Those boots were made for walking....

And that's just what they did.

Seeing as I can't ride at all yet (can't even sit on my bike never mind ride the thing!) I decided that a walk was in order to try and retain some strength in my thigh and limit the amount of time in physio later.

So on went the nice clean walking boots and off I set in search of mud!

I had to cheat a little (bus) to get to the start of my walk in Bardsley, but once there it was bliss.

Nobody about, just me and the tweeting of the birds, the quacking of the ducks and the sound of silence.

I set off along the disused and bullrush congested Hollinwood branch canal with nothing but farmland either side of me and only the ducks for company as the birds fluttered off as I wandered past and over Valley Aqueduct and Waterhouses Aqueduct to Sammy's Basin at Daisy Nook Country Park.

On the approach to Dark Tunnel I spotted a route off to my left down to the River Medlock and chose to head this way as I've never been on this bit before. It turned out to be a very good choice!

This part of the route was rather hilly with not much of it on the flat, and it followed the river as it meandered it's way through the countryside.

Lots of mud and climbing up and down the hills and far too soon I was at the site of Riversvale Hall which was sadly ripped down many, many years ago; a little trip along Riversvale Drive and then I returned via a diversion actually into the river (very shallow here) to clean my boots a little and headed back to the Dark Tunnel and on into the John Haworth Centre for a very welcome mug of tea.

By now the unseasonably warm weather meant I was pulling my jumper off and stuffing it into my bag as 2 layers was far too many!

Once refreshed I set off onto the Jericho Trail to a cute little bridge some of you may remember from my January walk along here. All too soon I was at Cinderland Bridge and along the track squashed in between Cinderland Hall Farm and a school - getting ripped to shreds by the brambles that I'd forgotten were here!

Before I knew it I'd walked about 3 miles - not much really, but when you consider my broken pelvis has only had 1 month of healing with more to go... - I'm impressed with how far I managed to get. Even more impressed with the state of my boots now.....caked in mud, despite my attempts to wash them in the river!

Middleton CC Track Results

Here come the results from yesterdays track championship -

200m sprint

Tony 14.75

Peter R 15.70

Steve C 15.97

Paul 15.98

Alan 16.02

Steve F 16.04

Ali 14.56

Janet 16.85

1k TT

Peter R 1.31.34

Tony 1.37.53

Paul 1.38.08

Steve F 1.39.09

Steve C 1.44.61

Ali 1.34.59

Janet 1.40.66

2k individual pursuit

Janet 3.27.09 v Steve C 3.20.05

Peter R 3.07.00 v Steve F 3.25.42

Paul 3.25.00 v Ali 3.09.56

Middleton CC Track Champs 1

The first session of the Middleton CC Track Championship of 2009 got underway in earnest this afternoon at the Manchester Velodrome with approx 10 riders (club and guests) taking part in the 200m sprint, 1k time trial (4 laps) and the 2k pursuit (8 laps).

As with last year the forerunners seem to be Ali Mitchelmore and Tony Martin although Tony didn't take part in the pursuit.

Ali certainly made the 2k pursuit look easy as she powered past my bro Paul and we had a family affair with Janet pitted against her husband Steve (Steve winning this particular session).

Full results and pics will follow tomorrow. But for now....all hail the king and queen of the track Tony and Ali.

Well done guys!!

February review

After January's successes, I thought that February would either be the same or get even better. My plans didn't quite go according to plan (as this will tell you)! So here's the info -

1. Ride every other day. Rode 1 out of 28 days - 2/2. The very day that plans went awry!
3. Complete a metric century ride each month. Erm, nope!
4. Ride Hartshead Pike once a week. Not a chance.
5. Ride the Middleton CC Club ride. My bro rode it, but alas not me.
6. Ride Chorlton Wanderers ride. Nope.
7. Practice hill repeats. Didn't quite get to a hill on my one and only ride this month.

Total February mileage - 15.29

On the right tracks

I had a follow-up appointment at the MRI this morning with the Ortho docs to check how the pelvis is doing.

After yet more xrays which I scrutinised too, it appears I was very lucky with this break as it's literally micro-millimetres away from the area the thigh muscle attaches to - I could've had the muscle ripped from my pelvis....ouch!

Doc is relatively happy with it and is happy for me to stay off the crutches when I can and just weeble along as this will help retain some of the strength and fitness in my thigh that has been built up over the past 6 months or so. I really don't want to lose too much of this strength as it has improved my track riding and sprinting in general, whereas before I was a trifle naff.

The last time I had a serious fracture was about 5 yrs ago now when my tibial plateau was really buggered and it was about this length of time into the healing process that i got told that one would take pretty much a year to heal; so naturally I was apprehensive about this appointment. But, if doc is happy then I'm happy.

Poor little Everest

She's just sat in the living room looking all forlorn at not being ridden for a fortnight and not again for god knows how long!

I was back at seeing the Ortho Docs on Friday for more xrays and another review after my crash on 2/2. The good news is that there's no other fracture bar the original one and the intense pain I get in my thigh when trying to move it is due to bone bruising - one step off a fracture. Doc is keen to get me moving about on my crutches, so I'm limping my way over to my moms every day just for a bit of exercise and to get out of the flat.

The bad news is that I won't be riding for possibly half the year, so several of my events will have to be missed - 1st session of MCC Track Champs, Cheshire Cat, White Peak Challenge and most likely the Manchester to Liverpool. I'm hoping I'll be fit again to ride Manchester to Blackpool. I was pretty unfit last year when I rode it, so I've no qualms about not training for it; it's purely a matter of whether or not I can sit on the bike near the time. Only time will tell of course.

But for now, I'm doing a tad better than I expected to.

Middleton CC Awards Dinner

The awards dinner was held at The Bower Hotel in Chadderton and an anticipated group of 52 arrived in time for drinks in the bar before moving on into the function room.

After tributes were paid to Harry Hill (Club President and Bronze Medal Winner in the 1936 Berlin Olympics) who sadly passed away last week, the events began to take their usual format with the meal followed by the awards being dished out, then the rigmarole of the raffle!

My table was the 'young' table with Amy, Ali, Steve F and his wife Caroline, Janet and Steve C, Julie H and her husband Steve, and myself and bro Paul. Our table also seemed to be the award winning table too -

Ali - Track Champion

Janet - 2nd place Track Champion and Ged Dowling award

Me - 3rd place Track Champion

Steve F - Most Improved Track Rider

A good time was had by all participants. The 3 course meal was happily devoured by all except the veggies whose main course seemed to be just rush-cooked and not thought out properly. The desserts were yum with Amy happily devouring a couple of pieces of the chocolate cake (she deserved it after Saturday's race).

The raffle raised a good hundred pounds or so for the club with every table having at least one winner - except ours. We had to resort to illegal means to get something!

The only thing that marred the event for me was the few club members who found that my fracturing my pelvis was hilarious and proceeded to rip the piss out of me. So glad they found it so funny. I'll remember that whenever they get injured.

Further reviews

Well, I went back to the MRI this morning for a review with the Ortho docs. It didn't quite go as well as I thought it would.

Firstly, there was the annoyingly long wait to see the doc - bad enough at the best of times, but made worse by not really being able to sit down on hard chairs for very long.

Secondly, the doc confirmed there is a break - I could see it myself on the xrays, so there was no hiding from it.

Lastly, the doc isn't convinced there is only one break. He's concerned about the amount of pain I have and the very limited movement in the left leg without extreme pain or lack of feeling. As a young(ish), sporty person I shouldn't be hurting this much, especially when I have a high pain threshold.
So I have to go back again next Friday for more xrays and to be poked, prodded, tweaked......

Hmmmm, maybe all is not as it originally seemed :o(

January Review

It's a little bit late, but here's my January review.

My main intention for January was to complete the Asics 300 miles in 30 day challenge. Other than that it was simply to get out on the bike more and improve my riding and hill climbing skills. So, here's the info

1. Complete the Asics 300 miles in 30 day challenge. Completed 29/1.
2. Ride every other day. Rode 13 out of 31 days - just shy of every other day.
3. Complete a metric century ride each month (late entry). Completed 30/1.
4. Ride Hartshead Pike once a week. Erm, not quite. Got there twice.
5. Ride the Middleton CC Club ride. Done on 25/1.
6. Ride Chorlton Wanderers ride. Done on 11/1.
7. Practice hill repeats. Done twice with a little improvement on 2nd session.

Total January mileage - 366.75

Weekly mileage -
1/1 - 07/1 63.48
8/1 - 14/1 100.63
15/1 - 21/1 0
22/1 - 28/1 139.30
29/1 - 31/1 63.34

Snow can be fun, right?

Like Amy and Ali, I had all the best intentions of getting out in the snow and having miles of fun. And I did, I covered approx 10 miles on my bike.

Then things went a little wrong. Or should that be, more than a little wrong.
Turning into my road (which never gets gritted, although the entry to it usually does), I saw a car fish-tailing as it tried to turn out of the road and sliding a little on the snow.
Unfortunately i couldn't get out of the way in time and got side-swiped by it as it grazed past my leg. It shit me up so much that I promptly fell off my bike and landed with a huge thud in the snow.

The driver thought he'd killed me (bless, it wasn't even his fault) as I just lay there unable to move for about 5 minutes, letting the cold snow chill the area where I was really hurting. After he freaked out for a while I managed to get up (not sure how), persuade him that I was OK, hobbled to my flat door and crawled up the stairs - no way I was getting my bike clothes cut off me by anyone.

Rang for an ambulance after struggling to get out of bike clothes (pain was horrendously intense & I have a stupidly high pain threshold), got told one would be on it's way; then got a call back to be told it'd been cancelled as I'd quite clearly managed to get inside so can't be that badly injured. I repeated my high pain threshold, but this pain was bringing me to tears it was that bad etc etc, and was told to rest for 24 hrs then see if I needed to get to hospital.

I decided to go against their decision and got to MRI by taxi (bloody excruciating), was seen by a doc as a car had been involved, had x-rays and found that I had been quite badly injured and that I should've been brought in by ambulance as I fractured a section of my pelvis. OUCH!!!

Been allowed home and have to go back to the fracture clinic on Friday to see how long it'll take to heal. I'm writing to the Ambulance Trust as they could have endangered my life by declining me the help.

Sadly, it means that my century challenge for several months is over. I won't be racing in the MCC Track Championship, Cheshire Cat or several other events I had planned. Boo hoo. Still, I'm alive. I'm just very battered and bruised and never felt pain like it!

Sigh......