how long should I wait until I ride again?
I cracked a rib 10 days ago after an unscheduled flying lesson which went err wrong. Recovering fairly quickly but still have pain when coughing and OMG are hiccups painful or what! Otherwise, apart from a dull ache all the time (which I have got use to) and what feels like bruising to the touch, I feel fine.
I’ve entered my 1st solo 24hr which takes place in July and I’m beginning to worry about loosing fitness. I’ve cancelled my Enduro 6 entry and the two 12hrs I’ve entered may need to be reduced to 6hrs. Would it be sensible to wait another week and would a gentle road ride do more harm than good?

road or gentle off road will be fine, if it hurts too much back off

MTFU 😈

I cracked two ribs on the recce lap of a 24 hour race a few years ago, and still did the race the next day.

TBH, it’s going to hurt whether you’re on the bike or not. If you think you can bike without causing further damage, then just do it.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, so am probably giving you VERY wrong advice.

Have you sneezed yet? That hurts. Hold your rib when coughing etc. But make sure you do regular deep breaths as the shallow breathing you will be doing can lead to pneumonia and sore muscles.

I broke a rib about 5/6 weeks ago.

Waited just under 3 weeks before getting out again on my single speed on cycle paths etc. Then when sneezing no longer hurt (was still twinging at 4 weeks) I got back out on my bike last weekend. Still not 100% but you will know when it is okay to go riding again.

You should get a burning feeling for about a week when it is really healing. After that has gone start getting back on the bike doing gentle stuff.

PS I am not a medical doctor either

I ain’t no doctor either, but several were present when I cracked two ribs on the first downhill of the first day of the Trans-Provence. Said doctors were all riders so they were of course sympathetic to my wanting to carry on and the race doctor was happy for me to carry on too. I rode the whole of the event albeit taking the descents very easy. The only real risk is landing on it again and puncturing a lung. Whether you think you’ll do that is really down to your confidence in your own abilities. I made no bones (arf!) about walking any bits where there was a chance of me coming off again. The pain increases though as they heal but at 10 days I imagine you know that already, its not indicative of anything going wrong/getting worse. I was also advised to take plenty of pain killers and breathe deeply to avoid infection as above.

In short: get on with it!