Ankle Becomes Anchor

Ankle is not recovering as quickly as anticipated. Great weather and opportunities for riding and racing are passing by while I am immobilized.

Pictures in the previous blog entry show the ankle the day after the event. One week later and it still looked and felt the same. The week following the injury I drove Donna's car across NY doing customer meetings until returning on Friday. I sat down in front of most audiences, so I minimized the swelling as much as possible. But, it was not looking good at the end of the week. On the weekend I had it elevated and iced both days. By Sunday night it was still looking pretty much as it was the day after. I decided to cancel a scheduled trip to Maine. The 6+ hour ride in the car each way, plus doing the meetings on a farm, was not going to help.

I got an appointment with a orthopedic PA and after his exam and more X-Rays, I was in a removable walking cast. He said it would take about six weeks to get the significant soft tissue (ligaments, tendons, muscle) to heal properly. With the cast I can walk (gimp) around without doing more damage. I still need to elevate and ice as much as possible. So, I sent out notice that I will not be going to farms and traveling as little as possible to do meetings and then only in hotel meeting rooms.

Around this same time I got an eMail from the organizers of the Tour of Battenkill race. My waiting list status for the Cat 5 +45 division has been elevated, so I can now register for the race. Great! Just as I became eligible to ride in the largest bicycle race in the US, held right outside my door in just a few weeks, I became UNABLE to ride! Also, the weather has been clear and sunny and warmer so both the snowboarding conditions on Killington and the road riding conditions at home have become spectacular.

Training for, and riding in, California in February was supposed to get and keep me fitter over the winter, along with regular spinning and snowboarding. It worked, I am in good shape. But now the challenge is to maintain the condition I have as best I can. I have been doing callistetics, weights and even rode on the mountain bike while Donna ran. It will not be ideal, but I will work at it so when the anchor comes off, I will be ready to set sail and ride.