So my road (turbo) to recovery went pretty smoothly. The first few days were rather boring; even just slobbing around not able to do much for a few days was quite depressing and irritating so I was itching to get training again and doing what I love.
I was back turning the pedals just 5 days after the crash, I could begin using a knife and fork properly again and turbo life was going well!! Turbo gets a bit of a hard time in the cycling world being called boring and dull. Yes it can be, and don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t want to be riding it everyday, but I do enjoy it and it’s a very efficient method of training.
I really love the satisfaction of nailing a tough session, buzzing off endorphins, music pumping, wet from sweat and cooling down knowing it’s job done well. ✌?
So after 10 days of hard training on the turbo and 1 shoulder test on the road, I felt I could race. When holding the skiis (aero bars) on a TT bike you hold some body weight but it’s a fixed position without much pulling on the bars or lateral movement, so I felt I could race and the risks of crashing were very minimal as I was just relying on myself, rather than the unpredictable nature of road racing with 120 other riders, centimeters apart.
Race day was here, I was confident from my power on the turbo and excited to feel the wind in my face again.
I came 4th U23.
4th, urgh, such an annoying position to finish!! I was expecting more to be honest, but it was only my 3rd ever proper TT and I get told, and need to remember, that injuries take a lot out of the body. Even though I sometimes think, ‘ok I’ve broken a bone, it will heal, and I can train on turbo’, actually on the inside there are lots of processes happening, the body is in ‘repair mode’ and using lots of resources to fix itself. As a result the immune system weakens due to energy being diverted to more important places, so illness could also strike. I wasn’t ill, and had to be thankful to my body for being on the start line for the TT champs after putting it through training on top of the healing process.
The National road race Champs was too much of a risk due to higher chances of crashing thus undoing the healing process. It was a shame as they were held in my home city so I’d really be spurred on to achieve a successful result, but in the bigger picture it’s best to be able to finish the season without potentially prolonging an injury.
This small setback has been a good opportunity to remind myself of how lucky I am to have my health – the most important part of existence for all of us – yet easily taken for granted.
Sometimes it’s good to bring everything down to the ground, to the basics, and appreciate the small but BIG parts of our lives.
Thankfully bones can mend themselves and I was soon back enjoying my passion with the freedom to do nearly anything without restriction.
The best things in life are free.
Happy cycling, Sophie Wright @sophiekwright8
