Ooh me back

souter

So Saturday 22nd started very nice - a try out spin with Dublin wheelers after getting bored with all those solo spins. A friendly gang and apologies if I cannot remember the names of those I spoke with. The weather was just peachy as well, so I was full of the joys of summer as we started exploring new areas of North dublin. Somewhere south of Naul I think the road started getting a bit lumpier and with a few cries of descent we were going down at a reasonable rate. I wasn't going excessively fast at all when I started to get some cycle shake and while trying to get it under control (i.e. freezing like a rabbit in headlights) I drifted into the gravel. I'd already scrubbed of a fair bit of speed (post crash the max recorded was 55) so for some reason decided I to scrub off the remainder in the grass rather than the gravel.
Big mistake, I think I hit a big culvert while going a lot faster than I thought I was. At this point I remember thinking, ha, I'm going to have my first crash but at least it's on soft grass.
I was flung head first into the ground, a bit like the rugby spear tackle, then flipped on to my back. Subsequently I think it was the angle of attack rather than the speed that did the damage.
A lot pain as I crawled out of the ditch, and difficulty in breathing. So I writhed around until I was able to talk. After standing up and getting some more speech back, passing all the LOC and tingliness questions, I managed to convince myself and fellow riders that I was only winded (though at the back of my mind I thought as a worst case I might have a cracked rib, which I've had before but there's nothing you can do about it), so we cycled on to a nearby service station where my wife was to collect me. Strangely, on the bike was the most comfortable position I'd been in and I toyed with the idea of cycling home, but wiser heads ruled this out.
By the time my wife collected my I was in a bit of state, the pain had been increasing, so she persuaded me to go to casualty. I accepted VHI swiftcare as a compromise where I'd at least be able to get some strong painkillers without wasting the entire day. In fairness to switfcare, they were... swift, so after a load of xrays the doctor said I had a fractured vertebrae and he was transferring me to Beaumount.
I was still pretty blase at this stage, the doctor was a cyclist himself, told me some stories about friends recieving similar injuries and said it would be fine.
It was only when the ambulance arrived and the nurse starting lip miming to the crew that the gravity of the situation started to dawn.
The next 20 hours was a series of different ceiling tiles as I lay strapped down till I went to theatre on Sunday evening. Needless to say all the hospital personnel were professionalism personified so I didn't get unduly worried at any time (though spending the night in the spinal injuries high dependency ward is *not* a recommended experience).
Beaumount are a centre for excellence in spinal injuries so I couldn't have been in a better place.
The available options were 8-12 weeks bed rest or metal pins around the damage. NB bedrest does not mean watching tv while getting up for more grapes now and again - it is spent strapped down with a bladder catheter and watching out for pressure sores. So I went for the pins. The detailed diagnosis was compression fracture of T7 vertebrae , plus fracture of a rib - so I was at least partially right about the cracked rib theory.

And now I'm home , just a few days later, walking about and reasonably functional. The pain in the first few days was bad, the painkillers were paracetomol and anti-inflamtories, none of the good stuff - I don't know where those Hollywood stars develop their Vicodin addiction from back pain, but it sure ain't Beaumount. The projected recovery is something like 2 weeks till safe to drive and do light work duties, a further 4 weeks and the doctor said I'd be able to return to work fully. No word on getting back on the bike, but I presume it will have the same overall trajectory i.e. nothing for 2 weeks, then maybe something light, though the consultant definitely wasn't condoning this. I'll play it by ear.

Lessons learnt?
I now know what crashing is like and will *definitely* make a stronger effort to avoid it.

But the biggest was to be a bit more circumspect with back injuries. I've had a few in my time, mainly from skiiing, and they've always been cracked/bruised ribs, about which there's nothing that can be done. But in hindsight the pain this time as far worse than anything previous, and I think there was a central component to it from the get go. If I'd realised at the time the nature of the injury I'd have lain down and not moved till those friendly ambulance guys arrived (another thing I learned from lying flat in various waiting areas - the ambulance drivers never once complained about time wasters, but did have a lot of venom for people driving themselves to A&E with neck injuries).

**Timbuk2**

Glad to hear you're ok, that sounds very painful! You only realise how much you use your back in everything you do when you injure it!

Best of luck with the recovery!

Khannie

Ouch!

32yg

I'm glad im nt you! Hope you get better soon..

daragh_

Really sorry to hear about your accident Souter.

Just got out of A&E after being knocked off my bike this morning by a car. Escaped with a bruised rear end and a sore but undamaged back. Was feeling very sorry for myself until I saw your post. Realising how lucky I am now.

Hope you have a speedy recovery and are back on the bike as soon as you are able. I need someone to drag me around the ThinkBike 100 again this year.

Jawgap

All the best for a full recovery.

Don't you just hate it when the missus is right about something!:)......... esp when you're wrong

pmcd22

Best of luck in your recovery, hope the worst is over and it be fast and pain free from here on in.

souter

daragh_ wrote: »

Realising how lucky I am now.

My own overriding response as well.

seamus

Jaysus, sorry to hear that. At least you're on the mend now.

Got some great links here before re:speed wobbles. Scary as hell when they happen, and your first instinct is, "Oh crap I'm gonna crash at ridiculous speed, I better slow down."

Braking actually makes it worse. What you should do is move as much of your weight over the front end as you can and lean down hard. Seems terrifyingly counter-intuitive, but I've had the opportunity to use the technique, and it works. Once the wobbling stops, you can start scrubbing your speed.

Actually don't know why braking makes it worse. Don't know a lot about wave theory, but my suspicion is that as you brake and reduce your speed, you also reduce the wavelength of the wave. Since the frequency of the wave doesn't change, this means that the height of the wave must increase. Think of it like a coiled spring. When you're moving fast, the spring is stretched out, and the "top" of each turn is closer to the turn on the opposite side. As you slow down, the spring compresses, the top of each turn moves further away and so your bars go even more mental.

This theory of mine also supposes that you can cure speed wobbles by just going faster. I'm not willing to test that one out.

souter

seamus wrote: »

Jaysus, sorry to hear that. At least you're on the mend now.

Got some great links here before re:speed wobbles. Scary as hell when they happen, and your first instinct is, "Oh crap I'm gonna crash at ridiculous speed, I better slow down."

Braking actually makes it worse. What you should do is move as much of your weight over the front end as you can and lean down hard. Seems terrifyingly counter-intuitive, but I've had the opportunity to use the technique, and it works. Once the wobbling stops, you can start scrubbing your speed.

Actually don't know why braking makes it worse. Don't know a lot about wave theory, but my suspicion is that as you brake and reduce your speed, you also reduce the wavelength of the wave. Since the frequency of the wave doesn't change, this means that the height of the wave must increase. Think of it like a coiled spring. When you're moving fast, the spring is stretched out, and the "top" of each turn is closer to the turn on the opposite side. As you slow down, the spring compresses, the top of each turn moves further away and so your bars go even more mental.

This theory of mine also supposes that you can cure speed wobbles by just going faster. I'm not willing to test that one out.

That's kind of what I'd heard. The other big one for my is gripping the tube with your knees. I've pulled out of worse wobbles than this before, was just strangely detached that morning.

TinyExplosions

seamus wrote: »

This theory of mine also supposes that you can cure speed wobbles by just going faster. I'm not willing to test that one out.

It stands to reason that it will, as it'll be resonant frequencies that cause the wobble, so they'll only happen within a certain speed range.

The clamping your knees tight to the toptube is however the easiest (and possibly safest) method of stopping it.

ba

souter, that sounds terrifying. as a member i cycle with the Dublin Wheelers myself. Glad to hear you are alright now and on the way to recovery.

What causes this 'wobble'? is it a dodgy headset, an old fork or gammy front hub??

seamus

ba wrote: »

What causes this 'wobble'? is it a dodgy headset, an old fork or gammy front hub??

From reading around it tends to be any combination of things. But the vast majority of times it occurs on perfectly working bikes. Seems generally to be a combination of high speed - 60 to 80km/h - and getting a sudden sideways jolt on the bike in the form of a gust of wind or an odd-shaped bump in the road.

Casula

Souter, I’ve unearthed this thread as I inflicted a similar injury to myself about 4 weeks ago and I’m curious about when you got back on the bike post injury? I think my compression fracture (T4) was less serious than yours as I avoided surgery and ribs were intact. In a back brace for another fortnight but still a bit of discomfort there so don’t plan risking anything until the doc gives me the ok. Pretty frustrating though as the fine weather started pretty much the day after my crash.!!

souter wrote: »

So Saturday 22nd started very nice - a try out spin with Dublin wheelers after getting bored with all those solo spins. A friendly gang and apologies if I cannot remember the names of those I spoke with. The weather was just peachy as well, so I was full of the joys of summer as we started exploring new areas of North dublin. Somewhere south of Naul I think the road started getting a bit lumpier and with a few cries of descent we were going down at a reasonable rate. I wasn't going excessively fast at all when I started to get some cycle shake and while trying to get it under control (i.e. freezing like a rabbit in headlights) I drifted into the gravel. I'd already scrubbed of a fair bit of speed (post crash the max recorded was 55) so for some reason decided I to scrub off the remainder in the grass rather than the gravel.
Big mistake, I think I hit a big culvert while going a lot faster than I thought I was. At this point I remember thinking, ha, I'm going to have my first crash but at least it's on soft grass.
I was flung head first into the ground, a bit like the rugby spear tackle, then flipped on to my back. Subsequently I think it was the angle of attack rather than the speed that did the damage.
A lot pain as I crawled out of the ditch, and difficulty in breathing. So I writhed around until I was able to talk. After standing up and getting some more speech back, passing all the LOC and tingliness questions, I managed to convince myself and fellow riders that I was only winded (though at the back of my mind I thought as a worst case I might have a cracked rib, which I've had before but there's nothing you can do about it), so we cycled on to a nearby service station where my wife was to collect me. Strangely, on the bike was the most comfortable position I'd been in and I toyed with the idea of cycling home, but wiser heads ruled this out.
By the time my wife collected my I was in a bit of state, the pain had been increasing, so she persuaded me to go to casualty. I accepted VHI swiftcare as a compromise where I'd at least be able to get some strong painkillers without wasting the entire day. In fairness to switfcare, they were... swift, so after a load of xrays the doctor said I had a fractured vertebrae and he was transferring me to Beaumount.
I was still pretty blase at this stage, the doctor was a cyclist himself, told me some stories about friends recieving similar injuries and said it would be fine.
It was only when the ambulance arrived and the nurse starting lip miming to the crew that the gravity of the situation started to dawn.
The next 20 hours was a series of different ceiling tiles as I lay strapped down till I went to theatre on Sunday evening. Needless to say all the hospital personnel were professionalism personified so I didn't get unduly worried at any time (though spending the night in the spinal injuries high dependency ward is *not* a recommended experience).
Beaumount are a centre for excellence in spinal injuries so I couldn't have been in a better place.
The available options were 8-12 weeks bed rest or metal pins around the damage. NB bedrest does not mean watching tv while getting up for more grapes now and again - it is spent strapped down with a bladder catheter and watching out for pressure sores. So I went for the pins. The detailed diagnosis was compression fracture of T7 vertebrae , plus fracture of a rib - so I was at least partially right about the cracked rib theory.

And now I'm home , just a few days later, walking about and reasonably functional. The pain in the first few days was bad, the painkillers were paracetomol and anti-inflamtories, none of the good stuff - I don't know where those Hollywood stars develop their Vicodin addiction from back pain, but it sure ain't Beaumount. The projected recovery is something like 2 weeks till safe to drive and do light work duties, a further 4 weeks and the doctor said I'd be able to return to work fully. No word on getting back on the bike, but I presume it will have the same overall trajectory i.e. nothing for 2 weeks, then maybe something light, though the consultant definitely wasn't condoning this. I'll play it by ear.

Lessons learnt?
I now know what crashing is like and will *definitely* make a stronger effort to avoid it.

But the biggest was to be a bit more circumspect with back injuries. I've had a few in my time, mainly from skiiing, and they've always been cracked/bruised ribs, about which there's nothing that can be done. But in hindsight the pain this time as far worse than anything previous, and I think there was a central component to it from the get go. If I'd realised at the time the nature of the injury I'd have lain down and not moved till those friendly ambulance guys arrived (another thing I learned from lying flat in various waiting areas - the ambulance drivers never once complained about time wasters, but did have a lot of venom for people driving themselves to A&E with neck injuries).