Yes, sure. I'm dying to get back on the bike! My wife, friends, and family are against it (dying being the operative word
). So as I'm going against the advice and wishes of my loved ones, i really want to make sure I'm safe when i do so.
This comes down to injuries and healing, plus mental attitude.
On the mental attitude, I think I am there. Even though I can't remember the crash, I have a fairly good idea what must have happened, and can well imagine the mistakes I could have made. I think, in priority order, my take away things to focus on are (1) appropriate corner entry speed! (2) look at the "route to safety" and avoid looking at danger (target fixation) and (3) maintenance throttle and smooth roll on not 50 pencing for optimum traction. I don't know that (2) and (3) contributed to my crash, but they could have. clearly (1) did! So I'm not "freaked out" at all, know what I need to work on, and am psyched to get out there and improve my skill. Delaying makes me worse not better!
On the physical front, I have three injuries that I'm watching which I feel relate to my ability to ride safely:
* Neck: my neck (well the traps on the back and side of neck in particular) took the brunt of impact, are torn up, and are really stiff and tight. I don't have full range of motion in my neck, and can't move it so easily. I worry this means I can't look around and see danger as well as I need to.
* broken rib: self evident, it hurts. But I worry that it'll send a spasm of pain at an inopportune time, causing unwanted steering input at this same inopportune time. I worry especially that in combo with my neck, I 'll be inclined to use my body to compensate for inability to swivel my head far enough, and that will trigger a rib spasm when I'm in an awkward position.
* torn medial colateral ligament in right knee: I worry here that if I stop abruptly, and need to put the right leg down (in true MSF style, I usually put the left leg down and use the right leg for the brake), then my knee may not be able to support the lateral force causing me to fall (into traffic?) and of course reinjuring the knee, delaying further my journey back to health.
[EDIT: they later found out that my ACL was 100% torn, my MCL 2nd degree partial, and meniscus torn up. This required surgery to rebuild knee, and now the recovery period is rather longer]
So, for me, I'll ride as soon as I feel it is safe. On the knee, I'm looking to the orthopedic surgeon and physical therapists for advice - perhaps I'll need a brace or a wrap for riding for a while? For the neck and rib, it is a question of my judgement on do I feel mobile enough to look around safely and quickly. This means do I have a sufficient pain free range of motion around my rib. I'm close but not quite there on this one.
I did go through the "should I stop riding entirely" thought process, as most of my non rider friends encouraged. But I came to the conclusion that I made the decision to ride knowing full well the risks. The fact that I had crashed, didn't add any new information into the equation (just confirmed one of my assumptions...crashes can happen
), therefore I didn't see any logical reason to change the decision to ride. The key question was an emotional one. Did I still have the desire and passion to ride? Well I haven't gotten back on the bike yet, so that'll be the next test, but lying in the emergency room, I was thinking of motorcycle riding! good sign! and now I'm dying to get back out...!
So that's my thought process. :nerd
