BROKEN COLLARBONE UPDATE, ALMOST 3 YEARS LATER

For a little collarbone-related peace of mind before I leave for Luxembourg, I saw Dr. Bergman yesterday. He's the surgeon who plated my collarbone in May 2010 when I Supermanned over my bike handlebars on the Boulevard Trail in Bellingham.

I'd been wondering if I should have the titanium centipede removed (see above X-ray shot yesterday) because a screw, or something, visibly protrudes. (See here and other posts throughout this blog.) And while it doesn't hamper or limit my mobility in any way, sometimes my collarbone aches and with such a protuberance (that's an upsetting word), I wondered if it was time to have it taken out.

But Dr. Bergman says no. The X-ray shows that the clavicle has healed well and there's no sign of a screw working its way out, which had been my concern. He prodded around a bit, said everything felt good and that the protuberance (there's that word) might just be bone growth atop one of the nine screw heads. "Whew!," say I. I was loathe to have more surgery.

In the above photo, please also take a moment to admire my first-ever Fu Manchu mustache. Or maybe it's a biker mustache. (What's the difference?)        

CANCELLARA AND ME

Sadly, Fabian Cancellara broke his collarbone in Sunday's Tour of Flanders. Looks like he dun it but good too. Check out his X-ray (above). There're four breaks. 

Here's mine from two years ago.

Wish I'd could've had the jaunty, Europey sling that Spartacus has.

BROKEN COLLARBONE UPDATE

Being that this is Valentine's Day I felt it was the perfect time to post an update on my collarbone break and subsequent surgery of almost two years ago. (?) Here's what it looks like today:

You can see a straight line (that's the titanium pin) and then a prominent bump which I presume is one of the nine screws. (Hopefully, not working its way out.) 

Here's a close-up:



(The top is a mirror shot; that's why it looks like they're opposite shoulders.) Admittedly, I'm sort of jutting my shoulder out a bit to make it more visible for the camera, but even when I don't it's still pretty prominent.

I never feel any pain or discomfort, I've got full strength and range of motion back, it never stops me from doing anything and I can throwing a baseball as hard as I could before the surgery (low 90s with good movement) but still ... there's something weird about the way it feels. The bone underneath doesn't feel straight; it almost feels like it's the shape of a spoon with a dip or divot in it. And right next to that is where the screw sticks out, which itself feels weird. I spend a lot of time just unconsciously touching it, tracing my finger along the weird shape, the way you unconsciously finger an earring after you've had your ear pierced. 

So, I don't know if I'd have surgery next time were I to break my collarbone again. I also don't know what the long-range effects will be of having a titanium plate in my shoulder. And though I know that I can have it removed--seems like that's what the pro cyclists do--I'm fairly loathe to have more surgery 'lest it's absolutely necessary.    

With that, Happy Valentine's Day!

HIGH CASCADES 100; COLLARBONE UPDATE



Saturday, I enjoyed a three-hour mountain bike ride in the Chuckanuts with chiroprator Steve Noble who raced last August's High Cascades 100-mile mountain bike race near Bend, Ore. He gave the race mucho thumbs-up ('cept for the two flats he suffered) and so I've been ogling the race website ever since. And since the Capitol Forest 50 was so much fun, I'm putting High Cascades on my short list of very possibles for 2011.

And for those interested in broken collarbone recovery, I'm pretty much at the six-month mark. (This blog comes up a lot when people, most likely cyclists, are Googling info for when they can get back on the bike after breaking their collarbones.) Six months after surgery, I feel no ill effects. I think I started running/riding at six weeks, rode a road century at just under three months, did a 50-mile mountain bike race at four months--all with no soreness or discomfort. Strengthwise, for about a month now, I've been able to lift the same amount in the weight room that I was lifting before the break. And I can finally sleep on my right side (broken clavicle side) with no problem. 

Surgically implanted pin and prominent screw. (Please excuse my Sean Connery chest-hair wig.)

If I have any issue it's that one of the nine screws sticks out--a bump under my skin--fairly prominently. (See above photo.) Doesn't hurt, just looks weird. I know some people get their pins and screws removed--i.e. world champion Thor Hushovd among them--but I don't like the idea of more surgery. I guess I figure if I'm just going to have it taken out, then why did I have it put in in the first place? But who knows, there're so many pro take-it-out/pro leave-it-in stories on the Internet all I can do is what seems like a good idea to me. And right now, leaving it in seems fine.     

BELLINGHAM TRAVERSE 2010

What a difference four months makes! Above shot was taken today after my 6-mile mountain-bike leg which followed teammate John Clark's 5.5-mile run in the Bellingham Traverse. (We were on one of the Action for Africa teams.) Below shot was taken just over four months ago shortly after Johnny Boy and I had broken our collar bones in separate incidents. (That, of course, was about six months after we had a tree fall on us when we were mountain biking but that's a whole other story.) Anyway, sure feels good to be racing together again. The Hendrix shirt, by the way, is my tribute to one of my all-time faves, who died 40 years ago today.

As for our team--which also included Pat Skaggs on road bike, Nick Carlson on trail run, and the buff and burly Rick Lingbloom on kayak (surf ski, really)--we did pretty good. We won the Masters division and finished 4th overall in just a few seconds under three hours. We were quite proud to finish 40 seconds ahead of Steve George who soloed the whole thing; in other words, it took five of us to beat him by less than a minute. (I'm quite proud to say that I did pass him on my mountain bike only to have him pass me right back and fade far into the distance ahead of me.)

The Traverse is a pretty low-key affair (not at all like the corporate machine that is Ski to Sea), and the hope seems to be that it will all just run itself. We heard many tales of runners getting lost and mountain bikers missing turns and doing only one loop when they should've done two, etc. Parts of the course were apparently sabatoged the night before. But the race doesn't start 'til 12:30 p.m. so wouldn't that give course marshalls plenty of time to ensure that things are in order? Or is that just my New Jersey-bred contrariness coming out?

(See comment below from race director Todd Elsworth; I guess it was my Jersey contrariness.)

No matter. I had fun and got to spend a great afternoon with a super group of guys. And Rick Lingbloom too.

Me, Pat, Rick (buff and burly), Nick, John.

Below photo from Jon Brunk Photo.

COLLARBONE AND ROAD BOOK UPDATE

So, here're a few updates about one thing and/or another.

Collarbone: (I update this from time to time because when I first broke mine, I was eager for info on what to expect from my recovery; I'm hoping that this is of interest/help to someone.)

I'm four months out from the break and surgery and I'd estimate that I'm probably 95 percent back. Been road riding and running for two-and-a-half months now. Along with a century I've ridden numerous epic climbs including Hurricane Ridge; Sunrise, Paradise and Cayuse-Chinook (Mount Rainier); Washington Pass (Highway 20); Artist Point (Mount Baker) and McNeil Canyon (near Chelan). My running is pretty low-key these days but only because I'm riding so much; it's not at all a collarbone-related issue.

Mountain biking-wise I've been riding for about a month and this is where I'm still inching my way back. The distance and climbing are no problem but yesterday, when the Titanium Cowboy (Scott Young) and I did the epic Samish Loop, I got off and walked part of the steep rocky descent on So Easy which I can usually ride. And there's one challenging bridge in Arroyo Park that's still in my head a bit.

I don't feel any pain in my collarbone, it's more a confidence thing. In fact the only pain I feel is when someone comes up and squeezes my shoulder as part of a friendly greeting which, oddly enough, happened twice on Saturday. (Ouch! and various curse words.)  

The Classic Road Rides of Washington book: I've been road riding lots this summer, gathering routes for my book--the aforementioned mountain spots along with various flat and rolling routes in places throughout Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, King counties and the San Juan Islands, with rides in ever-expanding geographic circles throughout the state once my son is back in school. My Seattle Times story of last week generated a few e-mails and suggestions for routes include a couple epics up near Chelan and one killer climb (Lion's Rock) near Ellensburg. The elevation profile looks McNeil Canyon-esque. Weather permitting, I'm hoping to head down and try it this week. 

Other rides and routes on the agenda before the rain and mountain snow starts include Mount St. Helens, Paradise from the east (Stevens Canyon approach), and hopefully another foray to the Methow Valley. I'm always looking for suggestions so please feel free to send them my way.

Also possibly on my agenda is the Capitol Forest 50-Miler , a mountain bike race down near Olympia. I've ridden here a couple times (once with Gary Klein: see here) and always wanted to go back. Looks like a fun killer race. Or, as I wrote in my Times story about mountain road routes, a painfully evil, rollicking good time.

THREE MONTHS SINCE COLLARBONE SURGERY

Well, today was the day that three months ago I couldn't wait for--my three-month post-surgery check-up. Truth be told, it was fairly anticlimactic. But I think that's a good thing. I've been pretty much back to my normal activities, or maybe 90 percent of normal, for about a month now.

The collarbone was x-rayed,  Dr. Bergman said it looked good and that while it can take six months or a year before the collarbone is completely healed (the x-ray still shows a slight fracture line on the collarbone), I've got a titanium plate holding everything in place so I'm good to go. Just don't fall on it, he said. Which is pretty much common sense, innit? It's not like I'm going to go out and purposely fall on my good collarbone for fun just 'cause it's never been broken.

Hopefully, the plate will not bother me down the road and I'll just leave it in there for the rest of my life. That's an option, I guess. Having more surgery to take it out. One of the nine screws does stick out a little but I find it amusing. Kind of like the bolts on Frankenstein's neck. Hopefully, I've turned the final page on this collarbone chapter.

Oh yeah, I've got a story in today's Seattle Times about Jetty Island, this cool little oasis near Everett. See it here.

TWO MONTHS POST COLLARBONE SURGERY

For a few weeks now absolutely no one has been clamoring for an update on my collarbone recovery so here it is.

I'm at nine weeks, today, since surgery and not that I sometimes forget about it, but sometimes I forget about it and reach for something (or try to catch something) a little quicker than I probably should. And not that the collarbone itself hurts but the muscles all around there--biceps, triceps, upper chest and back, etc.--just aren't used to quick motions yet. (I've lost at least eight miles-per-hour on my fastball and my split finger doesn't have quite the same movement, he wrote jokingly.) I've been lifting weights for those muscles, up to 10-12 pounds with a dumbbell, and my range of motion is probably 80 percent. I feel like I can do pretty much everything, just more slowly.

Riding and running have really been coming along well. Been doing a bunch of road riding, up to three hours at a time, with the sleek carbon Tarmac Pro soaking up a lot of the road chatter. (Meanwhile Thor Hushovd, who broke his collarbone and had surgery at about the same time I did, won yesterday's cobbled stage of the Tour de France and is leading in the green jersey competition.)

Tomorrow, the Titanium Cowboy and I are planning a four-plus hour ride, out to Samish Island and thereabouts. Actually, now that I think about it, last week I got in four hours on the mountain bike, but it wasn't mountain biking per se. Mostly dirt roads just to get in time on the bike and a bunch of climbs. My lovely new Garmin Edge 500, which I'm digging to death, told me I climbed 4,300 feet! To the top of Cleator, to Burnout Road viewpoint, Cleator to Two-Dollar intersection, California Street, Sehome Arboretum, etc. I haven't done much MTB-ing on the trails yet; I climbed up through Arroyo Park but descending those switchbacks still seems too dicey right now. So I'll wait for that kind of stuff 'til at least my three-month check-in at the end of the month. (Really bummed that I'll miss this year's Padden Mountain Pedal but thems are the collarbone breaks, I suppose.)

Running-wise, in the past three weeks, I've gotten in a few runs in the 30- to 40- minute range and truthfully, the first few left my collarbone area a little sore. But again, I think it was just the muscles getting used to the repetitive motion. Yesterday, I was even able to blaze a run wherein I averaged less than nine minutes per mile (!), according to my Garmin 500 which I stick in my backpocket when I run.

Saturday, I'm likely to head down to Redmond for something called the Super Torture Century. The long ride is 125 miles with some 13,000 feet of climbing; I'll go for the (sorta) metric century though: 58 miles and 6,000 feet of climbing. Along with being a lot of fun and great way to meet other riders, I figure it'll be a bit of research for my road rides of Washington State book.

By the way, I'm always looking for cool new and/or popular road-riding routes, so if y'all have suggestions and/or want to get together for a ride sometimes, please contact me. Along with getting mentioned in the acknowledgements, you might even get your picture in a book. Not just a newspaper, but a book! A book that lasts forever. Even on those newfangled Kindle-iPad thingees.

LOOK WHAT I DUN

Inspired by Paris-Roubaix, I've been taking my old road bike out on dirt roads and rail trails. However, I forgot to decrease the tire pressure and yesterday, just after dropping Boonen and Cancellara on the Boulevard Trail (in my mind, that is), I hit a bump that sent my flying over the handlebars and sorta cleaved my clavicle in twain. (See above.) Everything is put on hold for now.  

In other news, click here for a vdeo I put together of me running the streets and sites of Paris.