accident damage to knee

macrh 28, 2008

CRASH! thats hw march ended this year for riding. no broken bones and am not bed ridden though thank fully. how it happened doesnt make sense to me but here goes. heading down orange ave i just went right into the back of a parked minivan. yeah, how many cyclists do you know who ride into cars? well it happened to me. dont know if the wind blew hard which made me lose control, if there was a groove in the rode that i hit, if i car going by came too close which made me swirve into the car, or if i just had a light headed spell that made me lose control. however it happened the back of the minivans window was taken out and the scott was cracked in half at the fork. :(

so here is what i remember....

seeing the minivan at the last second i applied the brakes and turned to roll into the car shoulder first. the brunt of the impact was taken by my helmet above my right temple. then i was on the ground rolling around trying to get up but having no sense of where i was, how i got there, and what was happening. stumbled onto someones lawn and think i knocked on their door. man came out and asked me who to call and i gave them staceys number. then the ambulance arrived and began care for me. was put on a back board and stabilized as a precaution since my head and neck had been jerked so hard from the impact. in the ambulance my clothes were cut open to allow access to a cut in my knee and minor cuts here and there. was questioned and started to get nauseas then was given oxygen which helped.

in the hospital was taken into the emergency room and then the drew blood, took an x-ray of my neck, chest, pelvis, and a cat scan of my head. also was given an ekg to make sure my heart was ok. after the x-rays i was allowed to be unstrapped from the neck stabilizer and was then able to stand. wow! i was destroyed! dizzy and weak and shaking. felt like ran into a car! up to this point i was nervous about any possible paralysis that may happen due to neck injury. but since i walked around and could wiggle my toes and fingers i figured it wasnt very likely. but in the moment, i did get very nervous. and the next nervousness was waiting for the cat scan. it came back fine but thinking of possibly getting brain surgery due to swelling or bleeding in the brain just sucked.

after being cleared of all the major injuries they took care of the cuts and stitched me up. 12 in the knee and two in the lips. this is where the most pain took place. taking off the tape for the i.v. they had in my arm sucked. i hate those things with a passion. every movement of my arm was accompanied by the feeling of a large piece of plastic under my skin scratching from the inside. yuck. and they gave me two for some reason! one in each arm. but that wasnt as bad as the numbing agent they put in my lip to stitch there. burn burn burn. but at least i walked out of there.

they put a knee stabalizer on me to prevent any bending in the leg that would cause the stiches to pop or tear out. and sent me on my way. sitting here now most of the pain and discomfort is in my leg. feels as though the handle bars went right into my quads even though there is no bruise there. but any movement is painfull there. the stiches in my lips arent so bad except while open my mouth wide to eat or laugh. but thankfully thats the most that bothering me.

this is another true testament to wearing a helmet. with all the research i still such riders who are racing around without one on. had i not been wearing one who knows what would have happened. but thankfully i was.

after recovering i promised my dad i will take my first ride with him. hopefully that soon!

ps- the staff at overlook hospital in nj was really good. everyone was nice and i got really good care.

ride;

t-5:12
d-1.41
as-16.3
ms-20.7

monthly mile mark-792.9

miles ridden in month-414.51

march 25, 2008

went out after work today. it was 63 degrees!!! got to shed the booties, wear only a jersey and a base layer with arm warmers, and didnt have to wear a hat! felt nice to shed that extra clothing. what didnt feel nice was my stomach! :( i felt heavier and dont like it. so i headed to tamaques to do some interval work and sprints. went well and i did 2 sets of 3 hard loops then 2 sprints. then did the fast ride home down south ave. weather says rain for the next couple of days. if so, im getting the trainer out. wanna get this fat off me asap. ride;

t-1:16:19
d-25.14
as-19.7
ms-33.5

march 23, 2008

successfully completed a recovery ride. rode from staceys to the 32 east mountain to see if i had any mail there. took a very nice slow pace and had a good time. got to just hang out on the bike and look around more rather than being focused on speed. felt good and my legs felt nice after the ride. this week is a recovery week. hope to get 50 miles in or so but am not going to puch it too hard. just want to ride around. probably going to take the cannondale and kona out this week. ride;

t-1:07:17
d-17.47
as-16.3
ms-25.7

march 21, 2008

had the day off but didnt ride until around 5. did some stuff around the house and then headed over to staceys. after hanging out for an hour went to meet with eric for a quick loop. was very windy but i think the wind is something im used to. dont like it at all, unless its at my back, but i may be a little more used to it after this winter.

after meeting with eric we did a nice 7 or 8 mile loop around hillsborough. no climbs just some small rollers. at one point my luck on the bike helped out when eric and i came together because he was going straight while i thought we were making a right! came very close to making us both fall but neither did and we both headed home with no scratches and a good ride. ride;

t-1:18:21
d-23.49
as-17.9
ms-28.0

march 22, 2008

went out this afternoon after spending the morning hanging out and relaxing. :) decided early on i was going to do the 3 climbs ride that century has planned on april 6th. up long hill, up montgomery, then up lindberge. this was a tough ride! dont know were exactly it happened but my legs crashed at one point. trying to hammer up long hill may have been the culprit. montgomery was a very slow crawl due to my inexperience with the climb and lindberge went the best out of the 3. riding to zion from long hill i knew it was time to head home. my legs were already burning and i still had another 10 miles! but my legs pushed through and i arrived back with a nice average speed and a good amount of time on the bike to show for the soreness. this was a good hard ride. felt like my fitness was a little higher despite the legs aching. may go out tomorrow for a recovery ride. this week is going to be a slower week with less miles. legs have been sore and want to rest them. ride;

t-2:24:31
d-44.75
as-18.5
ms-49.5

march 20, 2008

spent yesterday maintaining the bike and picked up some tools for it. also picked up a tool box which i hope will be the beginning of me being able to maintain my bike. the bad news is ive been eating like a pig and it shows. despite all the riding im still showing love handles and a small belly. i know i should be eating more than i think but i need to make better decisions. anyway. went out after work today despite being tired and there being very high winds. just wanted to get in an hour or so to keep up on my fitness and help reverse the past week and a half of eating. ended up having a pretty decent ride and found a new place to do sprints/track starts. newly paved road up the street from me so it will be a nice place to go before i get home after a ride. i just rode around for the most part and ended up in tamaques. had a decent tail wind coming home and i hammered it so my legs got some slight burn. felt good and i hope today is the start of a new diet. ride;

t-1:07:10
d-20.20
as-18.0
ms-28.3

*reset odometer to 680.6. for some reason it keeps "spinning" after im off the bike.

march 17, 2008

went out after work with the idea of getting in a good amount of miles. it wasnt as breezy as the weather report lead me to believe. this wind is getting tiring. every day feels like im pedaling into the wind whichever direction i go.

decided to head up into berkely heights. went up shunpike rd and decided to go up mount view rd. this extended my climb by a decent amount. at least it felt that way, my legs were tired! after getting up near overlook headed my normal route that carried me back into scotch plains. decided to go to my favorite place, tamaques! there was another rider there and we paired up for a few laps but nothing major. just rode around at a nice pace. headed home and had a great encounter. was going down south ave at about 22mph when someone in a car yelled something at me. my initial thought was to give them the finger but i held back and chose just to wave. up ahead, i saw they were going to get caught by the light so decided to sprint to catch them! got up to them and rolled up real slow. as i stopped next to them i looked in and pointed to my ear mouthing, "what did you say?" they exploded in laughter which made me laugh too. much better than the reaction had i given them the finger. good ride :) ;

t-1:55:57
d-36.04
as-18.6
ms-*

*funky odometer.

march 13, 2008

had my first real training ride today. did hill repeats up tracy dr and some track starts. went up tracy 3 times and did some sprints up the rolling hills up there then down ackerman which dumps right out at the start of tracy. this is a great course for training. not much time for recovery and keeps your heart rate high. after coming down from ackerman headed to tamaques and did some fast loops keeping the intensity high and pushing a little harder each loop. decided to do some track starts which went well. did 8 starts 4 on each leg. am starting to feel stronger. ride;

d-29

*comp screwed up

march 15, 2008

went out with mike today in hillsborough. felt good to get out there with him. seems like my best rides happen in mikes company. we rode around for a while just talking and adding on the miles. eventually decided to go up zion. started up and eventually got distance between us. once to the top we stopped as mike was going to go home. agreed to meet up this week if possible. i went down them up long hill and headed back to somerville. great ride. weather was nice and had good company. ride;

t-2:44:30
d-48.88
as-17.8
ms-37.2

march 10, 2008

i rode today but didnt post it. found a saved draft that had no info. but i rode!

march 9, 2008

got out in the hillsborough area today after sleeping over at staceys last night. wanted to get out and do a quick 45 minute ride just to stay fresh but that changed. originally was going to ride with eric but he fell out due to wind concerns. blah. mike also was a no call due to concern over ice on the road. there was ice, but very little and on the extreme sides of the street.

after getting to hillsborough and making my way to the road that would bring me back to somerville i encountered a closed road due to flood waters! not wanting to ride down 206 i turned around and headed a different way. decided then to stretch out the ride and my 45 minute ride more than doubled! encountered 3 more flood zone areas and rode through about 3-4 inches of water at one point which was a little stupid but did anyway. there was no current but im sure it wasnt good for the bike.

this was one of the windiest rides ive ever done. weather station out in hillsborough has the minimum winds at 6mph and the max at 21mph. max gust was 35mph. felt like every direction i was riding into the wind for about 85% of the ride. was good though. helped me burn off some calories :) ride;

t-1:46:41
d-29.69
as-16.7
ms-36.0

*these numbers may be off. something funny happened with my comp that i cant figure out.

march 6, 2008

rode up to berkley heights today after work. took a route that had me climb shunpike rd and then ride through overlook hospital. got a little lost a couple times but had a general idea where i was due to driving around the area from work. overall had a nice ride though and got some good speed riding through berkley heights. heading home down south ave my legs let me know they were tired and i took it easier than most days. good ride though. exposed me to a new area to go on the bike where traffic is a little calmer around here. ride;

t-1:26:35
d-23.64
as-16.3
ms-?*

*computer flaw

march 3, 2008

got out today after work despite being tired most of the day. may have had a slight cold but was able to get a short nap after lunch which helped. even though i went out with the idea of taking it easy and making this a 'recovery ride' it didnt happen. once my speed starts to stay constant and my legs feel good i cant stop going no matter how it feels. after riding around cranford i headed to tamaques park in westfield. this park is like a drug. went in with the idea of only doing maybe 5 laps. ended up being there for 45 minutes doing intervals and sprints. felt good though. tomorrow will be a rest day and wednesday may be as well. ride;

t-1:29:05
d-28.36
as-19.0
ms-33.2*

*sprint

march 1, 2008

went to pick the bike up and a tune up at cranford bvike shop and decided to take it for a spin. wasnt sure where i would go but felt an urge to do some climbing. headed up new providence rd to attempt ackerman rd. only .4 miles long but a 7.5% grade. it was a nice clip. took some work but i was able to get up with not much of a problem. decided then to take on my new training hill. summit rd. a .9 mile climb and 10% grade. this is the second steepest rd i have climbed. took some time to get up it and didnt push the gears too hard to be safe. this will be a great road to give me power during the pre summer season. rode around a little more in the mountains then headed back home. road by work to see how far it was from home. surprised that it is just over 5 miles. that will make a nice loop for commuting in the summer on bike. but the key to this ride was summit rd. 10% grade and had no trouble on my first attempt. not like warrenville :) ride;

t-1:19:36
d-22.91
as-17.3
ms-?*

*computer messed up

march 2, 2008

went out today in hillsborough for the first time since moving. was visiting stacey and bought the bike along. felt good to be able to ride on the roads i was more familiar with. less traffic, more scenery, and better bike lanes. amazing what a difference 25 miles makes in new jersey. farms and open fields compared to packed suburban streets with car and foot traffic everywhere. even though the wind was blowing most of the day it still felt good and i kept a nice pace. with the bike just being tuned up it rode very smooth. look forward to getting out in somerset county again soon. ride;

t-2:00:02
d-36.38
as-18.1
ms-32.9

february 29, 2008 (leap year!)

february numbers...

t-6:28:50

d-109.20

as-16.8

monthly mile mark-378.39