A few giggles met me at work early this morning before eventually I was emailed a link to the clip below……
Taking advantage of me “not being there to defend himself”, a few of my Pozzoni (who kindly helped sponsor the GB team kit last year) work colleagues, in the graphics and viz dept, gave their trubute to me at the Pozzoni annual awards last Friday as I lay 200miles away being ‘stretched’ by my physio.
I won 2nd place in the ‘Evelyns A&E award’ section – see you tube clip below (sound needed for full effect), and also second place in the ‘Whats going on? award’ – see left for the car park physio session! I lost out in the A&E award to a colleague who managed to crack the ribs of the host at a Go-Karting jolly when he crashed into him!
Following my diagnosis of a ruptured disk I’ve been to Bridgwater again to see my physio, Ivor, to get my treatment plan started
I’ve also come back with copies of my scans. Its very bizarre to sit there and look at slices through your own body. Forget losing weight so you look good in your holiday or wedding photos, try an MRI. There is no turning your best side to the camera or wearing stripes the right way round to hide/accentuate your curves. It shows all your fat, in lovely cross sectional detail. Cath also pointed out that she can see poo in some of the films! Nice…..
Anyway, on to treatment.
Firstly, I need to be very careful. No dynamic loaded stretching, twisting or impacts, which, in English, means no DIY, gardening, lifting, running or mountain biking for at least a couple of months.
Essentially I need to learn to think before I do anything daft, which is a lesson I suppose I should have learnt earlier this year when I jumped off that wall, however, Ivor thinks its been coming all summer and that the jump was just one of the causes.
Apparently, I’ve also got a dehydrated disc on the next one up (L3/4) which might cause me issues in later life if I’m not careful with impacts, too.
Lumbar Traction
I’ve been tractioned and given a portable traction machine to use three times a day for the next month or so. This essentially stretches you, relieving the compression on the lumbar spine and doing some other complicated stuff I didn’t understand. I’ve only been using it for a day, but already, together with rest and icing, I am noticing reduced sciatic pain.
After the weekend I am to restart my core stability exercises and in a couple of weeks I can get back on the turbo trainer to keep my general fitness at a sensible level, though I wont be able to do much.
I’ll be going to Somerset once a week for more treatment and review. Ivor is hoping that in a couple on months I should be starting to see improvements and that eventually, although I will have to avoid heavy impacts and big dynamic stretching, I should be able to regain my MTBing fitness and possibly get back to where I was in 2011.
I am also going to be having a look at my stable of bikes with a look to move to full suspension to protect my back from impacts in the future. More on that in another postin,g but if anyone wants my single-speed rigid On-One Inbred, its up for sale 🙁
I know there are lots of stories out there about how helmets have saved lives and a lot of people also who defend not wearing a helmet. I’ll let the two photos of Alan Hartley below speak for themselves.
Alan fell in June at the World Cup MTBO in Hungary in April and cracked his helmet (which you can just see in the photo). He also damaged his knee and elbow and is still suffering from the knee. Although there was nothing visible at the time, since June the hair in the impact area has fallen out and is now growing back white!
My old wheels have been on Cath’s bike for a while. The rear wheel bearings in the Hope XCs have given up the ghost with the amount of riding she has been doing recently, so I thought I would have a go at the service myself.
I found out the bearing reference numbers ‘6001 2rs’ from the Hope tech website and then found a local supplier to get some top notch SKF ones. I can recommend PT Bearings of Wolverhampton, they have an ebay shop and they arrived the next day! http://www.ptandbearings.co.uk
It all started well enough but I could not get the axle shaft and bearing to come out of the brake side of the hub body. I used bigger and bigger hammers and soon had shards and splinters of wood flying all over the place, forget the ‘soft-faced hammer’ in the service notes.
I went inside to check the service notes again, with pins and needles in my hands from all the banging, before I got the sledge hammer out. However, a quick Google search suggested a fantastic idea. Wrap the hub in an old cotton rag and then soak it with boiling water straight out of the kettle.
A fairly gentle tap from the sledge hammer (well, not that gentle) and it came out, the water having expanded the aluminium hub enough to release everything. Other than a particularly pesky circlip, the rest went like a dream, tapping in the new bearings with a 17mm socket as I haven’t got a working vice at the moment.
So, a complete hub rebuild for £12.82 and a smear of grease. Can’t be bad!
There was a Leicester Orienteering Club foot orienteering event yesterday at Hicks Lodge, a new National Forest bike centre run by Purple Mountain. I had some OCADing to do to the map for this coming Saturdays New Years Eve event so took the laptop along and sat in the cafe whilst the girls first did an orienteering course (Cath trying her new GPS watch and Holly in her new club running top) before doing a loop of the mountain bike trails. The routes are quite tame but perfect for beginners and family groups with burms and rollers all in great condition. They both came back with smiles on their faces despite the bitterly cold wind.
Me ? I enjoyed the coffee and walnut cake and caught up with a few friends over several cups of coffee in the excellent cafe !
In a pre-xmas clearout I found these two photos of my then ‘new’ mountain bike – 1991 Kona Fire Mountain. Its propped up outside my student house in Cardiff in May 1991. Its had a long history, going to Sheffield for a few years in the early noughties and now as far as I know still doing a commute in York ! Original spec included Biopace rings and 7 speed 300LX groupset.
The main one from the competitors point of view is that waterproof paper should now be used which I’m sure we will all appreciate. Perhaps all UK MTBO events should follow suit as the costs are negligible.
I also think the revised definition of MTBO is also quite good
'Mountain Bike Orienteering is a sport in which the competitors, using cycles,
navigate independently through the terrain. Competitors must visit a number of
control points marked on the ground in the shortest possible time aided only by
map and compass. The course, defined by the location of the controls, is not
revealed to competitors until they start. Mountain biking and navigational skills
shall be tested in such a way that navigational skill is the decisive element. The
course shall be completed by the cyclist riding, carrying or pushing his/ her
mountain bike. Riding off the track or trail will normally be disallowed unless
specifically agreed by the organiser and the IOF Event Adviser'
It seems there is now even more reason to attend the 2012 MTBO camp (to be held in Hilleroed, north of Copenhagen) as 2 World Ranking Events have been added to the program.
The forests were last used for the 2009 European Championships and are fantastic mountain bike orienteering terrain….
Final details for accommodation, events and training are now out.
Fri 21.00 Night Short – Praestevang and St. Dyrehave Nord
Sat 10.00 (WRE) Middle – Grib Skov Syd
Sat 14.00 Training – Stenholt Vang and Gl.Grnholt Hegn
Sun 10.00 (WRE) Long – Tisvilde Hegn Nord
Sun 14.00 Training – Tisvilde Hegn Syd
Sun 20.00 Paallikkoos Diavolo Challenge
Mon 10.00 Long – Tokkekb Hegn
Mon 14.00 Sprint – Urban
Tue 10.00 Ultralong – Grib Skov All
We have booked our flights and accommodation tonight (Hilleroed Hotel option and Stansted – Copenhagen, 7am 30th March for those interested in following suit).
I won 2nd place in the ‘Evelyns A&E award’ section – see you tube clip below (sound needed for full effect), and also second place in the ‘Whats going on? award’ – see left for the car park physio session! I lost out in the A&E award to a colleague who managed to crack the ribs of the host at a Go-Karting jolly when he crashed into him!
