Riding home from work on Thursday a car decided to turn right. I had no time to stop and got flipped over the bonnet landing badly. Long story short I now have plates and pins in my legs. And faceing 8 weeks sat around before even thinking about putting weight on leg

Have British cycling membership so all should be well financial wise

I need inspiration that I’ll be able to ride a mountain bike again!

Genuinely sorry to hear that, OP. I broke three vertebrae and the base of my skull in an accident six months ago, and while I still am not allowed on a bike, a good dose of GCN and watching UCI race highlights keeps me feeling connected.

If MTBing is your thing, tune in to GMBN, buy copies of Singletrack mag (or whichever you prefer), and stay in touch with mates. The important thing is not to lose hope that you will return to the bike.

And finally, get well soon!

Sair one! Sorry to hear it.

I always trot out the same tired old story but here we go… I mountain bike because I broke my hip, not despite it. In 2005 I slipped on a patch of ice and broke my femur. I was subsequently diagnosed with osteoperosis. I was a bit of a couch potato before that, thin because of diet and genetics but unfit.

I had it all bolted back together but couldn’t significantly weightbear for 4 months. And when I could, recovery was really slow, my leg was basically a withered stick- I couldn’t walk any distance let alone jog or do heavier physio.

So in desperation my consultant said, how about cycling. And here we are. Hope it works out as well for you!

Heal well.  It will be frustrating at times but you’ll get there.

Sounds a nasty one.
If it’s any consolation the strongest cyclist I know has various pins and plates in both legs.
Keep us updated and try to enjoy the rest, if that makes sense – read books, watch movies etc

Sorry to hear that OP. You’ll probably be feeling pretty down about it understandably but you should get back to riding. Be ready to work really hard on the rehab once you can start bearing weight on the leg and stay healthy in the mean time.

Really sorry to hear about that. On a positive note just think what some of the pros must have come back from. Fingers crossed for you.

Bugger ☹️

Heal quick.

Nasty, hope you’re OK

Sorry to hear that OP.
From experiance, you have to keep your mind active. Read lots, catch up on movies and documentaries. Stay away from tragedies and more importantly alcohol. that way you’ll stave off depression.

Then once you’re back on your feet take full advantage of any phisio offered, go private if you can. It’s difficult at first but get easier by session. You’ll back on your bike in no time.

Good luck 🙂

Hope the recovery goes well OP.

Heal fast. The good news is that you will lose nowhere near the amount of fitness you think you will. I had several months off after a serious accident and came back to racing.

Keep receipts for everything. Leigh Day were excellent. I even claimed for and was reimbursed my recumbent trike for commuting to work after my accident. Expense for everything. Car parking, medication, slings, all care. They are meticulous when it comes to valuation of claims.

Firstly I hope you heal up well and quickly.

I came back faster from a serious knee injury and have a knee cap full of metal, your time unable to walk will seem like the blink of an eye in a couple of years time.

Having been through a personal injury claim after a road accident too, be prepared for the other party’s lawyers to do anything they can to delay things. It will be very frustrating.

I need inspiration that I’ll be able to ride a mountain bike again!

Look at some of the pro riders for amount of metal work in them but still being able to ride amazingly well. One of the many limits to my reputation as a mountain biker is what I consider a sensible approach to injury eg the more it hurts the chances are the less chance I try the same thing again. For those with a more, ermm, robust approach to learning lessons it isnt necessarily a limitation.
Make sure you set the BC funded lawyers on them. The better support the quicker you will be able to ride and make them pay for it.

After a big, big off a few years back, I hadn’t ridden for months whilst bones healed and my sense of balance returned . Then in rehab/physio I was put on an exercise bike, more out of pity than necessity, I suspect. Geez, it was just an exercise bike, but it was such a good feeling 🙂 I won’t forget that moment. If the OP is thinking about getting back his bike already – so soon after his accident – he will. Guaranteed.

Phew… Reading the title I thought we’d lost another of our own to gravel biking for a second there.

Shit luck but Great to hear you’re keen to mtb again. don’t give up. You’ll ride again.

I spent 7 months in a non weight bearing cast back in 2002 (broken/dislocated foot – rebuilt. pinned, bolted etc. & 2 years of physio)
FWIW I can ride bikes fine but still can’t walk as well.

Hi all thought today would be a good day for an update, still only partial weight bearing for a least 6 more weeks. Have started very light physio, and through the kindness of colleagues picking me up I have returned to work. All these things where making me feel quite positive and looking forward to going to the consultant today…

However the doctor I saw today wanted to make sure I understood exactly how bad the injury is, they have had to reconstruct the bottom of my femur where it works with the knee. Recovery from their point of view would be to get to 90deg of bend in the leg. I’m looking at a knee replacement in a few years, Its going to feel uncomfortable and in pain a lot of the time. I asked about what activities would I be able to do as before the accident I would cycle to work everyday and would enjoy mountain biking and football every week too.

The doctor said I would be able to ride a road bike again but I would not be able to mountain bike or play football again. My response was I don’t want to go near a road bike ever again. I explained that one of the motivational targets in my head had been to go on a mountain bike holiday again at some point, he said that if I could get to that I would of proven him wrong.

Obviously this has been a bit of shock for me and I’m feeling pretty down today.

he said that if I could get to that I would of proven him wrong.

I can see why you are down but I think the doctor was giving you a challenge there, telling you not that you can’t do it but that it’ll be hard bloody work to get there and take more determination than most people can manage.

I was overweight ( I’d guess ~90Kg at the time), incredibly unfit (pootle cycle commuting and postal delivery was my only exercise) and had literally just become a 40-something when I had my self-induced RTA. It took ~2.5 years afterwards, having put on more weight (to ~95Kg) and having drastically cut down on cycle commutes for me to have a reality check and see I was heading along an awful path to an early grave.

Dropped ~10Kg over the next six months by simply cutting back on food, then started cycling for fitness, went as low as ~73Kg and got my fitness back near to mid 1990s levels while discovering the South Downs road hills were less than an hour away.

It would have been great to have found those hills in my 20s back in the 1990s, better yet if I hadn’t lost some teeth and had my upper jaw put together with a titanium plate to discover them, but I’m very thankful to have found them at last… It gives me a purpose to get outdoors on days off work, chasing PBs in the fresh air with barely a motor vehicle passing me compared to the hostile roads around Southampton.

@luketracey – you have the determination. If Doc says you could ride, doesn’t matter if its road or MTB, you’ll be able to do it.
Sorry to hear of your plight. Keep fighting.

luketracey – sorry to hear that and I hope you are able to prove the Dr wrong in the long term. Hopefully you can find something else that you are passionate about to replace riding in the meantime.

(I also hope that you receive adequate compensation for the pain and suffering you’re going through and will do into the future).

If you can ride a road bike then you can mtb.

MTB doesn’t have to be rad to the power of gnar. You can just get yourself a hardtail 29er and cruise the trails, getting out into the countryside. This is what I’m trying to get SaxonRider to do 🙂

Didn’t notice the previous end of this thread,

Phew… Reading the title I thought we’d lost another of our own to gravel biking for a second there.

Having a nasty road accident is preferable to buying a gravel bike. 😏 I’m sure that wasn’t the intended message but made me chuckle.

Anyhow, I’m sure you’ll get to some satisfactory level of MTBing if you really want to. Serious question – if you get the knee replacement now, would that improve the chances of being back on the bike? I ride with a few people with hip replacements, it’s given them immensely more cycling capacity than they had before the op.

If you are doing light physio, now is the time for a static trainer – on expenses/damages for your rehabilitation. Buy that KICKR and Zwift packages and keep the receipts for Leigh Day, of course. Every milestone matters.

Obviously this has been a bit of shock for me and I’m feeling pretty down today.

An expensive bike purchase funded by the other party might help your mood. Progression from light static, to heavier static, to closed circuit to firetrack/graven to blue to red will happen.

Here’s my accident legacy

If you can ride a road bike then you can mtb.

That was my first thought. Besides, falling off a road bike always hurts, at least with mtb you have a chance of landing on something soft.

Arses. Not as good as yours but recently did collarbone. I feel your pain and frustration. Get well soon 👍🏼

TiRed, do you really put your static trainer on your claim? I submitted my schedule of loss for my accident a couple of weeks back and didn’t think to add mine. Echo that Leigh Day have done an excellent job so far.

Don’t underestimate the psychological impact of the crash. Over a year now and I’m very twitchy on bike and in a car. I’m not sure I benefited hugely from sessions with the psychologist, but it’s worth being seen. At the very least it’s meant another 2.5k on my claim in case I need sessions in the future!

I didn’t as I already had one. But I did put my recumbent on as I used it to commute with one arm unusable. Cycling is important to you, it will be part of your rehab and you won’t be out on the roads or off road. So yes get a kickr and a swift subscription and expense it.

Or go to a gym and charge the expense. It’s about putting you back to where you were.

I was lucky I’ve got away with 2 weeks to heal soft tissue damage that immobilised my left shoulder. Transit turned straight into me head on launching me and my bike up a driveway.
Keep going make steady recovery improvements and you’ll get where you want 💪

Very sorry to hear the injury is that bad, on the plus points you are recovering – slowly but surely – and as others have said, if you can ride a rode bike you can ride a mountain bike – but perhaps a good idea to avoid the black runs.
The strongest cyclist I know had some major injuries in his 20s and sets off lots of alarms at airport terminals because of all the metal. He is now fit as a fiddle in his 40s, he is a roadie but he said he could just as easily ride a mountain bike if he wanted to.
The Dr may just have an image of downhill mountain biking in his head, not knowing the sport, rather than something like cross-country. A Dr who knows the sport may have a more positive view. They also have to have these talks with you to manage expectations – I’m going under the knife next month and I’m confident I will get back on the mountain bike at some point, but I won’t be doing technical downhill runs. I doubt I will run again either. But hey, life does go on.
I had to give up all field sports after my 2nd knee injury at 20, which was a pain as I played rugby at a high level and enjoyed football,and I adjusted well – you just learn to try new things – that’s what got me into cycling.

When I broke my hip 18months ago, I just did what the consultant told me I could do to the letter. The time I would have spent riding, I spent doing physio, or just doing trivial (no doubt partially placebo) routine things like having a mid-morning protein shake.

Seemed to me that my consultant was super cautious and told me at my 6 week appointment that I wouldn’t be riding in 6 months. But when I saw the physiotherapist a week later he was a lot more pragmatic and told me “it’s physically fixed, you now need to use it and build up the muscles”. Some discomfort was inevitable and so long as I wasn’t doing myself damage that would set me back, I got stuck in, steadily building back up.

So if they’re telling you something then understand why they are saying that. Is it because you’ll do yourself more damage before you’ve even fully healed or is it because they don’t want to fix you again if you have a crash, or is because they’re not the right person (expert) to know what physical exercises can do for your mobility and riding aspirations?

IME listen to the physios. They want you up and about asap. Not that the doctors don’t, but they look at things from a different perspective. I think medics should be treated like weather forecasters. Listen to all of them, pay more attention to the ones who say things you like the sound of.
Good luck with your recovery.
Edit: and what the others said. If you can ride a road bike, you can MTB.

It’s update time! As I’m sat in hospital waiting for my hydrotherapy session. Now over 4 months since the accident. The doctors have now said I can fully weight bear, this is fantastic! I can now carry stuff around again. I celebrated this fact by spending 5hrs changing sockets around the house. Unfortunately my leg bend is still pretty poor at around 40-50 degrees.

However, I have managed to find a way to start riding again (all be it stationary). When at the physio gym I was using a exercise bike called Uni-cam, which allows several different crank arm lengths depending on leg bend. I woke up one Saturday morning thinking you must be able to put this on a normal bike, quick google later turns out yes you can!

Cost me (well the car drivers insurance) a pretty penny, but I’m now setup in the garage with a very fancy Zwift setup!

Things to note: Turns out smart trainers can’t calculate cadence at all if your pedal stroke is as unbalanced as mine now is so an additional cadence sensor is required. And Zwift is hard! stop peddling for even a second and the bloke stops completely. I found out that this is due to the trainer hardness setting, once that’s turned to full simulation you actually get some of the benefit from momentum!

Sorry for rambling post but most People around me don’t want to hear about this bike nonsense! 😂

Heh, post away!

Also, get some pictures up of the Uni-cam/Zwift setup. It sounds like a pretty good way to cope with limited mobility.

Cool! Good to hear about the positive progress.

It must be a long & frustrating road, but keep ticking those milestones off!

There is a bloke at work who recently had his knee replaced & was talking to me about how he can’t ride his bike yet as he can’t bend his knee enough. I’ll have to mention this uni-cam thing to him.

Good news. Nice to hear about your determination to get back on the bike.

Excellent news OP, that’s certainly made me smile 🙂

Great positive post… we need more of them here 🙂

Awesome!

Get over to Weeksys Zwift thread and get signed up on Zwiftpower.com and join the STW club 😀