I do apologise for posting another photo of my wound, but pathetically it has been troubling me all week.I work as a Radiologist in an X-Ray department and we have Sister O'Kell keeping an eye on everyones' minor ailments, cuts and bruises. Helen has taken responsibility for dressing my wound after I exhibited typical male doctor ignorance. Anyway, the 'treatment' has been to clean it, and then cover it with a film of Opsite....which is similair to high-tech cling film. Hopefully you can see that a goopy golden exudate has been collecting under the Opsite. This is good, apparently, and it lets the wound heal without scabbing over and avoids scarring. It certainly seems to be working. I would think that all cyclists must have fallen at some time. It's not really practical to carry a first aid kit.
Which brings me nicely onto the subject of shaving your legs. Now Simon Jackson has suggested that I should shave mine, perhaps for charity. Strangely, it seems that the practice of shaving your legs amongst keen cyclists is widely known by the general public. But can we clear up some confusion? Is it to facilitate streamlining/diminish wind resistance or is it because cyclists are so prone to falling off their bikes that they want to make administration and removal of the copious amounts of Elastoplast easier, less painful and more hygienic? Surely it is the latter. And am I supposed to oil my legs too? I am planning to use sunblock in the summer and that's pretty greasy. Will that suffice?
But isn't this a slightly pessimistic indictment of the sport. I mean, we all know motorcycling racing is a seriously dangerous sport, but do those boys get their blood cross-matched before a race? No. It suggests that falling off your bike is practically the norm, and in view of the pain which I have endured after my relatively trifling 'off' last week, I salute all those professional or amateur racing cyclists for your bravery and committment.
I fell on my wounded right hip at footy training last night and it chuffing hurt. But I've got to play against Sandown tomorrow (for Ryde Saints reserves) so it will have to do. Then we've got a gig at The Anchor, Cowes saturday evening and then sunday will be relative rest day. If I'm not too knackered and the weather warms up a bit, I'll probably go for a 20-miler in the evening.
Thanks to everyone who is reading my blog, and the comments are very much appreciated.
1 comment:
Peter, I can't help thinking you ought to be doing a bit more cycling. In your shoes I'd want to be doing 8h+ per week of training - including at least one 65mile+ ride at a brisk pace.
The regular longer rides are very important - on the club rides I do (70miles+ usually) we often get riders that are used to 20-30 mile summer evening spins. They usually do well until the tea stop at half way and then suffer really badly on the way back. I was like that myself a few years back, but I did some longer rides (via audaxing) and came back much stronger with better endurance.
I don't want to be discouraging, but I think you need to start to push yourself harder. Do you have a training plan?
Neil
Post a Comment