Rider Down
Yesterday I rode my bike. It was a ride that wouldn’t even bear mention under normal circumstances, but it was noteworthy because it was the first time I’ve been able to ride since my crash, more than three weeks ago.
As I was riding home from work one afternoon, I was involved in an incident with a car. I’m not going to go into the details of it, except to say that it could have been a lot worse, so for that I am thankful. I had expected my body to have grown a lot more fragile with age, but I guess that’s a more gradual process than I imagined… or I was just incredibly lucky.
The most lasting injury for me has been a bad foot/ankle injury, which has kept me from riding (or even walking much) at all. Sadly, that’s put me out of commission for a good chunk of the most enjoyable riding of the year.
I’m certainly fortunate that this didn’t happen before my big Pan-Mass Challenge charity ride, because missing that would have been heartbreaking. I haven’t mentioned this year’s PMC ride here yet, but both the ride and the fundraising went extremely well, and you can read all about it in my usual comprehensive 2013 PMC ride report.
As it turns out, the crash also wound up being my final bike commute home from my expiring job in Quincy. Less than a week later, the office was emptied and vacated. The few of us still on the payroll have continued working from our homes for a while, which worked out well for me, given my injuries.
The bike is also pretty banged up, but salvageable. The worst part is that the components that were damaged are all expensive ones. So much for having a nice, new, pristine bike. That didn’t last long, did it? And the new bike will be in the shop for some time yet, so yesterday’s ride was on the old Plastic Bullet.
As you might expect, yesterday’s ride was a mixed experience. The best thing I can say is that it felt so good to be back in the saddle, enjoying the outdoors and getting some exercise in, rather than sitting at home with my leg up. I did a somewhat hilly 45-mile route out to Kimball’s and treated myself to some ice cream.
But in comparison to where I would have been without the accident it was very disappointing. I was slow and very limited both by reduced aerobic fitness (and correspondingly high heart rate) and by the ankle, which was done and gave up by mile 35. I was in pain any time I tried to accelerate, climbed a hill, or even just clipped into or out of the pedals. And understandably I had to deal with some post-accident jitters.
Prior to the accident, I had planned to spend yesterday doing the gorgeous Maine Lighthouse Ride; it would have been a beautiful day for it, and it would have been a very satisfying seventh century of the season. Instead, I probably won’t get another 100-mile ride in this year, and I hope I’ll be healthy enough to do the 50-mile Hub on Wheels ride later this month. And who knows when the shop will finish patching up the new bike.
Thankfully, during my recuperation there was one deeply satisfying event that took place. I received a PMC donation from an old friend that put me over $16,000 fundraising for this year. That is an incredible and unexpected new record, and also means that in my 13 years as a PMC rider, I’ve now singlehandedly raised over $100,000 for cancer research, treatment, and prevention at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
That’s an achievement that means the world to me, and is something I’ll treasure and value as one of the most important accomplishments of my life. So it has been helpful to offset the sense of depression and discouragement from the accident with the pride and satisfaction of reaching that long-anticipated lifetime goal, and remembering the support that I’ve received from the hundreds of caring friends who have sponsored my rides for so many years.
That goes a long way toward making this setback a little easier to endure.