin on his face. Wish I'd had a camera to capture it. A perfect example
of pure mountain bike joy. The absolute essence of what's so great about
this sport. We didn't ride all that fast, or all that crazy. But the boy
rode hard and he didn't want to stop because it was just too much damn fun.
I was just happy to be there.

Shoulder hurt like hell, despite sticking to the fire roads. I'm sure it
was just the tiny little bumps and the absolute lack of strenght in the arm.
Whatever the cause, all things are made better through chemicals. Either
way, it was well worth it to see the expression on a 9 year old kid who just
rode himself to exhaustion and loved every minute of it.

Tom

In article uHHdc.3228$VE5.2392@lakeread01,
"tcmedara" wrote:

My shoulder surgery was almost two months ago, but the doc told me no riding
off road for now because it takes upwards of 8-12 weeks for the tendon to
heal down to the bone where he reattached it. The guy's a sports medicine
surgeon and a cyclist, so I am inclined to do what he tells me most of the
time. He did say riding on the road was okay, but to avoid anything too
rough on the shoulder.

Well today was just too damn nice to be a psuedo-roadie. 72 deg F, sunny,
dry trails, I couldn't pass it up. I figured I'd drag the boy wonder with
me and that would force me to keep the speed down and just take it easy. We
went to the local trails and started with the first little one mile loop of
single track. The BW actually mastered all the bridges without incident and
his confidence level shot through the roof.

The bumps and roots on the single track were a bit much on the wounded wing,
even with the fork set as soft as I could get it. So I decided we'd better
stick to the fire roads. We rode for a little over an hour and the sun was
starting to go down and BW was starting to complain about being hungry. We
"raced" back to the parking lot and I dug out the last of the granola bars
in my camelbak to feed the starving child. He looked so cool -- mud flecked
legs, gloves still on, helmet hair, and bar hanging out his mouth and a big
grin on his face. Wish I'd had a camera to capture it. A perfect example
of pure mountain bike joy. The absolute essence of what's so great about
this sport. We didn't ride all that fast, or all that crazy. But the boy
rode hard and he didn't want to stop because it was just too much damn fun.
I was just happy to be there.

Shoulder hurt like hell, despite sticking to the fire roads. I'm sure it
was just the tiny little bumps and the absolute lack of strenght in the arm.
Whatever the cause, all things are made better through chemicals. Either
way, it was well worth it to see the expression on a 9 year old kid who just
rode himself to exhaustion and loved every minute of it.

Tom


Sweet, I cant wait to have kids so I can take them out riding. Pain
is nothing when you look at the face of your kid.

M. Prindle

tcmedara wrote:
My shoulder surgery was almost two months ago, but the doc told me no
riding off road for now because it takes upwards of 8-12 weeks for
the tendon to heal down to the bone where he reattached it. The
guy's a sports medicine surgeon and a cyclist, so I am inclined to do
what he tells me most of the time. He did say riding on the road was
okay, but to avoid anything too rough on the shoulder.

Well today was just too damn nice to be a psuedo-roadie. 72 deg F,
sunny, dry trails, I couldn't pass it up. I figured I'd drag the boy
wonder with me and that would force me to keep the speed down and
just take it easy. We went to the local trails and started with the
first little one mile loop of single track. The BW actually mastered
all the bridges without incident and his confidence level shot
through the roof.

The bumps and roots on the single track were a bit much on the
wounded wing, even with the fork set as soft as I could get it. So I
decided we'd better stick to the fire roads. We rode for a little
over an hour and the sun was starting to go down and BW was starting
to complain about being hungry. We "raced" back to the parking lot
and I dug out the last of the granola bars in my camelbak to feed the
starving child. He looked so cool -- mud flecked legs, gloves still
on, helmet hair, and bar hanging out his mouth and a big grin on his
face. Wish I'd had a camera to capture it. A perfect example of
pure mountain bike joy. The absolute essence of what's so great
about this sport. We didn't ride all that fast, or all that crazy.
But the boy rode hard and he didn't want to stop because it was just
too much damn fun. I was just happy to be there.

Shoulder hurt like hell, despite sticking to the fire roads. I'm
sure it was just the tiny little bumps and the absolute lack of
strenght in the arm. Whatever the cause, all things are made better
through chemicals. Either way, it was well worth it to see the
expression on a 9 year old kid who just rode himself to exhaustion
and loved every minute of it.

Sounds like the big kid did, too

I remember my first ride 6 weeks to day after surgery -- didn't own a road
bike back then, so it felt really foreign to be back on two wheels. Only
did a little 45-minute toodle down hill from house; few days later I was
back riding with the pack out at Anderson Truck Trail (*way* too soon, but
got away w/it)...

What was really scary was first crash; felt a twinge in shoulder but no bad
damage. (Mine still gets sore sometimes after riding, but just sort of
achy.) Knock on Styrofoam.

What sucks is that the strength has never really come back, so I can't pull
up on bar effectively (or evenly). Also still flinch a little at certain
technical sections, and once you hesitate...

Glad you got back out there, Tom -- don't tell your doc, but DO be careful!
I know you don't want to get scoped 'n sewed any more...

Bill "off the 'cuff' remarks" S.

S o r n i wrote:

Sounds like the big kid did, too

Yep! An hour at low speed on fire road was about right. Anything faster,
longer, or harder would have hurt.

I remember my first ride 6 weeks to day after surgery -- didn't own a
road bike back then, so it felt really foreign to be back on two
wheels. Only did a little 45-minute toodle down hill from house; few
days later I was back riding with the pack out at Anderson Truck
Trail (*way* too soon, but got away w/it)...

Came home the other day and asked the wife what she thought of me dropping
some cash on a road bike as long as I kept it under $2K. I managed to get
out of the kitchen before she reached the knife block. So it was an
"outright" refusal..... Probably better off, I'd have to stop busting on
roadies.

What was really scary was first crash; felt a twinge in shoulder but
no bad damage. (Mine still gets sore sometimes after riding, but
just sort of achy.) Knock on Styrofoam.

I was in total denial about the prospect of a crash. I figured I was taking
it easy so the risk was low. 'Course now I recall the thread a few weeks
back about the low speed crash on the sidewalk or something to that effect.
And I was riding the hardtail with slicks mounted as the FS is down for
maintenance!

What sucks is that the strength has never really come back, so I
can't pull up on bar effectively (or evenly). Also still flinch a
little at certain technical sections, and once you hesitate...

Hope that doesn't happen. Pain gets less every day and they've started me
on the strengthening regime now. I never had big arms anyway, but the left
one is looking remarkably scrawny at this stage.

Glad you got back out there, Tom -- don't tell your doc, but DO be
careful! I know you don't want to get scoped 'n sewed any more...

Thanks. I'm looking forward to a real ride, but I figure that's still a few
weeks a way. Ran into some biking buddies in the parking lot and they were
all raving about the new trail the local club just finished. It was killin'
me, but I'm planning to hold out on the real riding until the doc gives me
the thumbs up. 'Course I think I caused the original problem about 10 years
ago from a silly OTB incident, so the risk is always present. Surgery once
a decade ain't bad though, as long as I get to keep riding!

Tom

On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 21:02:47 -0400, tcmedara wrote:

in my camelbak to feed the starving child. He looked so cool -- mud flecked
legs, gloves still on, helmet hair, and bar hanging out his mouth and a big
grin on his face. Wish I'd had a camera to capture it. A perfect example
of pure mountain bike joy. The absolute essence of what's so great about
this sport. We didn't ride all that fast, or all that crazy. But the boy
rode hard and he didn't want to stop because it was just too much damn fun.
I was just happy to be there.

Shoulda "smoked" the little dude. ;-)

Just kidding. Very cool - I never could get my daughter into it, and I'm a
little jealous of those who can. Some days its fun to be a family man.

--
-BB-
To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least)

"tcmedara" wrote

Shoulder hurt like hell, despite sticking to the fire roads. I'm sure it
was just the tiny little bumps and the absolute lack of strenght in the
arm.
Whatever the cause, all things are made better through chemicals. Either
way, it was well worth it to see the expression on a 9 year old kid who
just
rode himself to exhaustion and loved every minute of it.

Tom

Coolness. Which trail?

Pete

Pete wrote:
"tcmedara" wrote

Shoulder hurt like hell, despite sticking to the fire roads. I'm
sure it was just the tiny little bumps and the absolute lack of
strenght in the arm. Whatever the cause, all things are made better
through chemicals. Either way, it was well worth it to see the
expression on a 9 year old kid who just rode himself to exhaustion
and loved every minute of it.

Tom

Coolness. Which trail?

Pete

The first loop at Harwood and then up around the fire roads past the model
airplane field and back. We'll have to meet up out there sometime, with or
without kids. I'm still 4-6 weeks from real riding, but I'll probably end
up pushing the envelope despite my best intentions. BTW, have you tried
the new trail up at New Quarter Park yet?

Tom

"tcmedara" wrote


The first loop at Harwood and then up around the fire roads past the model
airplane field and back. We'll have to meet up out there sometime, with
or
without kids. I'm still 4-6 weeks from real riding, but I'll probably end
up pushing the envelope despite my best intentions. BTW, have you tried
the new trail up at New Quarter Park yet?

Hadn't heard of it New Quarter Park. But...may take the BW out and try it
this week.

Pete

tcmedara wrote:
snip

Shoulder hurt like hell, despite sticking to the fire roads. I'm
sure it was just the tiny little bumps and the absolute lack of
strenght in the arm. Whatever the cause, all things are made better
through chemicals. Either way, it was well worth it to see the
expression on a 9 year old kid who just rode himself to exhaustion
and loved every minute of it.

Tom

Nice. Welcome back! Don't push too hard, but stay on it as you can. You'll
bounce back quickly, I'm sure!

Matt (shoulder still gets sore, but not too much to ride)

On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 21:02:47 -0400, "tcmedara"
wrote:

My shoulder surgery was almost two months ago, but the doc told me no riding
off road for now because it takes upwards of 8-12 weeks for the tendon to
heal down to the bone where he reattached it. The guy's a sports medicine
surgeon and a cyclist, so I am inclined to do what he tells me most of the
time. He did say riding on the road was okay, but to avoid anything too
rough on the shoulder.

Well today was just too damn nice to be a psuedo-roadie. 72 deg F, sunny,
dry trails, I couldn't pass it up. I figured I'd drag the boy wonder with
me and that would force me to keep the speed down and just take it easy. We
went to the local trails and started with the first little one mile loop of
single track. The BW actually mastered all the bridges without incident and
his confidence level shot through the roof.

The bumps and roots on the single track were a bit much on the wounded wing,
even with the fork set as soft as I could get it. So I decided we'd better
stick to the fire roads. We rode for a little over an hour and the sun was
starting to go down and BW was starting to complain about being hungry. We
"raced" back to the parking lot and I dug out the last of the granola bars
in my camelbak to feed the starving child. He looked so cool -- mud flecked
legs, gloves still on, helmet hair, and bar hanging out his mouth and a big
grin on his face.


Wish I'd had a camera to capture it. A perfect example
of pure mountain bike joy. The absolute essence of what's so great about
this sport. We didn't ride all that fast, or all that crazy. But the boy
rode hard and he didn't want to stop because it was just too much damn fun.
I was just happy to be there.

sweet!


Shoulder hurt like hell, despite sticking to the fire roads. I'm sure it
was just the tiny little bumps and the absolute lack of strenght in the arm.
Whatever the cause, all things are made better through chemicals. Either
way, it was well worth it to see the expression on a 9 year old kid who just
rode himself to exhaustion and loved every minute of it.

Tom

nice rr,
Bill
The mind serves properly as a window glass rather
than as a reflector, that is, the mind should give
an immediate view instead of an interpretation of the world.
:-]