Paul Petch

It never rains but it pours…

A few weeks ago on the Wharfedale ride I had the most epic spill of my riding to-date (15+ yrs) and landed hard on my left side. Initial x-rays found nothing to worry about and off I went. Well, yesterday a second opinion showed two breaks in rib 4 & 5 which means that I’ll be off the MTB for about 7 weeks if all goes well.  Now some may say “harden up” and get out there- but as my Chiropractor highlighted to be yesterday- the broken ribs in question are parallel to the heart so another spill could be really messy. I suppose things are not that bad really seeing as I can still do some exercise…..but it is the peak of the MTB season! Booo!

Talking of Chiropractor. I’ve had some back issues for more than 2 years now that effect my right side. Lower, hip, shoulder- you name it….it hurts on and off. Needless to say, many folk have tried to work it out and failed. Last week I discovered that my lower spine has infact fused to my pelvis. Genetic? Most likely. Combined with an anatomical right leg length discrepancy I have quite a severe hip rotation issue that will need some work. Having fused to my pelvis though- it will be tricky. But at least I know what the problem is now right……and I’ll survive! As for being an adaptive fellow…….that never seems to be a problem for me does it ;)

I’ve also “lost” my PIKE forks. On Tuesday I dropped them off to my local bikeshop BikeHQ for return to Rockshox in Auckland for their 5th warranty (yes 5th!) to discover they had gone bust yesterday. At lunchtime I called in and was told by the men in suits that once they had determined what was “stock” and “workshop” they would “release” them. WTF! But then just think of the staff who rocked up to be told that they have no job…..wow. I’m not able to ride for 7 weeks anyhow, so this is just a mere annoyance really. Pain in the bum yes- but they are just a fork at the end of the day!

And then onto number three….the biggie :(  In the next few months it looks like I’ll be heading back to old blighty for an extended visit because of an illness in the family. Which as you can imagine is not only going to be an emotional roller coaster but a huge kick in the nuts for all concerned. I’ll know more in a few weeks to what’s happening.

What a hell of a way to bring in 2010. But like I always say- it is how one deals with life’s challenges that defines who we are :) Regardless, family illness is always going to be the biggest heart ache of them all…..

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Related posts:

1. MTBNZ launched & bags packed

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 14th, 2010 at 6:45 am and is filed under Ramblings and tagged with chiropractor, england, injury. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.