indyfabz

Thanks. The place was close to my human support structure. Have ridden 120 miles this year despite a lot of crappy weather. Have a 5 day tour planned for 4/21. Longest day would be 50 miles fully loaded. Not sure if I’ll be ready, but I’m still shooting for it. If I don’t think I’m ready for the mileage with all my gear (3 days of thru riding) with day loop rides planned for 2 days.), I can always drive to the two overnight destinations and do day rides.

zandoval 

For me its one thing after another.

Makes me appreciate every ride I take no matter how small or insignificant...

b88

I never mentioned, thought it was not allowed for discussion here.

NVFlinch 

Bike addict here. Averaged 4,500 miles/year for the past 13 years,and last fall got hit by a van. Shattered pelvis, and in a walker for 6 weeks. After that, rehab was PT, walking, and a stationary bike. Took my first real ride on New Year's day (I wasn't supposed to !), and did all of 11 miles. Since then 620 miles total, over 180 PT sessions. I'm getting back, but man am I paranoid on the road though! Changes your perspective of what is important for sure.

b88

Thats my attitude right now. I got one 20 km ride in. That was almost a couple weeks ago. Full recovery may never happen so I’ll take whatever I can get.

datlas 

I believe it’s ok to mention as long as you don’t get into anything controversial.

Clearly some people have a post-COVID syndrome and it’s frustrating for everyone involved.

Other than time and patience I don’t know if there is any “cure.”

Maelochs

I went from 4800 miles per year to 10-20 miles per month due to repeated illnesses. Yesterday was a breakthrough ... I did a second ride in a week, and in fact, the day after the first ride of the month. (23 miles total.)

Just a long, slow recovery ahead ... no stress. After having my heart nearly explode 12 years ago, and coming back from that, I know that it is just a matter of keeping at it. The mental issue is the hardest .... like others, i try to appreciate what I can do and not stress over what I wish i could do or used to do.

noglider 

I see a bright side to this topic. It's that some of us have such a passion for cycling that we will do it whenever we can. I've spent too much time off the bike (in various periods) that I don't realize how much I miss it when I'm off. The problem with that is that I don't crave it sufficiently. I'm finally ramping it up more than in recent years, and yes, I'm much happier. Now that I'm getting old, I'm learning about how important exercise is to long term health, so I'm figuring out what kinds of exercise to do besides cycling. I'm also working more and more cycling into my life, especially commuting. I'm already fairly good at riding in bad weather, though I truly don't enjoy it as much as when it's sunny and warm. I rode all through this winter with reduced miles.

BobbyG

At 48 my daily bike commuting and cycling was the therapy I craved, depended on and needed to get me through a stressful/depressing point in my life. Then a non-cycling injury kept me off the bike for a year. It was sudden and painful, with constant pain for 6 months which left me sleep deprived and in physical agony, and with no physical, mental or emotional outlet while I continued to show up to work to keep the business running.

Bad times.

Then I discovered and joined an improv comedy/theater troupe. It has been a life changer. Besides the short, funny "Whose Line is it Anyway" stuff we also do long format scenes and stories. In fact, I usually think of it as live, on-the-spot team story telling. What it teaches is the ability to positively contribute to a changing narrative full of surprise twists and turns. Plus it involves role-playing, which I also find therapeutic. And 14 years later I find I am better able to handle life. Like family medical emergencies, surprise career developments and work projects that go off the rails.

After 9 months off the bike, I was finally able to start walking for extended periods and began working on cardio. Then I got back on the bike, and after a few months had built my muscles back up to where I could ride to work and back. four or six months after that I could pedal up all the hills I used to without getting off and walking.

My suggestion for mental devastation is to find an improv class, club or troupe. Learning to play with uncertainty, and being able to get out of your own head space for a while did and does wonders for me.

mstateglfr 

I wasnt able to ride nearly as many miles last year as I had gotten used to over the prior 7 years and it was really frustrating.
Nothing nearly as severe as some examples mentioned here, but chronic neck pain with limited left/right mobility really reduced how much I rode last year.

Not knowing how the injury happened was frustrating. Not knowing what specifically was wrong(was going to a chiro and a PT multiple times a week over 3 months) was frustrating. The slow improvement was frustrating.
Being injured and not being able to do something you enjoy can mess with your outlook on life.
I threw myself into some other things to stay busy and productive, and to a degree it definitely helped.


My range of motion is back and there is pain only at the extreme ends of motion, so I am chalking it up to something I will just live with in some manner, moving forward.
I already have a bunch of extreme challenges in my head for when the weather clears up because I have to hold myself accountable or it is really easy to skip riding after it stopped being part of my weekly routine. Multiple gravel century rides, entry into some in-state gravel races I havent done before, those sorts of things.

Tomm Willians

Had my L5 replaced November 20th and was able to start rehabbing on an E bike 5 weeks later. Did a century with the wife yesterday on my regular bike and it felt great! Not bad for 63 years old.

WaveyGravey

I had surgery and could not ride for about 6 months. Spent a lot of time on this forum passing the time until I could get back into riding.

George Mann

A severe groin injury, plus a recent near fatal heart attack has kept me off my bike for nearly a year now.

3alarmer 

...a look at the bright side person would say, "At least you have a window".

b88

I hope each day brings you closer to a speedy recovery.

indyfabz

Don't assess another man's mindset until you have been fed through his feeding tube and crapped in his bed pan for 10 weeks.

3alarmer 

...this is why people always react poorly to suggestions about how it could always be worse.

rosefarts

Dermatomyositis. Autoimmune disease that attacks the upper body and frequently causes interstitial lung disease too.

My riding is ok. It’s getting a lot harder to handle the mountain bike due to upper body weakness and more than a couple hours of road riding is about all my arms can take.

Combine that with full time work, parenthood , general aging, and cervical spine stenosis and I’m just a shell of myself.

It’s even worse for my “main” sport, rock climbing. I can’t even finish what I used to warm up on.

Best strategy for me has been tinkering and solo rides. I’m a lot happier to suffer alone than get dropped by a fat guy.

MinnMan

Oh, man, that's rough. I've had a number of intervals off the bike. As much as 6 months, several in the range of 2-4 months. It comes with a deep deep melancholy, particularly when I didn't know how long (or in some cases, if ever) I would be able to go back.

When I'm in that situation, I find it painful to see others out riding. I see them and I get a deep longing. I certainly can't look at Strava then either. I do go down to the stable and gaze at my bikes, but it hurts to do it.

Courage, I guess. Some people never knew the joy in the first place. All around us and all around the world, there are people living with all kinds of physical and mental disabilities. People living in war and trying to reconstruct their lives after heinous injuries, losing multiple limbs and worse. My life, off the bike, is still a comfortable life by any measure, and though I'm not happy that way, it's good to at least try to keep things in perspective.

Good luck to all those forced off the bike by injury and illness. It is very hard.

downtube42

Fractured my C3 October 10th 2019, aged 59. Just a few weeks after completing a 1000km brevet, and a couple months after completing Paris Brest Paris. First trainer ride was 18 days later. First real ride was 4 months after the accident, on the first day that was allowed. That was a scary 4.5 mile ride.

It took me 2 years to get back to 1200km form, but I've never quite returned to pre-crash fitness levels. At 63 now, that seems unlikely.

No surgery required, just a hard brace for 3 months. The crash happened on a Friday, I was in the office on Monday. Wife was displeased, but technically the Doc said when I felt up to work I could return.

Wildwood 

I look at the bright side of things = when life feels like total shat, consider the alternative. At 72yo, I have lost too many close friends, relatives etc to hardly ever 'feel bad'.

But there are a whole lot of diseases and happenstance that can work contrary to graceful aging.

Roll On, any way I can - good medicine for much of what ails me.

for some, hard to maintain the straight and narrow as the tides shift life's realities.

¿this thread needs pictures?

bijosepke

Several years back, I was in a road accident on my bicycle. I could not ride for over one year. I can ride now, but not long distances.

DirePenguin

In Nov. ‘21 I was struck broadside by a car making a careless left hand turn across traffic. My bike was destroyed and I ended up in the hospital with a concussion (based on the damage to my helmet, I’m certain it saved my life), five broken ribs, a fractured scapula, a fractured ankle and 4 fractured vertebrae. I was in the hospital for 8 days and in a rehab hospital for 10. Then about 4 months of PT.

I was completely off the bike for all of December.

I got a new bike in Jan. ‘22 but I only rode it lightly in the basement starting in mid Jan. until about the middle of Feb when I started going for short rides in my neighborhood.

I’ve pretty much recovered by now, but I’m still not as fast as I was before I got hit.

b88

Damn, hope his insurance had to cough up everything.

I encountered almost same thing but just busted up my knee and ankle.

indyfabz

I’d post a post-op photo, but the mods might not like that.