Riot - Out for the Count? (Or just the season...)

So, apparently my dreams of being recruited by Team BMC, or US Postal, or Garmin Sharp, before the end of the racing season are over.

 

 

 

No, not because I am irrelephant...ok, maybe that's why, but that's not what I was getting at.  If you look back at my posting titled Riot Down (July 6 I think), on June 25th I took a nasty crash resulting in this ...

 

 

At the time, I thought it was just a bruise...apparently it was more than that...

After 2 months of riding and racing I woke up to a huge swelling in the outside of the hip...it was literally like an angry red cantaloupe sticking out of my hip, like I was wearing a pair of RCMP riding pants!

 

 

I am sure you would have preferred I looked like these riding pants...

 

 

 

I wont put an actual pic up...no one wants to see a 50 year old half naked man with an spicy red goitre extending from his hip, ready for a carnivorous alien fetus to explode from it! 

Anyways, a trip to the doctor had them first diagnose it as soft tissue infection from repeated trauma (falling on it too many times...yes I have crashed alot this year...), prescribed an antibiotic, but also scheduled scans just to be sure. 

So after the scans, and a return trip to the doctors office (not only to review the scans, but because the antibiotics were ineffective), they showed me the radiologists report..."The patient has a HUGE tear in the right vastus lateralis that is bleeding into the hip pocket".  So, that explained the searing burn, and the large red swelling.  A consultation with an orthopedic surgeon has the treatment as rest, ice, Tylenol, and 4 - 6 weeks off the bike.  Means my race season is done...damn!!  But I need to let this heal properly... 

On a happier note, my last ride was the inaugural Margaret ride.  CptSydor, VVagabond, EnglishJim, Fig, and Giant joined me for a ride on the local trails...and ended up at my house for food and beverages.  My mother, Margaret Riot, is visiting from Saskatchewan, and it was her 75th birthday, so it ended up as a bit of a birthday party, as other friends showed up as well.

 

 

Ma didn't get too out of hand for a change...

 

 

 

And she got a couple of unexpected presents...

 

 

 

 

 

And luckily for us all, EnglishJim did not get naked...

 

 

 

Fig got drunk and wanted to fight...

 

Actually as per usual...he was just confused...

Anyways...(sorry about all the cat pics...EnglishJim loves them!!), I sit here typing, with ice applied...ruing the great upcoming races I will be missing.  I kinda feel like this guy...

I guess I will have to get in some upper body workouts so I don't end up looking like this...

I will still likely attend the races...either to volunteer, if possible, or to be the 'pit bitch' to help my racing friends.

 

Either way...I will keep you posted!