Staying Positive!
One week ago, I crashed for the first time ever at a bike race (Criterium) due to some protruding asphalt that was camouflaged in the shade. Currently, one week later, I still am not able to get on the bike. Today I went to the doctor today to get my injuries--some scrapes, road rash, and a muscle strain--checked out, and I heard mostly positive things. The worse was that I'd have to take 1-2 weeks off or at a very low intensity or 25% of what I normally do, which would be somewhere under 4 hours a week. Of course, the lost of fitness and the training setback sure bums me out, especially since I was really on a roll for 15 weeks straight (almost as long as a semester of school!).
However, I found that it's easy to get through this and stay positive, and that's because 1) it's very early in the season and 2) there's a always a brighter side to bad things. In this case, I have more time to learn how to train with power before a target race and I could probably manage performance better over time toward a peak. There are also later races in the year where I was like "aw man I wish I could peak for that," and these races seem fitting for a peak considering the re-structuring I need to do!
My Injuries
So what are the implications resulting from crashing in a crit? Well first off, let me mention that the part I crashed at was the uphill part coming out of an uphill corner, so our speed & momentum was reducing. Thus, I really only crashed in the low 20's MPH.
The main reason I'm still off the bike is probably my fault. I love lots of tension in the pedals, and I think my pedals--especially on the right, had a bit too much tension, so during the crash the leg was pretty much fixed or stuck. This meant it required a great amount of force--probably a pulling force--for the foot to leave the cleat vertically, instead of the normal twisting motion. Combine that with the way I landed upon impact, then you get the idea. I pretty much strained the muscle groups in my groin due to the high tension in the pedal:cleat. Other than that, I have healing scrapes and bruises.
The picture I put is actually mostly all of the items that I use for my first-aid. Some of these are extras from my crash last year, but some are new like the Walgreens Saline spray (which can actually be flowed similar to how wringing water from a cotton ball works).
My favorite wound dressing is any Silver microbial ointment. It has worked wonders for me and it still does! In fact, I favor it over tegaderm but just because of the fact I'm not riding. If I were riding, tegaderm would still be the applicable dressing due to the fact that it's easier to ride with. Bug anyways, the Curad microbial dressing is sold over the counter and it's $6 at Rite-Aid for a 0.5 oz tube.
Finally, the Curad non-stick pads are a must if you do choose to dress the wounds up. They are like 98% non-stick, and 98.99% ouchless. Other people would probably say they are 100% non-stick/ouchless though. I only remove the 1.5% because any draining fluid will stick and you will feel some sensation when taking it off! but it's like a less than a 1/10 in terms of pain. I've been using Curad non-stick pads since 2011 and have never used anything else after that.
Anyways, I definitely can't wait to ride again, but at the same time I am also enjoying the time off the bike. I'm not saying I am overtrained or burnt out, but this is the first time I've been training straight and consistently instead of trying to get away with inconsistent training. Thus, my head needs to calibrate with my motivation. With that said, I'm looking forward to spending time with family and spending time on other non-cycling related hobbies.
But like I said, I can't wait to ride again!!!
- DB
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