18

The past month or so has been pretty much full of pain whilst putting race-type efforts through the pedals. This is through the result of a serious crash I had a few years ago, the left hand side of my body has never fully returned to normal. I am no longer happy with short term fixes so, through recommendation from a friend of mine, I decided to visit a gentleman who will go by the name of “Back Magic”. He treats World, Olympic, Commonwealth champions in cycling. Working for one of the biggest teams around, he certainly knows his stuff. Throughout my examination things were noted and having a good understanding of physiology helped. However, the bio-mechanics pointed out were and are very useful.

I have to say, I am probably one of the worst people out there for stretching/flexibility. I was given some stretching/rehab exercises to help me get back into shape. It’s not an overnight recovery process and I accept it, but I really hope that there is a noted improvement when I next return for my appointment. The exercises I am doing are really tiring me out, which I was initially surprised at.

The problem I have is that I am not sat square on the bike, leaning to my left. This is due to the lower left back having a block. So I am over-extending my right hamstring. This is turn is providing me with a great deal of pain. So much that I cannot give it “full gas” when required- in training it is fine, other than when really putting in the hard efforts.

I’ve still sneaked a few races in, as I am a racer. I find it so hard to not be competing. Sadly, the form I was coming into had declined due to the aforementioned. A few good performances (by my standard) in big bunch gallops is reassuring though.
My morale has been very low recently- a mixture of personal and physical attributes are responsible. I am hoping now I am on the road to recovery, all of this will start to go away.