April Recap (Part 2)

Well, the day after the century gravel ride was another Baker's Dozen pre-ride day.  The day was absolutely gorgeous, warm, sunny, and full of teammates and friends.  We were sessioning technical features on the course and just spending time working on our skills and confidence.

Hanging out and cheering on those that are working on the rock obstacle.

It was really fun to just hang out as a group and work on stuff, give advice, and cheer everyone on.  There were several teammates that are not avid mountain bikers that really made HUGE strides on some of the more technical stuff.

This rock climb looks terribly intimidating!

Well, I was NOT one of those riders on that day. While following Dane up a rooty section in the field, I decided to NOT follow his line (plus, for some reason, he was going slower than I was, so I needed to pass in order to not hit the brakes).  I hit a root that I thought was only 4 inches high, but was covered in tall grass, so I did not see that it was actually 8-10 inches tall.  My front wheel caught, and over the bars I tried to go.  Luckily, I threw my weight back, so I saved the endo.  BUT... I fell over and instinctively put my right hand out to break my fall (yes, I know...  I know...).  My hand landed on a rock and I immediately felt sharp pain.  *sigh*

After taking assessment and making sure that I was mostly okay, I took my glove off.  My hand and wrist were already starting to swell.  Yikes.  So, I immediately took of the ring and road ID on my right hand and swapped them to the left.  It took a couple of minutes, but I decided that it was not detrimentally broken (if it was broken at all) and determined that I could ride out, although extremely cautiously.  I finished the loop, but was unable to shift or grip the right bar with my thumb.  Luckily there was beer and ice in the parking area, so I hung out while some others did another loop.

Beer makes an excellent pain killer!

I decided to wait to see how things progressed before getting an x-ray.  The next morning, this is what greeted me.

Is that an eggplant or your hand?

I ended up working and then heading to urgent care to see what kind of damage I did. When the PA and x-ray tech saw my hand they immediately prepared me for the worst, it was probably broken.  *sad face*

I got a few x-rays taken and settled in to wait for the radiologist and PA to read them.  Well, it turns out I have super bones!  It was broken-not-broken (my terms, not theirs).  Actually, it was a mild sprain and a severe bone contusion.  The scaphoid bone was actually DENTED. So there were micro fractures in the bone structure, but the bone itself was intact.  This was good-ish news.  Urgent care fitted me with a weird thumb brace and sent me on my way with a prescription for extra-super-duper strength Aleve and an appointment with an ortho for the next day.

Sad face!

The next day, I got laughed at by the ortho who was also amazed that the bone was not actually broken.  I was then fitted with a fancy-schmancy new wrist/thumb brace and told to take it easy and not to fall on it again.  Apparently if you fall on it again, it shatters...  Eek!

I can ride to the drug store, though, right?

In order to keep my riding streak alive, I rode VERY slowly around my neighbourhood every day, but drove *GASP* to work and instead of mountain biking, went running *DOUBLEGASP*.

These shoes get used literally twice a year...  My knees were not happy!

The next weekend, I went back to Baker's and did a VERY slow loop with the brace on.  It was very slow going and pretty achy at the end, but I did it!

Hanging with friends after continuing to "take it easy".
Photo courtesy of Jen Wheeler

The next week, I went back to the ortho to have my hand x-rayed again.  Still not (fully) broken!  I was shown the magic of kinesiology tape.  Since Baker's Dozen was less than a week away, I figured I should start mountain biking again.  Triumphant (well, sort of) return!

Taped wrist still means taking it easy, right?!

Baker's Dozen was a miserable mess.  It was muddy, chilly, and I destroyed my bike.  That is about all I am going to say about that, as I am still traumatised.  Plus, a picture is worth a thousand words, eh?

After the first lap. Notice all of those clean people behind me...

After the second lap.  Seriously, I did not want to smile.  It was awful. And my wrist hurt.

After Baker's Dozen, I needed to ramp my mileage back up.  So the king of Loudoun Gravel himself organized a scouting ride for his annual GRASP fundraiser.  (Note: Please look into this, it is an amazing organization that does great work in helping youth get out and stay out of gangs.)  To test my wrist, we did 92 miles on a beautiful, sunny, and warm Friday.

More sunny skies for days!

It was an impossibly fun route and we got to hang out with some farm animals.  I may have even been bitten by an Emu!

And by may have, I mean definitely was...

This ride was my first time going up the gravel side of Mount Weather, and I was not disappointed by its steepness. Also, in order to REALLY up the ante, there was fresh (i.e. loose and deep) gravel.  I walked more of it than I would like to admit.  It was definitely good DK200 training.  And while near the end of the ride, my wrist was starting to ache a bit, mostly because of all the pot holes I had trouble avoiding, I felt great and was pretty enthused that I had not lost much fitness due to my injury.