Moto injuries, sooner or later we all have one!

Recovery  Riding

Holy Crap! The last thing I expected to be doing was writing about riding while recovering from a crash.

If you read the last article then you know that I took a hard tumble on the last Baja 500 during my pre running. I was knocked unconscious, broke a few ribs and have some severe bruising that by all appearances went to the bone.Professional Stunt Rider - Do not try this at home!

3 weeks of sitting very still and not wanting to move due to rib fractures and swelling left me with a bit of time to think. Yes, for all of you wise guys I do think if I sit still long enough!

Then 3 more weeks of doing simple things like taking a shower, driving a car, making myself something to eat was the first phase of recovery. WOW, the things we take for granted every day!

I just began getting out and doing walks, trying to ride a bicycle on the road (less bumps) and riding the dual sport motorcycle on the street. What fun! 

I am being serious, we go about our business of practicing riding fast (which is a relative term at our age) and training for fitness by running, bicycling or hitting the weights. But when you are forced to do it at a reduced rate like I am with the injury recovery you seem to enjoy it even more. I take a little time to look around and see things that get missed when I blast through my workout.

For instance, I love to bicycle as a way to train for riding my motorcycle. But I am usually out of breath and keeping a good pace, well  guess what happened when I went out to ride my bicycle while recovering from this injury, I saw a bunch of things along the way that were pretty cool that I have passed by literally a hundred times but failed to notice because I was busy working out!

I noticed several things that I thought were cool ideas and vowed to bring the camera on the next ride just to capture some of them in pictures. I noticed signs that were very informative, saw decorations that were clever and attractive, met dogs that usually chase until I stopped to visit then they usually came over to greet me and check me out. I think I will start carrying Milk Bones in my back pack for some of my new friends.

The first ride or two was really discouraging because I sucked so bad compared to where I had been just a few weeks earlier. But each ride has been a bit better and the recovery is coming along pretty well although not as quickly as I would like. But if you are forced to try to get yourself back in shape after a layoff for a myriad or reasons, like an illness, family crisis, injury of any kind or any personal issues that may have kept you from working on your fitness don’t get discouraged. Use your  time to rehab at whatever rate you are capable of and see how much enjoyment you  get out of the small improvements that will come from each effort.

I started riding the motorcycle on the track at a slower pace also. Guess what I discovered there!  I needed to clean up a few basics that have been overlooked by trying to ride too fast most of the time. With my physical limitations I noticed that I was not doing some of the basics like sitting forward entering turns, having the leg extended, using the throttle earlier and smoother and keeping the elbows  up a bit higher had all become sloppy because I was trying to do them too quickly. The recovery riding on the motorcycle is teaching me to slow down while practicing and do things a bit more correctly while enjoying the ride, much the same as on the bicycle.

So I guess the best thing about crashing and getting injured on the motorcycle, if there can be a good thing, is that I have been forced to slow down for a bit and have my eyes opened for  me.

Don’t wait until you crash, slow down once in a while a take a look around. You may see a bunch of things you have been passing right by and meet a few dogs you really like.

Now get out and ride, I am!

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