Upcoming Pain Train EVENTS for Winter 2011

  • Every Wednesday - night rides/races. Meet 6pm at the Boat ramp carpark Grantham st or if rule #99 applies, WT session @Guru's
  • Monthly Tour De Waikato Adventure rides
  • 30th April - Pain Train Events Present...Ibis/G-Berg dinner + night out on the town!
  • Monthly Sunday fun-day winter series & CX racing@Pukete
  • HCCC 2 up TT & handicap racing series every Saturday from May 7th - 3rd September
  • May 21st CRANK Taupo
  • May 29th Tour de Garage T.B.C
  • N-Duro 12th June
  • 2nd-3rd July - Pain Train EVENTS present 7th annual BWA - venue top secret as always...
  • N-DURO 17th July
  • 31st July - Mt Karioi Challenge
  • N-DURO 14th August

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Why tire pressure really matters in cyclocross

I'd been waiting for rain, maybe that's perverse, but up until mid May it was dry as up here in the Waikato, and I wanted an excuse to ride the cyclocross bike which had been sitting unused since August. 


Mid May and the rains came, sweet, so Saturday arvo I headed out to Puke[ete] for some hot laps on the new singlespeed CX setup, I figured I needed some distance so pumped up the Vittoria XG cross tires pretty hard and rode out from home to add 10kms...


39:16 was feeling pretty under geared on the road, but maybe a little tall on the trail, that said lap one went well, maybe a few dicey moments but nothing to worry about and nothing 15psi less wouldn't have helped. Lap two was another matter, I remember approaching a right hand corner up and across a small slippery bank...and then the front wheel wipes out, I hit the ground hard, something pops and I'm on my side still clipped in and my ankle really doesn't feel good, unclipping hurts like hell and I can't put weight on my right leg. 


Arse. 


I lay on the grass for a bit weighing options, I've got my cellphone, but I'm too far from the road to expect the Boss to come get me in the park... I give it a minute, I still can't walk, but I can use the bike to stand, if you can stand you can ride, so opt to get back on the bike and ride out, and by the time I reached the road I was fkd if I was going to stop so I kept going until I hit home - traffic lights were the only real problem, clipping out with my right foot caused some crazy pain. 


Made it back, dumped bike in the garage, then got the ice, strapping tape, voltaren and a few glasses of wine...my ankle was blowing up pretty quick and the Boss decided we were off to the Docs. Quick Xray and it's a pretty obvious spiral fracture to the fibula. 


             


Thing is the Doctor is a cyclist, so he's so keen to talk to me about riding, he has me hop/limp along after him, overlooking the fact he's got me walking about on a now definitely broken ankle...groan.


lesson one: use lower tire pressures when riding cross 
lesson two:if you think it's broke, it probably is
lesson three: voltaren and wine are effective pain killers, but don't repair the damage
lesson four: you can ride a turbo trainer in a fiberglass leg cast ;-)   

Vincenzo