Alex back on the bike with both hands

You don’t really realise how much you love the sport you are doing it until you are NOT doing it.  It’s been about six weeks since my last blog and I had just gotten home from Europe, recovering from my broken wrist.  I was training twice a day on the ergo and I was bored out of my mind.

But now six weeks, five x-rays, 3 CT scans, an operation and a trip to Canberra and I am finally back on the road!!!My last six weeks were full of x-ray after x-ray and visiting doctors and surgeons - all for the wrist. I was on the ergo training but that got really boring after I had watched pretty much all 128 movies on my laptop and the whole Entourage series TWICE.  The rest of my days or what I had left was spent trying to play Call of Duty with one hand… didn’t really work.  At about the four week mark since I broke my wrist I went in for surgery to my cracked right scaphoid (a little bone in your wrist).  Surgery was easier than I expected and it didn’t hurt at all, probably because I was asleep the whole time :D

A week later I was off to Canberra to meet my fellow injured teammate and friend Mal (Rudolph) in Canberra. A camp was organised for us to get some much-needed motivation and some professional help with our injuries. It was really good to see Mal again and I was glad to see that he had been on the road for about 2 weeks before the camp.  Well I was a little bit jealous of him but I had 2 broken bones in my wrist and had had an operation so my injuries still needed some time to heal.  That left me on the ergo doing some strength work and some really good intensity. Also, whilst at the AIS, we did some testing and skinfolds. 

I was not happy about the skinfolds part because I hadn’t trained for longer than an hour and a half each day for the last 5 weeks. But they weren’t too bad so that was good.  Oh and the bistro in the dining hall! WOW. Mal and I had the nicest food and dessert every night and came out feeling really fat! But we enjoyed it, so that’s all that matters. In the last couple of days I got the okay from the physio that I could go for a road ride as long as I promised not to fall off!  So obviously I made a promise that I couldn’t guarantee and got on the road bike with Mal and it was the best feeling I'd had in 5 weeks!

After the camp I had an appointment to see my surgeon and get the cast “officially” taken off - little did he know that I had had it off for the last week whilst in Canberra.  So I put my cast back on and went to the surgeon so he could take it off.  He was amazed at how much the swelling had gone down and how much movement I already had with my wrist.  He gave me a wrist guard to wear for a few weeks, but more importantly, he gave the all clear to get on the road “officially."  I was over the moon!

The first ride back I only lasted an hour before my wrist got too sore but since then the rides have been getting longer and longer.  I never realised how much I missed training out on the road until now. With the sun shining, blue skies and the crisp winter weather, I was riding my bike.  I was BACK!

Next up is a camp in Queensland that I’m really looking forward to seeing the other boys after my early exit from Europe. Then off to the Tour of Gippsland for the first race back since the crash.  I CANT WAIT!!!

I think I have raved on enough now.

Cya later

Alex