Sidelined
I was pretty excited to be heading to South Africa and
Australia for the first World cups. I
was riding well physically and technically and importantly, I was having fun
racing and training. I was in a good spot. I looked forward to the challenge of
lining up against all of the World’s best.
So you can understand my frustration when I hit the dirt and
got up with the familiar burning and “wrong” feeling of a broken clavicle. It was one of those crashes that shouldn’t
have happened. I was riding a jump I had
done several times that week, but with confidence sometimes comes lack of
judgment as well. I wasn’t feeling up to
that trail at that moment, but chalked it up to being silly. It was fine.
There’s this thing though where hesitation and jumps don’t mix. I still went for the jump line was too tense
came down nose first and went over.
Boom. No hopping on that flight
the next morning.
It’s amazing how two clavicle break experiences can be
totally different. When I broke my right
side last year it was off a pretty massive jump and I basically pile drove my
head into the landing. One of the
scariest things I’ve ever heard was when the hospital attendants told me I was
presenting like a neck injury. I had
been prepared for a broken clavicle, but not that. But, my neck was ok, just really tight. I had back spasms for 2 weeks that made
getting out of bed in under 20 min a source of pride, I was on the trainer relatively
quickly, using a stool to get on, but my muscles had to compensate so much that
my scapula was like a wing and got brutal muscle cramps. I was told it was highly unlikely the bones
would fuse back together due to the location of the break and surgery was
suggested, but every day I was feeling better and I wanted to be back on my
mtb. I didn’t need painkillers and my
strength and mobility were returning so I decided to let my body heal
itself. 6 weeks later I was able to line
up at my first race.
This time my break is a relative walk in the park. Again no painkillers, and this time no back
spasms or other major tissue damage from the crash. I feel like I am starting rehab at the 2+week
mark of last year’s recovery and have a great team to get me back riding
comfortably. So I am hopeful for a quick
comeback. I also have the experience of
having gone through an injury like this before.
I know what I did last year that set me back, choices I made to feel
more confident on my bike heading into worlds hat probably hurt my form, but also
what training was effective. I know I
can comeback from much worse in 6 weeks which means this time isn’t as scary
and devastating.
It’s interesting how perspective changes. I was having so much fun riding. The trails had just recently shed their snow
and all the trails that had been hidden from us for 4 months were there to help
us remember why we love mtn biking. The
last thing I wanted to do was to return to the basement and the trainer. But then I started to love and appreciate my
Kinetic trainer again. With out it what
could I do.? It was enabling me to feel progress, feel healthy, feel human and
do my job. I was lucky to be able to
ride it, to train and have a job I love, a team that supports me and family and
friends to make me laugh.
People seem impressed at how positive one can remain in the
face of adversity, but sometimes adversity just shows us how good we actually
have it.
See you on the trails
Catharine
Comments
I have a question for you for, if you can remember to when you first started riding... Or maybe relate it back to getting out after time recovering/training indoors... How did you get over the nervousness of steep descents? I absolutely love getting out riding and am competing for the second year in my province, but I get massive rushes of nerves/heart racing when doing decents. I'm sure the trick is simple, to ride more, but I often second guess myself and at that point I'll catch myself jumping off my bike and running down instead of riding! Any tips??
Erin