I don't wear the bandage anymore for three days now. I decided to take it off and begin the rehab on my own on tuesday, since I felt that it's time to do so before not only the collarbone but also the joints literally start growing together.
Good to see your recovery is progressing, although slower than you had hoped I'm sure. I did some reading online about collar bone breaks because one of the guys in our cycing club also took a spill and broke his CB. Doctors avoid surgery if possible because as I understand it can be risky. Everyone is different though in the time it takes for the bone to refuse, so on average one can expect between 6-12 weeks for healing. This would be devistating for me as I would be unable to work. My job is quite physically demanding, especially with my arms. I'm not sure what I would do and it leaves me with some serious considerations before I start racing next year...
Tex already knows this from my Strava reports, but one big change I've already made is switching to a clipless pedal set-up. I'm using the Shimano R087 shoe and 105 SPD-SL pedal. The difference is quite amazing! The evenness of power, all the way around the pedal stroke, is immediately noticeable. As a corollary, my average cadence has also improved. I would strongly recommend going clipless to anyone wanting to make an affordable improvement to their bike - it will pay big dividends.
Indeed I noticed a huge improvement after switching to clipless with my first bike. I rode around with normal pedals and shoes with a strap over the shoe for a long time before going clipless. At first I didn't like the idea of being clipped to the bike (makes me wonder why the hell they call it clipless anyway?), but it doesn't take long at all to get used to them. It really makes you feel one with the bike. You take advantage of the full range of motion throughout the pedal stroke. When you start climbing, you notice the difference especially because you can push and pull at the same time to really attack the climb. Here is a helpful video to demonstrate the effectiveness of the entire pedal stroke:
I started out with the Shimano shoes and pedals, but after I began riding hard, it didn't take long before I was getting hot spots on the bottom of my feet. They were basically the cheapest pair of shoes I could get at the time for around $100. I saw other pairs for $300+ and wondered who would ever pay that much for a pair of shoes. Several months later, I was the one in the bike shop buying a pair of $300+ shoes... :lol: What a difference though! It is amazing how much more comfortable the pricy shoes were. I went with the Specialized Pro Road shoe (picture below), which ironically has dropped just below $300 now - go figure. :facepalm:
It's got the FACT carbon sole, very light weight, and most importantly, SUPER comfortable. A comfortable shoe is so important because they're the intimate point of contact between rider and machine. It's where the transfer of power occurs and where rider and bicycle join together as a single system. If it doesn't "feel right", then the performance of the system will suffer. The right shoes are well worth the cost, whatever that may be. For that matter, I have learned the 3 most important things to not go cheap on are; saddle, shorts, and shoes.
ing road.
