3rd & 4th March 2001 - Lydden

After so much time and preparation I had really been looking forward to my first race but I was unable to actually get there after my little accident in practice a couple of days ago. I had been travelling fairly fast and had only just entered the braking area for the Devil's Elbow when the front went so quickly that I went straight down on my shoulder which was closely followed by my hip. The hip was just bruised so I've been walking, well, trying to walk around, with a large bruise showing the pattern of my armour. Unfortunately I wasn't so lucky with the shoulder.

Turns out I have damaged the Acromioclavicular joint, that's the bit where the collarbone meets the shoulder blade to you and me. The exact definition is a Type 2 injury which in medical terms is: A complete tear of the AC ligament and a mild sprain of the costoclavicular ligament. Basically that means any movement hurts like hell and I can't even manage to put my coat on yet alone try and ride a bike. I'd already got a good supply of pain killers left over from when I broke a couple of ribs in a go karting incident last year so they have been most welcome.

I went to see my local doctor who arranged for some physiotherapy and gave me a large supply of anti-inflammatory tablets as he said he knew what racers were like and he was sure I would need them again at some point ;-) Should be able to get the majority of movement back by the end of the month although it will take longer to get any kind of strength back.

Have managed to persuade a friend of mine to help me bend the bike straight again, well, I'll be supervising and he'll be doing the work anyway. Turns out that the forks are twisted in the yokes, both clip-ons have been moved around and the throttle is sticking. Hopefully we can get things sorted in time for the race at Brands in two weeks.