Collarbones by Kelly Parsons
Posted by
Christopher on Monday, December 08, 2008 to
Ride
Collarbones (clavicles) are the weak link in our skeletal systems and as such are frequent casualties of our sport. I can immediately recall several snaps from the last year alone. Because of this we tend to make light of this common injury. More than once I've heard someone say "just a collarbone." Well I'm here to tell ya, having a broken clavicle has a serious effect on the quality of your life.Yeah, I know that there are much worse things that can happen as the result of a bike crash (i.e. brain damage, paralysis, death), but these are rare compared to the ol' broken collarbone.
The most serious result of my recent mishap is the fact that my job requires a fully functioning body, ergo I can't work. Fortunately I do have an insurance policy to cover this, but this is not an optimal economic climate in which to take several weeks off from work. What if management figures out that I'm not as indispensable as I like to think I am?
The fact that I was riding at night when the crash occured causes me more than a little stress, too. I had previously forsworn riding at night on the road for safety reasons and now I'm feeling the consequences of renegging upon my better judgement. This crash would not have happened in the daytime. I have gone through that traffic circle much faster in good light with no problems. At night though, even with an H.I.D. light, my 52 year old eyes weren't quite up to the task. As Maxwell Smart would say "I missed the perfect line by THAT much!"
I can't ride my bike! No Tues. night mtb rides, no Sun. training rides, no 7am Sat. Mystic rides(BTW, WTF? 7am?!?), no Sat. rides from Brumble Bikes. And when Jeremy Powers sent me an e-mail wanting to ride on the Fri. after Thanksgiving, I had to decline. I mean this guy is approaching superstar status in the cyclocross world (not to mention the fact that he's just plain a lot of fun to be around) and I missed an opportunity to hang with him. I miss the whole crew! I am spending a lot of time with my family, but they're getting sick of me; too much of a good thing I guess.
It hurts! I like to think of myself as a tough guy, but this is painful and recovery is incremental at best. The first week saw no improvement, the second a little, and now that it's been three weeks it feels a little better each day and I can actually imagine resuming a normal life soon.
Bill Humphreys asked me what I took away from all this and after some reflection I had an answer: minimize the unnessary risks. Cycling has inherent dangers but that doesn't mean that we have to be thrill junkies, especially on training rides, where it seems like a lot of these incidents occur. I like taking a fast line through a turn and screaming down a hill but being agressively fit one minute and incapacitated the next is a suck-ass transition. I hope to maintain my "edge," but I also hope that I've gained a little more wisdom as to how to apply it more judiciously.
Thanks for reading my self-indulgent ramblings. I hope that I don't come across as a hopeless whiner. Please be assured that I do know that there are much worse things in life than just breaking a collarbone.
Permalink 
0 CommentsCoach's birthday ride by Bill Humphreys
Posted by
Christopher on Thursday, July 31, 2008 to
Ride
July 26, 2008
Bike Guy Rides His Age (64)
Or
63.5 Mile Lead Out
My birthday fell on a Saturday this year, and most of my junior team and other riding friends were off racing somewhere as I sent out a last minute email blast in desperation for some guys to help me through this yearly ordeal.
This ride my age thing started way back on my 50th birthday when I was a reincarnated student at Umass Amherst and had just purchased a new GT Zaskar Mountain Bike from my old Raleigh Boy teammate Doug Dale who still owned Peleton Sports in Northampton at the time. I put road slicks on it and asked him to point me in the direction of a 50mile ride.
So now 14 years later a few pounds heavier, married with a healthy nine year old boy, a honey do list, and a full time job, I needed some help to maintain my traditional 18+ mph average.
Departure time was unconditionally set at 8am, the sooner we started the sooner we could be back in time to watch the Tour time trial, drink some cold beer and do cannonballs off the dock.
Two local riders on their way to work, Mark and his dad David Jameson showed up along with my one junior Nate Etchells.
After a brisk 15-mile start with the warmed up commuters, Nate and I were left to finish the remaining 49 miles. We took it slow at first until my peanut butter & jelly sandwich had a chance to settle, and then with the war stories and coaching advice over, it was time to get to work, for Nate that is.
As much as I wanted to hug the flat roads along the shoreline, it was a Saturday and the traffic was unbearable on the beach roads. So, off we went to the beautiful back roads, the hilly back roads of Devil’s Hopyard and Mount Parnassus Rd where our average speed and I suffered.
Several times I would put Nate on the front with instructions to keep it at about 17 to 18mph only to hall him back and readjust the speed to more like 16 mph on the false flats, headwind and rollers until we reached the far end of the ride.
If my calculations from riding these roads for over 36 years were right, we had smooth sailing of flat to slightly rolling terrain for the remaining 25 miles. At this point Nate had already done a “Jens Voight” job for the day and I was now going to ask even more from my first year racing 15-year-old junior. He had already learned more than he needed to know in his young career about how to keep his captain from missing the time limit in the gruppetto.
With my heart rate already pegged at 168 to 171 we began the serious work of getting our average speed up from 17.9 to 18. 5 and I was determined to help and I had to I we were going to get the job done. I could smell the barn at this point and had pushed myself hard on this section of road for many years. Muscle memories and synapses reconnected the tempo increased, the heart rate settled down and we finished up on Whippoorwill Road with the 18.5 average speed goal I am determined to maintain for a few more years.
We had both had a light week of training, and this effort had left us both a little on the toasted side to say the least. Back at the lake, we went for a refreshing but short swim, then watched the tour and spent the next few hours resting in the shade.
Nate was my man this 64th birthday ride, I could have done the ride alone like I have in previous years, but it would not have been the same. I must begin building towards the next 20 years of birthday rides and for those I will need help and that is what this year’s ride was all about.
What are the chances that everyone was busy except this 15-year-old kid who until this year had never raced a bike? How fortunate am I, this old cowboy, road warrior, that I have managed to keep himself involved with the youth movement enough that one of those up and comer’s would take the opportunity to ride with the coach for 64 miles on his birthday? If this event grows over the coming years, (it will always be held on the actual day, which will include weekdays as the years go by) Nate will always have the bragging rights to being the first official “worker” to get me through this transitional year.
I checked the calendar and next year my 65th will be on a Sunday, so recruiting gregarious will still be a problem. I will put out a reminder email blast in January and another one in April and June. Maybe I can enforce a mid season break for my Juniors and some of the Master’s will take pity on my situation, knowing that I am buying the beer, and that with the right riders we could possibly up the average speed with less wear and tear. (I might not have to go to the front.) There may also be a true Most Valuable Domestique Award and it will be called the Nate Etchells Trophy.
Permalink 1 CommentsREMEMBER, SAFETY FIRST!!
Posted by
Christopher on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 to
Ride
As the season is well underway, please remember to think safety first by following the "rules of the ride" that we all pledged to adhere to when we became MVC members.
These rules should be followed at all times, whether you are out riding solo, or are on any of the group rides listed on our website, or any ride you participate in.
MVC Rules of the Ride:
The following rules should apply to any ride you participate in:
1. All traffic laws are to be obeyed (These include but are not limited to stop signs, traffic lights, yellow lines, as well as trail rules)
2. Helmets are required on rides.
3. Double pace line allowed as traffic and road conditions permit (single file is expected in heavy traffic and congested conditions)
4. Sprinting and high intensity portion of training rides allowed only where traffic conditions permit (typically this is not inside town limits; the ride leader makes this call).
5. Absolutely no comment, hand gesture, etc. in reaction to dangerous, illegal or threatening automobile driver/passenger actions. Instead, a rider complaint may be properly filed with the police having jurisdiction.
6. Use road shoulder whenever possible.
7. Use hand and verbal signals to notify other riders, as well as cars, of intent, road hazards, etc.
8. Riders are not to be dropped at stop signs, lights, or during mechanical breakdowns.
9. Intent of ride (Training, fitness, tempo) should and will be advertised prior to the start of the ride. If you aren’t sure about the ride plan – please ask before the ride leaves the assembly point.
Violation of these rules creates a danger for yourself and others on the ride.
Please remember: Every time you ride in your MVC uniform, on a club ride or by yourself, you are identifiable and representative of MVC. The driver that crowds you, and then sees your salutation or the one that watches you disobey basic traffic laws could be the same driver that then puts the next MVC jersey he sees in the ditch. We want to build respect for our sport and our club, and we know that these goals will serve to compliment your personal goals, not hinder them in any way. As a member of MVC you are acknowledging that you understand and are willing to ride within these guidelines.
Please remember to follow the rules of the ride, and above all use a bit of common sense!! The life you save may be your own!!
Permalink 0 CommentsCan the U.S. Catch up to Bike-friendly Cities in Europe?
Posted by
Tom on Thursday, May 17, 2007 to
Ride,
Cycling in the News
Here is another bike-related Wall Street Journal article.
The author explores how Europe ramps up its inner-city infrastructure including the construction of a 10,000-bike garage in Amsterdam. What's being done here in the U.S?
Permalink 2 CommentsCycling Gear Chart
Posted by
Jim on Thursday, July 27, 2006 to
Ride,
Training,
Bike Tech,
Race
Ever wonder what cassette to use in a race? How about the effects of a compact chainring - 50/34 or 50/36? Sort it all out with the "Gear Chart" download. This nifty spreadsheet lets you see how the various combinations of chainrings / cassettes / cadence interact.
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