A Difficult Entry to Write

I've told a lot of my readers I'll post updates on the progress of my recovery here, so I feel obligated to put something up sooner rather than later.  I'll get to that in a minute, but my health issues are pretty insignificant at this point.  More importantly I need to ask everyone out there to say a prayer and/or have a good thought for Ollie.

I wrote about Ollie a few days ago.  His previous attempt at the TransAm ride three years ago ended in a crash and severe injuries.  He recovered and came back to try again.  We were all in awe and pulling for him to make the whole ride this year.  On Sunday, June 3 Ollie turned 71 years old.  The following day, on the ride from Booneville, KY to Berea he took a fall and suffered critical injuries.  He was riding alone at the time, so it's unknown exactly what happened.  There's some thought a health issue might have caused the fall.  The last word I have is he's broken multiple vertebrae in his neck and is in critical condition.  He's been taken to the hospital in Lexington, KY.

Happy 71st Birthday Ollie - Sunday, June 3, 2012

Ollie, Me and Gina on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Ollie, Me and Huey at Starbucks in Charlottesville, VA

(Thank you, Gina for sharing the pictures above with the group.)

Huey and Ollie hanging out at "Beer Can Alley"

Ollie with June Curry - Afton, VA

Ollie riding across the pedestrians only footbridge - Buchanan, VA

Being away from the group, back home in Pennsylvania, I can only imagine the impact this has had on the other riders and the leaders, Nicole and Paul.  Ollie is such a helpful, cheerful and likeable guy.  He made friends with everyone of us.  Please also keep his wife Pam and his son who've come to be with him as well as his family and friends back home in your thoughts and prayers.  Ollie, we're all still pulling for you!!

So my health issues are pretty insignificant right now, but the good news is I continue to improve and will be back on the bike at some point before very long.  The exact timetable is still to be determined.  I visited with Dr. Neal Stansbury yesterday afternoon.  He's a local orthopedic surgeon who is also a track cycling racer at the local velodrome.  He's had lots of experience with cyclists and their injuries and comes highly recommended by some of our cycling friends.

Dr. Stansbury says the break in my collarbone is not in the best place for fast healing (bummer), but it will heal on its own.  It might take 4-6 weeks, or it could take 10-12 weeks.  Everyone's healing rate is different.  For now we're going to x-ray the break every couple of weeks to see how it's progressing.

I also went back in this morning for a CT scan of my right hip.  He found a small fracture in my pubis bone (my "sit" bone) which explains why I'm still so sore.  There's no procedure to repair it, like the collarbone it's just got to mend on its own.  It will probably mend on about the same schedule as the collarbone so it's really no more of a problem.  It's reassuring to know there's an explanation for my continued hip pain and reason to expect it to get better over the next few weeks.

So that's it for me.  I'll be back on the bike as soon as I can.  If that's soon enough to catch the last few weeks of the TransAm ride then I will.  If not, I'll just try to do it again another time.

For everyone who's offered comments, sent e-mails or called with words of encouragement - Thank You!  It's very much appreciated and I apologize that I'm not able to acknowledge everyone individually.