ten years ago, pete went head to head with a 10 cm x 10 cm post in new zealand in the midst of a motorcycle crash. the result was a draw...the post was broken but so was pete's collarbone. pete could tell that the bone didn't heal properly (i'll save you the gory details of how he could tell) but he couldn't find a doctor that would believe him and/or shoot an xray from an angle that would show what he could feel. until a year ago. in one last exasperated attempt, pete saw his third osteopath and was rewarded with, "yes, your bone is still in two pieces" even before the xray was taken. eureka! it only took nine and a half years...
pete had surgery in november to join the two pieces of bone back together. a steel plate, seven screws, and a bone growing machine later, the man is back in business! he had lots of restrictions along the recovery trajectory, but one of the main ones was that he could not ride his bike (outside) because the odds of falling were high, which could result in dislodging the hardware in/on his bone. six months was the magic number for returning to biking. after four months on the indoor bike trainer, pete was ready to get outside and asked to go bike riding for his birthday in may.
unbeknownst to him, i booked us a room near yosemite for the weekend after his birthday so he could try things out somewhere lovely and relatively flat. we spent one day biking around the valley floor in yosemite (which is pretty fantastic) and another day along the merced river. pete did great - no shoulder pain at all! he had his six month xray and check-up a week after our adventure and was given the official medical blessing to start biking again! he has jumped back in with both feet and is bike commuting to work almost every day. hooray!
pete had surgery in november to join the two pieces of bone back together. a steel plate, seven screws, and a bone growing machine later, the man is back in business! he had lots of restrictions along the recovery trajectory, but one of the main ones was that he could not ride his bike (outside) because the odds of falling were high, which could result in dislodging the hardware in/on his bone. six months was the magic number for returning to biking. after four months on the indoor bike trainer, pete was ready to get outside and asked to go bike riding for his birthday in may.
unbeknownst to him, i booked us a room near yosemite for the weekend after his birthday so he could try things out somewhere lovely and relatively flat. we spent one day biking around the valley floor in yosemite (which is pretty fantastic) and another day along the merced river. pete did great - no shoulder pain at all! he had his six month xray and check-up a week after our adventure and was given the official medical blessing to start biking again! he has jumped back in with both feet and is bike commuting to work almost every day. hooray!
mariposa lillies along the merced river
fuzzy caterpillar
first day of biking and all is well!
yosemite falls
hooray for being back on the bike!!
