Pride comes before!!!
I had a bizarre slow speed slide ending in a fall to my left hand side on my ride to work on Sunday afternoon where I managed to trap my foot in my left hand pedal and in so doing over extend my left leg and damage the upper part of my ham string.
I had fallen off at pretty much walking pace and found myself rolling around in absolute agony on a muddy bridal path about halfway along my 16 mile off road route to work.
As I ride off road a lot I have fallen off my bike before and expected to be able to get back on my feet once the pain had subsided and carry on my way.
This time however to start with I could not even manage to get myself on my feet. After eventually getting myself gingerly on my feet it was pretty much impossible to load bear on my left leg.
Anyway I managed to eventually get the bike upright and came to the conclusion that although I might not be able to walk I might be able to ride using mostly one leg with the power turned up.
This did in fact get me to work and showed me how an ebike can allow you to ride with an injury to one leg which would have been impossible on an ordinary bike. I did use a lot more battery than usual.
A work colleague gave me a lift home, and I then drove back to get the bike.
A trip to a NHS minor injuries place the next day confirmed that I had torn/pulled my ham string and that it would take about 4 weeks to recover.
When I explained that I had an electric bike the nurse thought that I could continue to ride when I felt up to it as keeping the leg mobile would be helpful as long as I did not push too hard on that leg.
The leg has improved a lot since Sunday so I can sort of see the funny side now.
One thought I have had since is that as my main exercise now is cycling my bike to work and back and although my leg muscles are well developed by this continual exercise I should try to remember to also do some muscle stretching as well, as a lot of cycling with no stretching can lead to tight muscles and a vulnerability to this type of injury.
When younger I have tweaked my hamstring on quite a few occasions playing sport but nothing quite as painful as this!
I had a bizarre slow speed slide ending in a fall to my left hand side on my ride to work on Sunday afternoon where I managed to trap my foot in my left hand pedal and in so doing over extend my left leg and damage the upper part of my ham string.
I had fallen off at pretty much walking pace and found myself rolling around in absolute agony on a muddy bridal path about halfway along my 16 mile off road route to work.
As I ride off road a lot I have fallen off my bike before and expected to be able to get back on my feet once the pain had subsided and carry on my way.
This time however to start with I could not even manage to get myself on my feet. After eventually getting myself gingerly on my feet it was pretty much impossible to load bear on my left leg.
Anyway I managed to eventually get the bike upright and came to the conclusion that although I might not be able to walk I might be able to ride using mostly one leg with the power turned up.
This did in fact get me to work and showed me how an ebike can allow you to ride with an injury to one leg which would have been impossible on an ordinary bike. I did use a lot more battery than usual.
A work colleague gave me a lift home, and I then drove back to get the bike.
A trip to a NHS minor injuries place the next day confirmed that I had torn/pulled my ham string and that it would take about 4 weeks to recover.
When I explained that I had an electric bike the nurse thought that I could continue to ride when I felt up to it as keeping the leg mobile would be helpful as long as I did not push too hard on that leg.
The leg has improved a lot since Sunday so I can sort of see the funny side now.
One thought I have had since is that as my main exercise now is cycling my bike to work and back and although my leg muscles are well developed by this continual exercise I should try to remember to also do some muscle stretching as well, as a lot of cycling with no stretching can lead to tight muscles and a vulnerability to this type of injury.
When younger I have tweaked my hamstring on quite a few occasions playing sport but nothing quite as painful as this!
