Break in Training

Riding back along the Kenner bike path in the crosswind.  Last group ride for a little while for me I guess.

Things had been going just fine on the training front lately. Not a single missed day since the first of the year, some good long training rides across the lake, and over 1,500 miles logged through the first week of February. The weather had been reasonably cooperative, the training rides were starting to get a little more intense, and I was feeling as strong as would be expected for weak and frail old guy. I was thinking about travelling with the Tulane team and racing in Texas in the combined Cat. A/Cat. 1/2 road race in less than two weeks. After a nice easy recovery ride on  the levee on Monday I headed out as usual Tuesday morning with Dave and Rich to meet the lakefront training ride. The sky was overcast and rain was expected later in the morning, but radar was, for the moment at least, clear. There was a significant, and increasing, south wind blowing, and it was summer-kit warm. Meeting up with the rest of the group on the lakefront, things ramped up pretty fast, and after making the loop at seabrook they got even faster. A number of people turned off after the lap of Lakeshore Drive, and once we hit the bike path heading out to Kenner I could tell that the crosswind was going to have a big influence on the ride.  Indeed, it was pretty much like ten people trying to sit at a table for four where the front four or five guys were getting a decent draft, but everyone else was strung out along the edge of the road mostly in the wind. It was a good enough morning ride, though, and afterward Rich and I headed back uptown via the usual route as the sky started to darken with the approaching thunderstorms.

We came over the Jeff. Davis overpass and down onto the bike lane alongside a long line of barely moving cars. As often happens in the morning, there were two lanes of cars backed up all the way from the stoplight at Washington Avenue to the overpass. basically at a standstill. I was cruising along in the bike lane at 18-19 mph a few bike lengths ahead of Rich when things all went south. Suddenly a car that I couldn't see pulled across the two lanes of stopped traffic through a little gap and then into the bike lane right in front of me.  I had a millisecond to slam on the brakes when the front of the car cleared the stopped car to my left and slid a bit sideways, slamming hard into the side-view mirror and passenger side door, and then, of course, onto the ground. I sat there stunned for a little while trying to figure out what had just happened. My left shoulder was hurt pretty bad from the impact and I immediately suspected I'd broken the collarbone (again). It's the same collarbone I broke back in 2008 when a dog ran out into the group on the Giro Ride. Since it was already somewhat deformed, though, I couldn't tell for sure if it was broken, separated, or just badly bruised.  My left hand, and especially the ring finger, must have been smashed between the bike and the car, and at the moment the tip of that finger is purple and swollen to about twice normal size (may need another visit to the doctor if it doesn't resolve soon because I had initially just blown it off as a bruise). I also hit the car and/or ground with my head, denting and slightly cracking the helmet on the left side. I had a pretty good gash on my left elbow and some raw skin on my left shoulder under the jersey, but otherwise at least I didn't lose a lot of skin. Fortunately, Rich was able to stop in time and was a big help since it took me a little while to stand up and get back to normal.  The driver of the car jumped out, asking if she should call an ambulance as Rich gathered up my bike and phone and stuff that had come out of my pockets, and the driver of the car behind the crash came over and gave me her card. Rich and I did a quick check and the bike looked OK with only a scrape on the top of the top tube and a missing handlebar plug.  It was fortunate that I'd slid sideways a bit before hitting the car. I imagine a straight-on hit would have broken the frame and launched me head-first into the window or over the roof. I was able to lift my left arm at least up to shoulder level, so after exchanging information with the driver I rode the mile or so back home.

The fracture is at the collarbone bend near the middle
of the image. The separation  is on the right.

When I got home I called the Tulane Sports Medicine Institute, which is right on campus and less than a mile from my house, to see if they could squeeze me in to get some x-rays and see Dr. Savoie. Luckily, Candy knows one of the people who works there, and by now Dr. Savoie probably knows me by name, so they scheduled me for a 12:45 appointment. I sent Danielle off to the Tulane Cycling Center to retrieve my X-brace that I keep in the team first-aid kit.  About that time we started getting emergency weather warnings from LSU, Tulane, and the city about tornadoes.  The local TV was already in full emergency mode trying to cover at least four tornadoes as some seriously bad weather moved into the area. The closest tornado touched down to the east, along and just north of Chef Menteur Highway a bit west of where the Giro Ride turns onto that road.  Whole neighborhoods were completely devastated along the path of that one

Meanwhile, we made a run for TISM, basically in-between tornadoes. After a bunch of shoulder and collarbone X-rays Dr. Savoie came in with a print-out of one of them to show me where the fracture was. He printed out the X-ray from the previous break so we could compare.  Besides the fracture, there was some separation around the AC joint, but the bottom line was that Plan A is to wear the X-brace and check back in a week or two. His instructions were basically, "Well, you know what to do since this ain't your first rodeo."  The shoulder and collarbone hasn't been quite as painful as my other two collarbone breaks, not that it's been all sunshine and unicorns, but at least I was able to get some sleep last night and haven't taken anything stronger than Naproxin. Hopefully it will heal up OK without having to resort to Plan B which would be surgery. I will be flying out to Colorado Springs on Friday for the two-day Officials Summit at USA Cycling, so I'd already been planning on having an easy week.  Looks like it may be a lot easier than I'd expected. One thing for sure is I will be travelling extremely lightly for this trip since lugging stuff across airports won't be any fun at all.