Clavicle Break: Week 3 (July 7, 2018 - July 13, 2018)

Pain Level: 4 to 7, weaning off Norco 5/325.
Discomfort Level: 10
Attire: Shorts and a sling.  Occasional button down shirts.
Sleeping: Recliner.
Nutrition: Higher than normal calories to maximize healing, with supplements geared towards bone regrowth.
Mobility: Slow, but getting more comfortable moving around.
Physical Therapy: None

Week three is more of the same as week two in terms of mobility and eating.  I did, however, stop taking pain medication.  True to what I'd been told and most of what I'd read, the constant pain dissipated during week three to the point that I was comfortable ditching the narcotics.  I still had to be careful though, b/c pain could easily ramp right back up to 10 if I moved wrong.  The constant ache was gone, but the bone and surrounding tissues were still very much broken.

I tried a night in our bed this week, but found it to be too uncomfortable, so I went back to the recliner.

To pass the time, I watched YouTube videos on cycling, Lance Armstrong documentaries, and followed the Tour de France.

I did find the motivation to head out to the garage and take a look at the bike.  I didn't clean it, I was only interested in a visual inspection.  I identified the following areas of damage - the handlebars were very much out of alignment, the handlebar tape on the right side was shredded, there was a dent of about 1.5" in the side of the top tube about halfway between the head tube and seat tube, and the rear tire was flat.  The dent wasn't deep and didn't appear structural, but it did cause me no small amount of concern.  I started gathering a list of potential replacement bikes.

That sharp pain in my right side seemed to resolve itself.  It was nowhere to be found this week.  Also, I didn't note any ribcage pain.  That was curious, and promising.

Showers continued to get easier and less painful, but I was still very very careful.

We went back into the doctor's office and they were able to remove those final two stitches.  They had to dig around a bit, but they got them.  They advised we keep it bandaged for another week or so, if only to avoid ripping it open by bumping it on something.  The skin was holding firm, but wasn't necessarily as strong as it would be when 100% healed.

All in all, healing appeared to be progressing fairly well.

<-- Week Two | Series | Week Four -->

Clavicle Break: Week 2 (June 30, 2018 - July 6, 2018)

Pain Level: 1-8, and tempered by Norco 5/325.
Discomfort Level: 10
Attire: Workout shorts and a sling.
Sleeping: Recliner.
Nutrition: Higher than normal calories to maximize healing, with supplements geared towards bone regrowth.
Mobility: Very low.
Physical Therapy: None

Week two is honestly a bit of a blur.

We did make it to my doctor to have the stitches removed.  This happened later in the week.  Getting there and back again was... unpleasant.  Not terribly painful, but certainly unpleasant.  Once there, they were able to pull all but two stitches, which were too deeply embedded.  They advised continued use of the bandage, wrapping, and antibiotics.  Another appointment was scheduled for the following week.

I lived in the recliner again this week.  Getting up only to shower and use the restroom.  It was very easy to aggravate the collar bone, shoulder, ribs, and arm.  So I just avoided moving as much as possible.

I binge watched The Office, Seasons 1 through 9, and then moved on to Supernatural.  I tried to go upstairs and build Legos with my son, but I couldn't take the position for long before I had to head back to the recliner.  I wasn't able to do this until late in week three.

Showers were easier because my wife found a waterproof sling that I could use.  That stabilized things enough that the pain was less than it had been, though I still dreaded them.  As such, these first two weeks saw me in the shower every other day, at most.

We continued to change the bandage on my arm daily.  Every day, the old bandage was a little less stained than the previous day, and there was no sign of infection.  It was looking like the doc did a decent job.  It's going to make for an ugly scar, but it didn't look like it would be infected.

I was also able to shift my thinking from weight loss to recovery this week.  I ate a lot more for every meal than I had since I started training, in hopes of sufficiently feeding the mechanisms involved in bone healing.  I'd read multiple places that bone growth requires at least an additional 600 calories.  I intended to provide.  I did some research on supplements and good foods to promote bone regrowth.  For foods, I basically landed on lots of whole foods, including fruits and vegetables (dark leafy greens).  For supplements, I landed on Glucosamine, Chondroitin, and MSM, plus multi-vitamins to round things off.

I also started practicing the concept of front loading the day with a relatively big breakfast, smaller lunch, and even smaller dinner.  While it didn't really apply to my current sedentary state, the idea is to provide more calories for the active day, and reduce calories right before bed.  So, I started aiming for a percentage of calories per meal at about 45/35/20.

The cramps in my left deltoid did not return this week, though the sharp pain in my right side remained - again, only when I moved my right arm in a specific way.

I started looking forward to the Tour de France, which started on July 7th.  I not only hadn't given up on cycling, but I started to feel all the more determined to get more involved and knowledgeable about it.

<-- Week One | Series | Week Three -->

2019 Canyon Utimate S / 2004 Torelli Scappa 55cm Geometry Comparison

Out of curiosity, I did some comparisons between my current bike, a 2004 55cm Torelli Scappa built out with various parts with what I'm eyeballing as the replacement, a stock Canyon Ultimate CF SLX 9.0 Movistar.

Torelli	Canyon Ultimate

I plugged my numbers into the Canyon sizing wizard (Their Perfect Position System), and they spit out a "Small" as the frame size for me. I thought that was curious - I'd always felt (note that I'd "felt", not "known") myself to be more of a Medium kind of guy. So I compared the Ultimate Small geometry and sizing to my Torelli...

Component	Canyon Ultimate  CF SLX 9 Small	<=>	Torelli (55cm)	Adjustable on Stock Canyon
Rider Height (cm)	172-178	N/A	177	No
Saddle Height (mm)	690-790	N/A	770	Yes
Seat tube length	494	<	590	No
Top tube length	543	<	550	No
Head tube length	130	<	151	No
Head tube angle	72.3°	?	Unmeasured	No
Seat tube angle	73.8°	?	Unmeasured	No
Chainstay length	415	>	397	No
Wheel base	993	>	988	No
Stack	546	<	570	No
Reach	385	>	375	No
Spacer	27.2	>	0	Yes
Stem length	90	<	110	No
Handlebar width	390	<	420	No
Crank length	170	<	172.5	No
Seat post diameter	27.2	==	27.2	No
Seat post length	350	N/A	Unmeasured	Yes
Wheel size	700c	==	700c	No

The Torelli is larger in a number of nonadjustable ways, most notably tube lengths, and stack.

However, the Small Canyon Ultimate frame has a longer chainstay length, a longer reach, a longer wheelbase, and will be closer overall to the ground. Based on my limited experience and understanding, those will have more impact in terms of fit and handling.

I didn't measure the angles, but the Torelli appears to be generally more "compressed" with its shorter wheelbase.  I'd bet that the angles are more open - closer to 90°.  Relative to the wheel base, this may make the center of gravity higher.

Other measurements where the Torelli is bigger, such as the handlebar width and crank length aren't intrinsic to the frame, and are ultimately adjustable if I want to move away from the stock Canyon Ultimate and spend the money.  I'm not really factoring those in.

I believe the Torelli will prove to be more twitchy and responsive than the Canyon, but less stable.  I anticipate cornering will require a little more effort with the Canyon, while maintaining my line will be slightly easier.  This may explain why going no-hands was always a little tough on the Torelli.  It was possible, but it never felt quite comfortable...

I'd like to take a photo of the Torelli and overlay it on top of the Canyon Ultimate to get a visual idea of how the measurements above look.  I'll give it a shot and see how that goes.  My photo manipulation skillz, never great, are nowhere near what they used to be.  I gave it a shot (no pun intended), and it didn't work out.  I'll just have to get the angles the old fashioned way.

At the end of the day I don't know what I'm talking about.  So I'm inclined, based on what I see and the understanding that the Canyon folk have a lot more experience, to go with their recommendation.  Not that I wouldn't have, mind you, I just wanted to see how the Ultimate compared to the Torelli.

Clavicle Break: Week 1 (June 23, 2018 - June 29, 2018)

Sidenote: Entirely for my own purposes, I imagined discomfort and pain as two separate, but conjoined scales.  First is discomfort, which ranges from 1 to 10.  After a level 10 discomfort, it graduates to level 1 pain, ramping up to the worst possible level 10 pain.  To those who wonder why I don't just collapse the scales in to the industry accepted chart, I answer "This one goes to eleven."

Pain Level: 6-8, but tempered by Norco 5/325.
Discomfort Level: 10
Attire: Workout shorts and a sling.
Sleeping: Recliner
Nutrition: Very little
Mobility: Very low
Physical Therapy: None


I don't remember Sunday.  I imagine that day was spent (by my wife) arranging the living room for an extended stay, including getting power out to the recliner for my phone, a TV tray set up nearby and within reach for my meals, books, remote control, and various flotsam.

It may have been on Sunday, or it may have been Saturday night, but my 5 year old decided to run his bike into the garage door and fall over.  He got up and proclaimed to my wife that he'd broken his collar bone, too.  He did not, he just wanted to be just like Daddy...

On Monday following The Event, we got in to see an Orthopedic surgeon.

First, however, we had to drive all the way back to the hospital ER I was originally admitted to.  It was about a 45 minute drive which isn't too bad in the grand scheme of things, but when your Ortho is 10 minutes from home, and you have to spend 2 hours or more in the car to get there and back including traffic and wait time, it's a problem.  So, the lesson is, get the X-Rays on CD before you leave the ER, just in case your Ortho and the ER can't electronically communicate like mine couldn't.

So, we made the drive.  He reviewed the X-Rays and determined that I wasn't a candidate for surgery.  There wasn't enough displacement between the two halves of the bone, and his opinion was that I had a 95% chance to heal naturally if I took care of it properly.  Surgery would have been unnecessary and would introduce risks that just weren't worth it.

It's difficult to express the level of disappointment I felt. I'd been training very hard for months in order to take part in my "A" event in Colorado - The Copper Triangle, and I had to come to terms with the fact that I wouldn't be riding that, or anything, anytime soon.  I left his office committed to getting a second opinion that led to surgery, but by the next morning, had come around to his way of thinking.  The risks just weren't worth it, and there'd be no guarantee that surgery would have gotten me back on the bike too much sooner anyway.  Well... it probably would have, but again with the risks.  Honestly, I think I was just too uncomfortable and exhausted physically to mentally deal with the effort of getting that second opinion.  I really did not want to leave the house again unless I absolutely had to.  I was full on Protect The Shoulder mode.

I lived in a recliner for the entire week, and basically had assistance with everything, aside from bathroom visits.  Fortunately, I was able to accomplish that on my own.  Showering was ridiculously painful and difficult because we didn't have an extra sling.  I self-supported the arm, and didn't to a great job of it.

Throughout the week, when I moved my right arm in a very specific way I experienced a stabbing pain in my right side, right at the bottom tip of the latissimus dorsi.  This was weird b/c it was my left side that took the hit.

Now and again, a small vertical strip in my left deltoid would seize and cramp painfully.  Unfortunately, I just had to wait it out because I couldn't move my arm to relieve it.

We changed the bandages above my elbow daily, and it was a bit of an ordeal because I had to raise my arm to get the bandage underneath.  That felt far less than stellar.  The old bandages were pretty stained every day, and we were on high alert for infection.  It was a filthy dirty wound.

My wife, by the way, was a superstar through all this.

I ate very little because I was still motivated to get down to my mountain climbing weight (~77kg), and because eating was uncomfortable and inconvenient.

A highlight of the week was receiving a package in the mail.  In the package was a set of training wheels that my Brother and Father ordered for me.  That gave me a very much needed laugh.

<-- The Event | Series | Week Two -->

Clavicle Break: The Event (June 23, 2018)

As a followup to my previous post... this time with more cowbell...

I broke my collar bone during a ride called The Tour de Lakes in Lees Summit, Missouri, at about 10:10 AM on 6/23.  I was going too fast in the aero bars down a hill that ended in a blind curve.  Unable to make the curve, I exited the pavement and hit the deck among the broken pavement, rocks, and trees.


Passing riders saw me within 2 minutes, assessed me, and called Ride Assistance (we had the number on all our wrist bands).  Within 14 minutes, the paramedics had arrived, and within 17, the ambulance had arrived.  While on site, my blood pressure dropped to 60/48, but other than that, I was awake, aware, and had no indication of head trauma.

Complete, but clean clavicle break

In terms of obvious injuries, my left arm above my elbow was on fire, my left shoulder was in serious distress, and there were several areas around my chest that hurt.  Something had happened to my arm - they were talking about blood pooling on the pavement.  I asked if it was arterial, and they told me I was fine.  My collar bone was definitely broken or dislocated, though apparently not obviously to even the trained eye, and it felt like I'd done some ribs as well.

While they were looking me over and prepping me for the trip to the ER, I recall making several comments about not leaving my bike behind.  I also remember looking it over as much as I was able, and confirming that at least the wheels weren't taco'd.

I was in the ER for about 5 hours while they gave me morphine, took X-Rays, cleaned and stitched my arm.  The clavicle was definitely broken, and the arm required 11 stitches, 7 external and 4 internal.  Something I hit in the tumbling tore an inch square hole in my arm down to the subcutaneous fat.  My Mother asked if she was looking at bone - fortunately, she was not.

Severe laceration/trench caused by unknown road debris

My wife and 5 year old son came to the hospital to see me and take me home.  I was really hoping my son wouldn't see me in this condition, but there wasn't much I could do about it.  He was witness to me in pretty severe pain, and got a close look at the bloody dirty hole in my arm.  He kept it together, though, with a lot of assurances from my wife, myself, and the staff that I would be perfectly OK - it would just take some time.

Most of the time was spent waiting, which shouldn't come as any surprise.  After they released me, it was straight home and to the recliner.  I got up only to use the restroom and take off my jersey.  Amazingly, we were able to get it off without cutting it off, and even more amazingly, it was completely intact!  All that damage to me, and somehow my jersey didn't get ripped up!

<-- Original Post | Series | Week One -->

So... This Happened...

At about 10:07 AM on June 23rd, I had the worst bicycle crash of my long and otherwise uneventful (and decidedly non-decorated) cycling career.

It was at about mile 45 of the 2018 Tour de Lakes.  The video linked to below shows the event, but essentially I was going too fast around an unfamiliar turn and was unable to negotiate it successfully.

Here is a video of the event:  https://youtu.be/-F4X9cidSmI

Here are a couple pictures that show the damage:

Complete, but clean clavicle break

The clavicle break was not a candidate for surgery, meaning I'm on a longer, but otherwise complication free recovery tract.

Severe laceration/trench caused by unknown road debris

The laceration/trench required 11 stitches in total, including 4 internal and 7 external. All but one was removed on Friday, June 6th. That one was too embedded and the tissue still too swollen to remove it safely. The final embedded stitch was safely removed on Friday, June 13th.

Detailed Account of The Event -->

Legit Sore

Yesterday was the first time I can recall my quads being actually sore from cycling.  I've had that day-after burn from running and strength training (squats, deadlifts, etc), but never from cycling... until yesterday.  The workout was Spruce Knob, and consists of two thirty minute intervals separated by a 6 minute recovery interval.  All this at 85% FTP.  In other words, it's a tough one.  A lot of time is spent very near threshold power, and there's not a ton of relative recovery time between efforts.

I've done multiple centuries in the Kansas heat.  I've done the 120 mile Triple Bypass in Colorado three times (well, I actually finished it twice).  I've done all-out nothing-left-behind time trials and end-of-long-ride sprints.  None of those have me lingering muscle soreness.  The left me totally cooked, but not sore.

I'm going to read that as a sign that TrainerRoad is working.  Those workouts are the cause of this soreness, after all.  The weekend high intensity workouts prescribed in my Sustained Power Build plan are... well... intense.

On the TrainerRoad - What I've Learned So Far

Over the last year or so, after a several year hiatus, I've immersed myself in the world of cycling again.  This time, it's with a much higher focus on actual "training", rather than the bike riding I passed off as training in years past.

I've been riding bikes since I was about 4.  It wasn't really until this past April, 40*cough*-some-odd years later that I really started legit training.

I'm no stranger to hard rides.  Some of my "career highlights" include:

• Multiple unsupported centuries and near centuries in the Kansas summer heat and humidity.
• Multiple supported centuries and metric centuries in the Kansas summer heat and humidity.
• Three attempts at the Triple Bypass in Colorado, with two completions.
• The Tour of the Moon in Colorado.
• Thousands of miles on secondary Kansas highways and urban streets.

In April of 2017, I started riding a lot more in preparation for the Tour of the Moon in September.  That was a fantastic ride.  We had a great time.  6 months later, I raced the 2018 Corporate Challenge KC Time Trial.  It's a paltry 2 laps on the Kansas Speedway, totaling 3 miles.  I did it in 7m 22s, at an average power of about 250 watts, and I was completely cooked.  It took me 10 minutes to catch my breath, and another hour for the chest burn to subside.  I left everything out there on the track, and enjoyed every second of it.  As an added bonus, that performance earned me 5th in my age bracket overall, and 1st in my division!

That performance proved to be the tipping point for me.  Maybe I can actually do a little more with this cycling thing.  It inspired me to graduate from simply "riding my bike to get better" to actually "training."  I'd been listening to the TrainerRoad podcast for a few months already, so the concept of structured training was already in my mind.  After that race, I bought a smart trainer, the Tacx Neo Smart, some Favero Assioma power meter pedals, a few other odds and ends for my "pain cave", and a subscription to TrainerRoad.

I researched the training plans, asked some questions, and came up with a path designed to generate the most fitness given my limited time.  On August 4th, myself and a bunch of friends are tackling the Copper Triangle in Colorado (we do like our Colorado rides).  My training began 15 weeks prior to Go Time, on April 22nd.  That's not a lot of time, when you consider that the standard TR plan takes 28+ weeks.  I had to adjust the plans, and bank on having sufficient carry-over fitness to make it work.

So far, I think it's working.

Recall that I was completely spent lungs a-burnin' after pushing 250 watts for 7m 22s.

On Saturday June 8th, after training for 6 weeks, I did a workout composed of 5 6 minute intervals at 250 watts separated by 4 minutes of recovery.  That's nearly the equivalent of doing the Corporate Challenge Time Trial 5 times over with 4 minutes rest in between.  And I rocked it.  It was definitely challenging and there were moments when I didn't think I could do it.  But I did it.  And I wasn't completely spent afterwards.

In 6 weeks, I went from from being completely spent after a hard effort, to being able to repeat that hard effort 5 times with minimal rest.  That's improvement.

So, what have I learned so far:

• There is a distinct difference between riding my bike, and training.  Training definitely involves riding my bike, but riding my bike doesn't necessarily involve training.
• There is no substitute for honest effort structured training, designed by people who understand the sport and the physiology required to perform well.  Fully enjoying my outdoor rides is the point at the end of the day, but structured disciplined indoor training is vastly superior in terms of making the most progress in the least amount of time.
• Nutrition matters.  I knew this.  Now I know that I really don't know that much.  I've learned that it's not just what you eat, but also when you eat it.  Maybe when you eat it  is more important.  I'm still learning this.
• Cycling improvement is more like weight training than I'd previously considered.  The only way to get stronger is to push deep into uncomfortable territory.  Sounds so obvious, now that I write it down.
• That this is a journey.  Getting fit and becoming a faster more capable cyclist isn't a destination, it's a commitment that will take as much time as I'm willing to give it.

Botnets and Blackhats

Cryptomancer looks interesting.  Looking forward to when my son is old enough to start role playing.

Obligatory "Skynet" Reference

Google Translate Solves Own Problem