Two very late nights in a row, too much to eat and drink, too little sleep. These were my main regrets when my wife bashed me on the arm at 4:30am on Sunday morning to say that the alarm was going off. Why is this happening to me? Confusion soon gave way to the usual rushing around, trying to force coffee down whilst getting dressed, find car keys, wallet, phone and house keys. Two things were different this morning though – firstly I had no bike kit or bike to worry about as I wasn’t going to be cycling and secondly this was no road race, but the second of the London Dynamo pilot Richmond Park Time Trials. And I had volunteered to marshal, along with about 30 others.

Was I ever glad not to be riding! I was so tired just standing there directing riders around the corner (I didn’t think directions would be necessary, but at least three riders breathlessly whispered “Which way” as they approached the roundabout). Beautiful thing, the way the early morning light catches the stream of snot dripping from a rider’s nose!


The TT seemed to go really well and there were a lot of positive comments. I found time whilst marshalling to take some snaps – they really don’t do justice to the event and in particular the stunning location. Richmond Park is a beautiful place and was made so much better by the lack of traffic noise – for the first 45 minutes the only sound was the thrum of rear disc wheels. I really hope the park authorities take note of the success of the two events and allow more TTs next year - especially because I want to ride in one!

Another hospital visit tomorrow to check that my wrist has healed. If so I will be straight on the bike for a few easy laps of Richmond Park – anything to avoid another turbo session! Here’s hoping…

Keep on moving

Well it has been a while. Not much activity on the bike front other than putting in 5 turbo sessions per week, 1hr or so each session. I am having to really mix up sessions just to keep the interest up - some of them simply turn into a 240W average for 1hr churn away type activity (on lazy days make that 210W!). Others are more targetted, with shorter more intense intervals. I don't think I'm loosing too much fitness, but I have a couple of concerns - I am putting on a little weight ("so what?" my wife says), I may pass out when I get back on the road if I have to ride for more than one hour, and my playlist on the iPod Nano is in dire need of updating. At some point I'll get round to calculating just how much time I've spent in the garden going nowhere!

Other areas of life have been busier. I started a new contract at LloydsTSB in London Bridge - a very interesting project, and a great part of London to work in - Borough Market is about 2 minutes away, which means endless opportunities for great food. Good food, interesting work, a decent commute - not bad at all! It will be better still when I can actually get back on the bike for the commute.

We're also moving imminently. Hopefully we'll exchange in the next couple of days, at which point we have to firm up a rental. We've seen a fair few and I'm balancing the desire for a nice neighbourhood, decent quality interiors (we're going to be renting), enough rooms for the kids with a spare room for guests, and room for bike storage (this is obviously of paramount importance). The trouble is that I'm sure my wife is looking at same areas which I'm considering for bike storage and thinking - "hmmm, ironing board, laundry baskets and drying racks".

I attended the London Dynamo summer social last week as well. Sore heads all round! It was nice to see a lot of familiar faces and some new ones - I haven't been on the road in two months and forgot what a generally amiable bunch we all were! Half the club seem to have been to Ventoux to see the penultimate stage of the Tour - lucky sods! And talking of the Tour, my last day of relaxation prior to the new contract at Lloyds coincided with the Champs-Elysees speed-fest - well done Cavendish, what a way to sign off! The real star was Wiggins though (as far as I'm concerned anyway). He's a cool dude and a great rider who has improved on the road massively in the past year. Contador and Andy Schleck both looked as stong as ever too. Oh, and Armstrong didn't do too badly either! A good first week overall for Le Tour, a slightly dull second week, and then heroics in the third week. Great vewing overall.

Maybe 3 weeks until I try a road ride (depending on xrays to show that the titanium screw is doing the business on the scaphoid). I can hardly wait...

Holidays in the Borders

I've had a great past week - no cycling at all and plenty of relaxation and family time in Coldingham, just over the border into Scotland. We were really lucky with the weather- a few sharp showers but overall plenty of sunny intervals (as they say in BBC weathercaster-speak). The break was just what I needed given the tender state of my wrist and I was able to get away with doing very little to put any strain on my recovering bones (thanks to FHB & GF). The kids also had a great time - the beach was a 3 minute walk away, the shoreline was gently sloping and the scenery was stunning. Here's a picture of the view we woke up to every morning (minus the kids - we didn't make them sleep outside overnight, honest)!


I feel that I'm slowly putting on a bit of weight, what with limited cycling on the turbo and a newfound enjoyment of the relaxing effects of alcohol. I like to think of it as a "Reverse Wiggins" that might make me more powerful on the flat. This week is my last free week before I start a new contract and I will get to see the last week of the Tour on TV. Overall it's been a little dull so far I think. There have been some highlights - Cav obliterating the opposition, Contador's surges, the odd peloton split and the ever-present possibility of a break sticking and meaning something (bad luck Hincapie) - but overall I feel the lack of mountaintop finishes has served only to dull the opposition until the penultimate Ventoux stage. There is one massive plus though - Bradley Wiggins has been simply superb. He's a pretty cool and laid-back character and his climbing has been top-class this July. I really hope he makes the podium on Sunday - he fully deserves it. I'm sure he doesn't really miss beer all that much!

Tomorrow is time for another therapy session at St.George's Hospital - it will be the first time in 6 weeks that I will be removing this hard thermo-plastic style cast to do some rotation and flexing rather than simply to clean the cast and my arm. I can't wait!

Screwed up

hmmm, screws, wires, general anaesthetic, bandages and slings - kids call me 'slingsby' - typing with one hand again, pain and painkillers, lots to get done but an inability to do anything. yup, i'm back to the start again, one day after the op to stabilise the bones in my wrist. off to st.george's hospital for a post-op check again tomorrow. fed up, but at least my internal hardware is titanium!

no turbo for at least a week, new job starting soon, moving house imminently. not ideal...

No progress, in fact the opposite...

So, just after four weeks into the fractured wrist and broken finger scenario I went for another x-ray at St.George's Hospital. On the plus side my little finger on the right hand is healing well, and I now have about 75% of the range of movement back. Hopefully over the next few months this will progress to about 90% or more.

The left wrist, on the other hand (!), is a bit of a disaster. The fracture to the scaphoid bone does not show any signs of healing - in fact the fracture has enlarged. There also looks to be an 'irregularity' around the lunate bone. Before all this I had no idea how many bones there were in the wrist:


Quite a few! Anyhow, the upshot is that I am scheduled for surgery in four days time to have a screw put into the scaphoid, and in all probability another put into the lunate. The scaphoid might require a small bone graft which will be taken from somewhere within the wrist - I forget where, but the fact that it doesn't need to be taken from the hip means they only require a pretty small shard of bone.

So at least another six weeks in the cast. All being well the healing will be stronger due to the screws in the bones. I don't want to focus on the long-term complications that could arise. Instead I have tentatively planned for the Giro di Lombardia sportive in mid-October as my return to any sort of decent form. It seems a really long way away!

Still, being at home unable to do very much does mean I get to see all the kids' end of year activities, in particular the sports days. All three did really well - our daughter is definitely the best 'team player' and all-rounder of the three, one of the twins has revealed a previously-hidden talent for speedy running and the other (who's talent for running was already obvious) has improved even more. Both the boys came first in their sprints - we were very proud parents! They can't throw or catch a tennis ball though - they leave that skill to our daughter!

More turbo time beckons, whilst I also have to try not to become embroiled in arguments on cycling forums. The latest 'discussion' involved me trying to explain the merits of a Powertap to another forum user who kept saying that they must be crap because Pantani and Russell Downing didn't use them! Such blinkered and ill-founded opinion really got my back up for a day or two until I realised that there was no arguing with this poster - he'd never used any power measurement, never would, and wasn't able to form a coherent argument. I guess that summarises internet forums though, and the wide range of 'characters' that drift through them!

19 days in, 11 days of turbo

Can you learn to love the turbo? I'm not sure, but at the moment it is the only bit of exercise I get, the only time on the bike and the only time in the fresh air. So yes, I guess at the moment it'll do. I'm worried that I won't be able to cycle for more than one hour at a stretch after this layoff though. Realistically I think there are at least another 8 weeks to go before I can even contemplate going out on the road again, so I am spending a bit of time each day trying to devise my turbo-training schedule. My current favourite is an aerobic workout of 3 minute intervals with a minute off between each interval, increasing then decreasing the power over the session, peaking at 310W and starting/ending at 220W. In the current warm weather it is quite a tough and sweat-fuelled workout, especially as I am riding the majority of the hour with my hands off the bars!

I have also discovered 3M Coban - a self-adhesive compression bandage, which I have been using on my little finger post-turbo or post-stretching exercises to reduce a bit of swelling around the fracture. I'm not sure how it adheres as it feels totally non-tacky. It is reusable and amazingly effective. My daughter loves it and we are now in a routine of evening cast and bandage removal and reapplication - she is quite the Florence Nightingale. She's even found me a replacement grab hand in case one of my own hands drops off! My left wrist (fractured scaphiod) feels OK at the moment, but I can feel that I am loosing strength in the hand. I'm looking forward to the therapy sessions which will help me regain strength and movement.


I can't say that this enforced rest is helping me overall though. Jobhunting is monotonous at the best of times, but when it is the main activity that fills your day it seems so much worse. Waiting for responses seems to take an eternity. I still enjoy interviews, but getting to that stage has proved to be so much harder than any time in the past five years. An inability to help around the house is also incredibly frustrating - having sat around reading, surfing and jobhunting most of the day (I am grateful that I can type reasonably easily now) I then have to watch my wife struggle with school pickups, teatime and bathtime with the kids, knowing that my contribution is limited to minor cooking (no lifting pans though), a little storytelling and kissing the kids goodnight. If you'd asked me a month ago whether I would like the opportunity to avoid washing up, gardening and tidying for eight weeks I would have bitten your arm off! Now that the reality has hit home I would be happy for a decent pan scrubbing, pruning, weeding and paperwork session. Sad but true...

I've given my Marmotte place away today, which feels like yet another season goal just cast aside. To say I'm disappointed about it is an understatement. Last year I got to within 4km of the finish and had to bail out due to the worst cramp I had ever had. Paul, a fellow Dynamo I had gone out there with also had unfinished business - he had virtually passed out on Alpe d'Huez and was rushed to the hospital for oxygen and an IV drip - the big softie! Anyhow, I found out last week that he was not going out either this year (coincidentally it was Paul who drove me back from Hog Hill after my accident a few weeks ago). We've trained and raced together a fair bit this year, and along with another Dynamo, Mark, had sorted out a really good, pacey winter night training ride. Unfortunately Paul was calling to say that he had suffered a(nother) accident whilst racing - he dislocated his shoulder and lost a couple of teeth. Ouch! Get well soon Paul - I'm sharing your frustration!

10 days in...

So I'm now ten days into the injury. Still in the two casts - one on the left wrist and another (at least it is removable) on the right hand. All the cuts and bruises are getting much better, but I am still a long way from riding out on the road again.

I've been back to the hospital for a therapy session for my little finger (broken). I have very little movement and it will take a few weeks of stretches to get the range of motion back - at least most of the previous range of motion. The wrist is another matter - I have a fracture of the scaphoid bone (a common fracture) which is non-displaced (hurray) and at the waist of the scaphoid (hmmmm). The best place for a fracture to occur is at the distal location where the blood supply is most effective. The worst place is the proximal location (poor blood supply) and the waist falls somewhere inbetween. The level of blood supply defines, to a large extent, the efficacy of the healing and the likelihood of avascular necrosis (a bone degeneration which causes arthritis). Essentially I am going to need to keep the cast on for at least another 5 weeks and then take it from there. I am slowly becoming resigned to loosing fitness and, even worse, not being able to enjoy cycling in the sunshine until sometime in August, all being well.

Cycling in the sunshine, not turbo-ing in the sunshine. I tried a turbo session today, perhaps unwisely opting to do a similar session to that I did a month ago. Aerobic capacity training, a one hour session, not crazy power levels or interval lengths but still quite intense. Boy did I suffer! Full sunshine, no cooling breeze, heart rate way, way north of normal, supporting myself on the cast on my one almost-good hand. I managed to complete the one hour session, but I was clock-watching after 20 minutes, and at 55 minutes felt that I was exercising in a furnace with a bass drum thumping in my ears. My god, at this rate I may have to take up jogging again just for some relief!

One of the trickiest issues about having a cast (or casts in my case, with one being removable) is showering. Washing with one hand is simple enough, trying to avoid getting the other hand wet isn't. So I asked a nurse friend to get me a cover for showering that goes over the arm to keep it waterproof. Ha! It has obviously been in a cupboard in the hospital for years, and has now finally seen the light of day. Take a look at the box - there's something really dodgy about it:

If the picture on the front is a little weird, check out the dude on the back:

I never thought the wearing of a hyperbaric arm chamber could be so stylish. He's fully clothed in the first picture though - what's he doing, planning a walk in the rain? He's hardly dressed for a shower. Maybe he's a bovine vet? Bloody hell, roll on August!