Won't be riding for a while.

[outriding9800]

I did not know you were from detroit..


http://i3.cpcache.com/product/781338599/detroit_the_home_of_robocop_square_car_magnet_3.jpg

[Carbon_Dude]

Actually, I could be better known as the American Injured Warrior.



BTW, if you guys have not watched American Ninja Warrior, give it a look.

[MTNRCKT]

Glad to hear your recovery is coming along fairly quickly.

So now in my collarbone I have eleven screws and one plate, in my leg eight screws, a plate, and a toggle.  That is a bunch of metal!

Haha... That is quite a bit of alloy to have in your body. Pretty crazy. Lucky that you have the technology available to you, I guess.

[Carbon_Dude]

Glad to hear your recovery is coming along fairly quickly.

So now in my collarbone I have eleven screws and one plate, in my leg eight screws, a plate, and a toggle.  That is a bunch of metal!

Haha... That is quite a bit of alloy to have in your body. Pretty crazy. Lucky that you have the technology available to you, I guess.

Might have been cool if the plates were carbon fiber.  However, today they use surgical steel for the plates and titanium alloy for the screws.  I will probably need to only go to the full body scanners at the airport.  Although I don't fly very often so it should not be too much of an inconvenience.

BTW, if anyone happened to watch American Ninja Warrior last night, there was a contestant named Jon Stewart who had a very similar collarbone injury to mine, only his x-ray did not look as clean in the fracture area and he only had 8 screws.  He is 53 years old and very impressively finished the obstacle course.

[Carbon_Dude]

UPDATE:

Started physical therapy on Tuesday.  Amazing how quickly your muscles weaken.  Just doing some very light exercising of my right arm, shoulder and neck.

The scar from the incision is healing but the shoulder aches quite a lot.  I have the typical numbness below the incision, however the feeling should return in a couple months.  Since they took the staples out just 6 days after surgery, the holes from the staples are healed and disappeared so at least I won't have the two dotted lines on either side of the scar.

Looks like it's going to be another 3-4 weeks before I will be back on the bike.  Not allowed to lift anything over a few pounds so even yard work is minimal.  A friend is coming by every few weeks and cutting my grass for me, something I really would rather do myself.

Can't wait until this injury starts feeling better and I can sleep on my right side, ride my bike, and my motorcycle.  At least driving my car with the manual transmission has not been an issue at all, just a week after surgery driving was okay.

[Carbon_Dude]

Final Update:

7 weeks post surgery.  Doctor gave me the okay to ride my bike, motorcycle, and lift more than 3 lbs.  No heavy lifting though.  Even though the X-ray looked very good, the bone still takes 3-6 months to get to full strength. 

Went on a 10 mile ride today and had no problems with the shoulder, it felt really good for the entire ride. It was also a demo day at the local trail.  Rode a Surely Fatbike, the Ice Cream Truck.  While a nice bike, it really wasn't for me.

I'll probably start riding 2 or 3 times a week and slowly get my fitness level up again.  Between the leg break in December, and the collarbone in May, I've put on 15 lbs and some of my clothes are fitting tighter.  Time to start getting serious about loosing this extra weight.

[Patrick C.]

Good to hear you are back on the bike.  I need to come up to Chicopee!

[cmh]

Final Update:

Yes, please, let this be a final update. I think you've broken enough shit for a decent amount of time.

Glad to hear you're on the mend!

[Carbon_Dude]

Thanks guys!  A couple more 10 mile runs around Chicopee yesterday and today.  Everything is good, although my average speed is down.  It's been pretty hot here as well.

[trekcarbonboy]

I used to ride Chicopee Woods when I was in college. Awesome trail system. Loved Yellow river too but I hear it's gone a bit down hill in the past 10 years. I actually was out on the very first (and many thereafter) trail building day at Blankets Creek. Loved that trail. Lots of riding with my best trail dog ever. 10 min from my house in Marietta. It was still only about 8 miles when I moved away and I'd love a chance to get back down there and ride the whole thing now.
Tsali NC is nice but overrated. The North GA MTB trails are some of the best anywhere and underrated. And lots of them! Good times.

Glad your back on the bike.

[Carbon_Dude]

The trails have changed somewhat in the area, there is about 12 different trails within about an hours drive from where I live:

1)  Yellow River was a good trail, however, about 6 years ago the county turned one side of the road into a multi-use trail, flattened everything out, made it wide, and dumped gravel over much of it.  That side is now a better waking trail than a biking trail.  On the other side of the road is a decent single track, although it's short, only a few miles long.

2)  Blankets Creek is a nice trail, about 15 miles of trails there.  It's been a few years since I've ridden there.

3)  Ft. Yargo - about 12 miles of trail, not including The Monster Mile, which is a harder section of trail added that's parallel to the gas line climb.  I've ridden there lots of times, however the fees have gotten a bit ridiculous, park rangers are charging about $8 to bike there now.  If you don't bike, it's $5 to get in, what's up with that?

4)  Tribble Mill - Not the best marked trail, when I lived closer to that trail I biked there often with friends.  It's an easy trail, Singletracks.com says it's 10 miles but we have a difficult time putting together a 6 mile loop given nothing is marked well.

5) Gainesville College - Easy short trail, about 4 miles, a good beginner trail in the area.

6)  Georgia Ag Center - Closed about 8 years ago.

7) Big Creek Roswell - Only rode here a few times, 6 miles but just too rocky and not very fun in my opinion.

8) Charleston Park - A newer trail, only 6 miles but is supposed to have nice views of Lake Lanier.  Have not ridden there.

9) Sope Creek - 9 miles of trail, never ridden there.

10) Georgia Horse Park - 8 miles of trails, I've ridden there a few times.  This trail was built for the 1996 Summer Olympics, one loop is really difficult and goes across lots of scary (IMO), smooth granite, the other loop is a decent trail, I've ridden it mostly on demo days when the Southeastern Bike Expo is in town.

11)  Bull/Jake Mountain - 30 miles of trail outside the North Georgia mountains in Dalonega, I need to go there, I hear it's a very good trail.

12)  Last but not least, Chicopee Woods - Now up to 26 miles of trails. This is the trail closest to where I live, only 15 min away.  A good mix of mostly intermediate trails.  A very good trails system, a good workout and it has some really fun fast sections.