House Arrest!

    so you'd think after 4 weeks of being home, i'd make at least 1 post on this blog. 2 weeks ago, i felt like i was on house arrest, instead of having that bracelet on my ankle, i have a brace around my back and chest.

    you see almost 5 weeks ago, on May 31st, i fell mountain biking, a freak accident is what i like to call it. a friend and i were riding chimney rock and decided to do 1 more trail. i usually don't ride that trail because its physical with the roots, rocks and ruts. so as i was climbing this hill, i lost my steam (i think) and wanted to unclip, with my right foot but i didn't do it in enough time. so instead of falling to the sides, like we most do, who ride with clipless, i fell backwards, with great speed and force. i landed, back first into a huge fallen tree on the ground.

    i remember screaming in pain, a wave of nausea, sweeping my body and i didn't want to move because the pain was that bad. my friend wasn't to far behind me, but didn't see me fall, because the fallen tree was that big and was laying in the apex of the turn. i had fallen backwards and smashed my lower back into the tree. i had a camelback on and THANK GOD i did because it cushioned my fall and back. but where the camelback didn't cover, my lower back, is where the pain was.

    after maybe a half and hour i was on my feet, in some excruciating pain and i used the bike as a crutch to walk out of the forest. i honestly thought i broke or bruised some ribs and maybe even my kidney because the pain had gone to my groin. i think it took us about 45 minutes to walk out of the woods and back to the car, where my friend put the bikes back on the car and i painfully got back into the car to drive home. yes, i drove home. 45 minutes later, i dropped him off and called another friend to see if he'd drive me to the hospital but first meet me at my house.

    at the hospital, i waited an 1 hr and 15 minutes to get an x-ray, in all that time i stood up because it was to painful to sit down. i got a CT scan and minutes later, my wife and i found out i broke 5 vertebrate's in my lower back and had internal bleeding. SUPER, FANTASTIC, AWESOME, BRAVO, GOOD JOB!!

    well this whole time, since i was laying on the ground to now, all i could think is, my wife is going to KILL ME! recently my wife and i were told, that we were going to be blessed with TWINS in december. yes, wonderful news but she'd didn't need this stress.

    ok, so to wrap this long winded story, i spent a week in the hospital where i was fitted with a back brace. i was told it would take 6 weeks for my bones to heal and this monday will be my 5th week. i also have to wear this huge back brace for 6 weeks and i only take it off to shower. i can't ride a bike, drive a car or lift anything heavy for 2 months and i'm out of work till september with my short term disability. i'm getting an x-ray this tuesday and hopefully a follow up appointment with my neurosurgeon, the following week. i'm keeping my finger's crossed, so that the doctor will tell me, i'm healed and i can remove the brace, no surgery is needed and i can return to work and be able to drive again. we shall see!

happy trails and
please ride for me!
~dirty bert

Winter Gear: What to Wear.

    I was going to write about, what to wear this winter and how to stay warm but it's hard to talk about the weather when for the past couple weeks it was above 40. I figured the weather gotta bust sometime soon, you know the drill 50 one day and then the temps drop 20 degrees and the snow is falling. In any case here's what I learned over the years.

    Winter tights are an excellent choice, because you will find that regular sweat pants or nylon running pants are difficult to ride in and once wet they are very cold. I have been using these Performance tights. They have been so warm and as an added bonus, they have leg zippers which made it easier to get yer wool socks streamlined under the tights. These tights aren't padded, soI wear my loose bike shorts over them for padding and for the pockets. You can also wear long johns under the tights but I'm sure you'd have to buy a larger size tights to accommodate the extra material otherwise you'll look like a sausage riding a bike.

    Breathable fabrics are key here. The newer Polartec (and similar) fabrics are really great for high-exercise activities. You can work hard, but still vent most of the moisture and it's not unusual to be out on a cold crisp day and see frost forming on your jacket from all the vented moisture.

    Shoes are the single biggest problem area. My feet freeze in the winter and cramp so easily. I have wool socks, a gortex liner soxs and the shoe booties. There are only a couple brands of cycling shoes that are warm enough for real winter use. Some can be expensive like the Sidi GTX Winter shoe or you got the Answer Kashmir winter shoe. It looks like Shimano has there own winter shoe, SH-MW02 All Weather Off-Road shoe. I might bite the bullet and buy a pair, I figured they gotta be cheap to buy right now, since most of the country has warm winter weather. I was just wondering if it's wise to buy a size larger, to accommodate 2 pairs of soxs or wool socks? Some winter cyclists may switch to toe clips and straps. There are all sorts of other combinations of overbooties, neoprene underbooties, plastic bags and duct tape (i have tried the last 2). My advice is to either spend the money and get the winter cycling boots which are compatible with clipless pedals or just switch to clips and straps and use winter or hiking boots.

    Studded Tires are expensive, but last 3 to 6 winters. I hear they make a big difference on icy roads, or hard packed snow and I'm sure your confidence level is higher with studs than without.

    Fenders are good to have to keep the slush spray off yer back and butt. They will still cake up and cause the the slush/snow to build up in certain areas. But for preventative measures, I spray the underside of the fenders with WD40 or Pam, cooking spray or RainX (a windshield product) to avoid the build-up on the fenders.

    Lights are another key item because darkness comes fast. Cold temperatures will affect battery performance. Lead Acid batteries are more affected by cold than are NiCads. The amount of power a lead acid battery can produce is greatly reduced by the cold. I don't have any lights, so my knowledge is very little about lites and I'm sure just talking about lights can be extensive and expensive.

    Camelbacks supply tube and bite valve will freeze. After you take a swig of water, you should blow air back into the bladder, keeping the tube clear of water. Also I have seen people put the camelback under their jackets and rout the tube up and under the collar. I also know Camelback sells an insulator cover for the supply tube.

    Gloves are a personal choice. I just use wool gloves under a gortex liner glove or the wool glove with bike glove over that. Nothing to bulkly for me, i don't need to have any problems trying to shift or brake while riding.

    Well i guess all this information isn't important right now. As I look at the 10 day forcast i see it's only going to be cold at night with the lowest low at 32 degress and the highest high at 53. It's just crazy.

   Thanks Global Warming!

~dirty bert
happy "snowless" trails