Grounded!

[Elkman]

So a little while back I flew in a graceful arc over the handlebars when I didn’t realize a newly poured section of concrete on a nearby bike path had the extra feature of a couple inches of raised edge where it left the sidewalk. Bike stopped, I kept going. True to my genetics, I ignored the resultant shoulder pain and stiffness and waited for it to get better. We all know where this is going: I am getting scheduled for Rotator Cuff surgery next week.

Fine, but who knew this would kick me off the bike for possibly up to six months? Holy smokes, that can’t be possible! Unfortunately it is, and now instead of RabH’s wonderful rides serving as inspiration, he is just going to annoy the hell out me as the summer ends, Fall comes and goes, and the bikes sit there with the tires getting lower every day.

Oh well, I can go back to playing the guitar, my old standby. What’s that? NOPE, that’s out, too.

So I will be reading and hanging around here as much as always and enjoying the old camaraderie and the new arguments as always, but from the sidelines. Fortunately I can still ride until the surgery if I promise not to fall over again, and that will cover my 70th birthday this weekend, and my entry into what Dave Berry tells us is the best decade of our lives, so there’s always something to look forward to there.

Watch those curbs, people, they bite! Of course, inspired by Alaskan’s garage picture the other day, my wife just bought me a new Park Tool bike stand for said birthday… oh, the humanity!

I tore a rotator cuff while removing limbs from the oaks on my property. It reduced how high I could raise my arm without a great deal of pain. I was fortunate to find a physical therapist who had worked for the SF Giants ball club and attended to the pitchers. He did a 3x per week stretching of my shoulder and moved it to a much greater degree than I could have done on my own. I told him to not worry about my pain and to do what needed to be done, and he did just that. The end result was that after four weeks of PT I had regained 100% of my mobility with the shoulder. I was very lucky to have encountered this physical therapist with his background in sports. I have only worked with one other PT that was worthwhile.

 

[Dallant]

So a little while back I flew in a graceful arc over the handlebars when I didn’t realize a newly poured section of concrete on a nearby bike path had the extra feature of a couple inches of raised edge where it left the sidewalk. Bike stopped, I kept going. True to my genetics, I ignored the resultant shoulder pain and stiffness and waited for it to get better. We all know where this is going: I am getting scheduled for Rotator Cuff surgery next week.

Fine, but who knew this would kick me off the bike for possibly up to six months? Holy smokes, that can’t be possible! Unfortunately it is, and now instead of RabH’s wonderful rides serving as inspiration, he is just going to annoy the hell out me as the summer ends, Fall comes and goes, and the bikes sit there with the tires getting lower every day.

Oh well, I can go back to playing the guitar, my old standby. What’s that? NOPE, that’s out, too.

So I will be reading and hanging around here as much as always and enjoying the old camaraderie and the new arguments as always, but from the sidelines. Fortunately I can still ride until the surgery if I promise not to fall over again, and that will cover my 70th birthday this weekend, and my entry into what Dave Berry tells us is the best decade of our lives, so there’s always something to look forward to there.

Watch those curbs, people, they bite! Of course, inspired by Alaskan’s garage picture the other day, my wife just bought me a new Park Tool bike stand for said birthday… oh, the humanity!

Been there, done that! Bummer! All I can say is I wasn’t having anywhere near as much fun as you were when I blew my shoulder out!
The real crappy part was that when I went in for my pre-operation checkup, they said, forget about your shoulder, pal, WE ARE SEEING A PROBLEM WITH YOUR HEART! 3 days later I was in for open heart surgery. 6 months later they got to the shoulder but by that time my now old injury had become a lot of scar tissue and, being 60 yrs old, the operation just didn’t help as much as it should have. The best advice I can give is to get it done ASAP and listen to your doc and DO NOT TRY TO DO TO MUCH TOO SOON!

 

[Al P]

Sorry to hear about your accident, Dave. I hope your surgery goes well and your recovery is quick.