Ludwig
Speeding Up
- Oct 9, 2008
- 871
- 0
Hello all,
It has been a while since I have posted here, and in fact a while since I stopped following the site (just too depressive when one cannot get onto the bike).
My back pain gradually improved and by Golden Week I managed to survive almost entirely without pain killers (NSAIDs). I couldn't wait to try out what my back would say to me getting back onto the bike. After taking down the height of the saddle by quite a bit (it had definitely been to high!), I was able to ride with just modest pain. It was nice to do a leisurely 25km through Setagaya-ku, despite being caught in one of these afternoon rains we are having so often these days.
The other day I went one step further and did Otarumi and Yabitsu, 105km and 1,200m in all. Peanuts in my old time, but quite exhausting when one is not in form. The back held up fine, except for that long descend from Yabitsu into Hadano.
Finally, this Tuesday I had the honourable task of guiding a group of German mountain bikers with TV crew in tow through Tokyo. The pace was so slow my back was in no position to complain! If only the weather had been better that day...
And if only my back wasn't again deteriorating day by day. I'm back at a level where even high doses of NSAIDs don't help that much any longer. Maybe that bad disk was torn once again, though there is no single event I can point to that really caused a sudden deterioration.
As if all of this was not enough, I had the further misfortune of my bike, standing in our genkan to dry after all that rain, to collapse onto the genkan step, leaving significant marks in the top tube. Photos below.
How serious do you think this is? How can I tell whether this is real structural damage or only the outer carbon shell/cover being broken? When I know on the tube, the sound does not change wherever I knock, which gives me a little bit of hope. But I wouldn't want to have the bike suddenly collapsing under me on one of my fast descends...
Any advice welcome! Cheers, Ludwig
It has been a while since I have posted here, and in fact a while since I stopped following the site (just too depressive when one cannot get onto the bike).
My back pain gradually improved and by Golden Week I managed to survive almost entirely without pain killers (NSAIDs). I couldn't wait to try out what my back would say to me getting back onto the bike. After taking down the height of the saddle by quite a bit (it had definitely been to high!), I was able to ride with just modest pain. It was nice to do a leisurely 25km through Setagaya-ku, despite being caught in one of these afternoon rains we are having so often these days.
The other day I went one step further and did Otarumi and Yabitsu, 105km and 1,200m in all. Peanuts in my old time, but quite exhausting when one is not in form. The back held up fine, except for that long descend from Yabitsu into Hadano.
Finally, this Tuesday I had the honourable task of guiding a group of German mountain bikers with TV crew in tow through Tokyo. The pace was so slow my back was in no position to complain! If only the weather had been better that day...
And if only my back wasn't again deteriorating day by day. I'm back at a level where even high doses of NSAIDs don't help that much any longer. Maybe that bad disk was torn once again, though there is no single event I can point to that really caused a sudden deterioration.
As if all of this was not enough, I had the further misfortune of my bike, standing in our genkan to dry after all that rain, to collapse onto the genkan step, leaving significant marks in the top tube. Photos below.
How serious do you think this is? How can I tell whether this is real structural damage or only the outer carbon shell/cover being broken? When I know on the tube, the sound does not change wherever I knock, which gives me a little bit of hope. But I wouldn't want to have the bike suddenly collapsing under me on one of my fast descends...
Any advice welcome! Cheers, Ludwig