Look After your Back

I seem to have a bit of time on my hands as my back symptoms are troubling me again so bike time has become computer time for a little while. Back pain is so common yet so debilitating.  Like a lot of folk reading this I have had back problems for years. Some fair wear and tear, a lot from poor lifting and handling, and a bit from direct injury.

My “story” goes back to my early 20’s before Fiona made me use my brain and do some studying and follow through with something medical related.  Stacking 3 metre pulp as chainsaw feller (lumberjack) up to my arse in brash I soon developed chronic back stiffness. A particular injury was trying to turn a 2 ton 4.5m log with a “cant hook” to get at the branches that were embedded in the ground.  The lever snapped and I went back downhill landing on rocks and got knocked out.  I woke up with the rain on my face unable to walk.  A crawl to the road where workmates found me lying I was heaped in a van and taken home to the forest house we rented as part of the job.  Crawling up the path and into the house where Fiona found me lying on the floor a few hours later when she came back from teaching skiing.  I lay in bed for days and the local GP examined me and thought I had a pelvic #.  I couldn’t walk without pain for weeks and was on “Fortral” and “Temgesic” (spew in pill form!)  Later I was diagnosed with crushed lumbar vertebrae.  At this time I was well into climbing and windsurfing so within a year my core was strong but always a simple thing like getting up out of bed too fast and I would be locked up in pain from muscle spasm for days.

Next drama was mountain biking at Learnie Red Rocks where I jumped a berm at about 30mph and then woke up in Raigmore. Helmet smashed to smithereens and Ko’d the spinal X Ray was clear so I was let out that night.  Fish n’ Chips at Drumnadrocht and I couldn’t swallow as my throat had closed up.  A poor sleep and slowly progressing numbness up both arms I asked Henry Methold one of my work colleagues to take me to the Belford where good old BT sorted me out for an MRI scan back up the road and a Philadelphia collar to wear until the results were known.  Seems I had fluid around a cervical disc. That still bothers me as on the TT bike I struggle to look up, and any bump to my head causing neck flexion my arms go numb and my throat gets sore. That makes me hold back a bit on the MTB as it affects my thinking and I get flashbacks at speed and this has major psychological effect i.e. fecks with my head. Waking up fully packaged wondering how it’s going to play out isn’t easy to forget.  Maybe these injuries are why I used to fight for the packaging of injured skiers and climbers to be good and would get in trouble for arguing with aircrews doing a snatch rescue of someone that might have a spinal injury.

The Learnie Helmet

There will be a # under there then ?

I am not trying to be a pussy here as I still give it a go on the bike and don’t let it hold me back much.  It’s just that its fekin scary and sore beyond belief being on a spine board. I should add that at Learnie the Helicopter and ambulance staff were very, very careful when moving me.

This last back injury has probably been a long time coming.  Folk talk about having a slipped disc when they have back pain but let me assure you a prolapsed disc if you have one is amongst the worst possible injuries for pain. Having broken ankles, collar bones, fingers and toes a true slipped disc was/is a true 10/10 in the ouch scale for me.  For the last few years I have had transient nerve jabs down my legs so probably a lumbar disc has been bulging.  Ironically I have always worked hard on my core stability and flexibility but maybe it was left too late to make a difference.  Start lifting correctly when you’re young and do core workouts before you get injured folks!

January 1^st this year Ski Patrolling up at Glencoe doing avlx control work I got taken out by a small slide that buried me up to my waist and pulled me down 50 meters.  My bindings didn’t release and I got out just fine if humbled,  but my back definitely took a hit as for the next six days I couldn’t get my socks on without help, and each day started face down on the floor. In my wisdom(?) I decided to do the Barcaldine XC Race which those who did it will know involved ducking under and over fallen trees, bog mashing, getting tree’d and was general anaerobic hell.  It hurt but by God it cleared the lungs.

Next day I woke up with my right leg having a workout of its own.  A walk with Fiona and I noticed I couldn’t lift my leg as easily, but we kept walking up the woods to look at a new trail we were going to make.  Above Glencoe Lake/Lochan my right foot got caught under a branch and I went to step forward and it was like being shot or stabbed in the back. Instant pain at level ten unbearable and writhing on the ground.  After 15mins of this Fiona mentioned calling out the rescue team and I got on my feet but couldn’t walk.  Freddie Gatting was called and came up and between them in an hour or so they got me to the car. The passing walkers were all pretty alarmed at this screeching nutter between two women.

I was taken to A/E and straight for examination by a junior doc with a really shitty attitude as when he examined me I had no sciatic symptoms but really, really sore legs.  The level ten pain was in my knees in which men with hammers were trying to break out and all the muscles in my right leg were break dancing on their own.  A spine X ray was inconclusive but showed a big synovial sack and impingement on my femoral head which might be causing the leg pain (the avlx?). I was referred for a hip MRI, given Diazepam and Diclofenic.

Best decision I made at this time was to see a good local physio who said my symptoms were definitely from a prolapsed disc. After three of the worst weeks of my life, not sleeping, sleeping curled in a ball, and unable to walk I booked to see a consultant  privately at the Nuffield hospital in Glasgow. I saw him two days later and was in such a state (some bladder symptoms) that he had the MRI scanner opened up (it was closed for servicing) and I had an MRI.  That got looked at and the anaesthetic registrar was called so I got a second MRI with contrast die. Within twenty mins I was looking at my spine in 3D and told I needed emergency surgery (private £4,000). The consultation was £160 the MRI £350 but I had a diagnosis of an extruded L4/5 with sequestration and a DVD of the scan to take to the NHS who I was then referred to. An emergency appointment was made at the Southern General neuro). Emergency appointment time waiting list two months or more!  So what to do?  Well I have to say Lochaber Sports Physio sorted me out.  A tailored programme of rehab for my back and hip.  My local GP practice was really helpful and the epilepsy med “Gabapentin” which gave me fantastic dreams reduced the muscle spasms in my legs, and lots of Tramadol and Diclofenic helped.

All that gunk is toxic and presses on nerves

I saw the neurosurgeon in May and he commented that based on the MRI he should operate but based on me as I had been on my bike, tried a TT, skied gently and been walking said that we should hold off as I was doing very well indeed.  I then saw an orthopaedic surgeon and found that I have an impingement in my right femur and a synovial sack and like most outdoor folk will require a new hip at some point,  If I run then maybe 5 years, if I stick with the bike and skiing maybe ten. It’s all a question of wear and tear and if you X ray most folk I know they will all be the same.

I am going fine on the bike but can’t do over a couple of hours yet as my back hurts.  I have slightly smaller right leg quads and that probably won’t change, but working hard on single leg pedal drills on the turbo I seem to be only about 10 watts different and can’t last quite as long.  I can’t do aero well on the TT bike so need to be more upright but I am within 10% of some PB’s and improving. I still suffer back pain and leg tremors, I am another few mm’s shorter (I lost a cm when I crushed my lumbar vertebrae) but overall consider myself very lucky. I know many folk with back problems who are both less mobile and in more chronic pain. Despite doing ok this has undoubtedly been the most painful and debilitating injury I have had, and having researched all the options only surgery might have done anything and even then it’s 50/50 with some folk worse off after surgery due to scar tissue on the cord. Rehab is hard work but it pays off if you treat it like training.

Something’s I learned from the experience:

Over the years I have seen an Osteopath and physios. The physios take a softer more gentle approach. Osteopaths have diagnosed everything from facet joint problems to piriformis syndrome and manipulated my back in various quite alarming ways all to the detriment of my wallet.  If I had gone to one of them with my recent back injury I don’t think I would ever have cycled again. Mucking about with someone’s back blind, with no detailed imagery seems so wrong.  The £500 quid I shoved out privately was a lot but got me a diagnosis and despite the NHS waiting list shortened my time to see a neurosurgeon by about 4 months. Well worth it IMHO.  

I got cycling this summer out of it and my physio new exactly what we had to work on based on the diagnosis. Tom Danielson’s Core workout for Cyclists is an excellent resource when you know what you’re dealing with.  A wobble board teaches the fecked nerves to your legs how to reconnect and without one I doubt I could turn the pedal over the 12 o’clock as for 3 months my brain and leg didn’t know how to do that, but the wobble board repathed these broken connections I feel.  Get physio bands and work all the accessory muscles to compensate for major muscle loss.  Despite a smaller right leg I am nearly back as strong on it by compensating.  Work hard!  I am seven months post prolapse and reckon it will take the full year to get back back to 98% of what I had. The new 100% is different but still damn fast and the full 100 might be possible if you keep at it.  I will tell you next season.

Training - Consistency: Only Part of the Solution

Training

By Chad July 2013

Consistency, Consistency is the mother of mastery, and if I knew who was responsible for this nugget of wisdom, I’d give due credit. Or maybe it’s simply an observation put forth in its simplest terms. In any case, it’s as germane to the technical aspects of cycling as the non-technical, comparatively straightforward fitness gains we strive for when we train day after day, week after week, season after season.

But it’s often our consistency to blame for fitness plateaus, injuries, and temporary or even long-term declines in power output (which depend on just how far, and how obstinately, we push our ourselves) in the quest for improved capabilities & peak fitness. This is something easily avoided when we listen to our bodies’ signals, and it’s also something addressed in greater detail in an earlier post on training responsively. In this post, however, I’d rather focus on the benefits of proper consistency – being on the mark, as often as possible – as well as some of the pitfalls we encounter even though our intentions are sound. As I see it, consistency can be good, it can be bad, and in some cases it becomes downright ugly.

Nutshell:

Consistent practice yields improvement regardless of the skill or sought-after adaptation. 

But there’s a significant difference between consistency and proper consistency.

Practising proper consistency during your efforts – in racing and training - can be the difference between fair results and your best results.

Really make your interval workouts count by treating each interval as though it were the only interval in the workout – strive for near perfection.

Form work for the sake of form work is pointless – perform form drills exceptionally well or modify them such that you can.

GIGO – Garbage In/Garbage Out dictates that improper training yields less than optimal results and can lead to poor habits & even injury.

Muscle memory can just as easily acquire bad ‘memories’ as good ones – memorize proper movement patterns & work ethics.

You don’t need me to tell you that practice yields improvement. Do 100 pushups every day and you’re bound to not only get a little stronger, but you’ll get better at performing pushups. If you practice playing guitar every day, your fingers will become more adept at fretting chords and picking strings. Even typing improves relative to the amount of time you spend tapping away at your keyboard on a consistent basis.

So it’s not exactly a miracle to see a rider who ‘rides lots‘ become a better rider due to little more than rote repetition (italics are used to acknowledge that the type of improvement that comes with high mileage is limited & closely dependent on the intensity of this mileage, so ‘better’ is a pretty subjective word). But repetition alone won’t optimize improvement – not in your level of efficiency, not in your level of fitness, and not in your all-important performance. Reaping measurable, significant performance gains is not merely a matter of consistency but more a matter of the quality of consistency.

Take the pushups for example. If every half hour you were to bang out 5 sloppy pushups where you snaked your body off the floor, head jutting forward, elbows coming nowhere near locking out at the end of their full range of motion while your friend maintained a plank straight body, elbows in tight, lightly grazing the ground with his chest and quickly pressing upward, fully extending his arms in steady sets of 20 pushups every 5 minutes, would you expect the same level of improvement as him? Even if you both did an equal number of pushups, it’s still pretty clear who’s going to get fitter and who’s wasting time & effort.

In much the same way, simply surviving intervals will not make you as fit as if you sought to perfect how well you performed each of your intervals. How did Vince Lombardi put it? Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect. And while perfection isn’t the objective here, the idea is the same. We can’t expect optimal results from less than optimal performance, and that goes for training as much as it goes for racing.

In the case of intervals, our goals ought to center around performing the best possible version of each interval, every single time – intervals that closely hug our target watts, intervals that don’t fade at 1min 50sec even though we’re shooting for 2-minute repeats, intervals where our bodies mimic the hard-working yet relaxed posture we want to emulate on the road. When any of these qualities or abilities degrade, we know it’s time to either make some minor workout modifications or wrap things up for the day. But regardless, when we strive to maximize the quality of our workouts, we all but guarantee ourselves better performances when it really matters.

In the same vein, consider efficiency drills. It’s not realistic to expect optimal technique improvements by repeating 5-minute intervals at 120rpm if you spend the latter 3 minutes of each interval bouncing around on the saddle. Rather, you’d derive far greater benefit and would have spent your time inarguably more productively by slowing things down to 115 or 110rpm or perhaps reducing the interval duration to 2 minutes and performing more of them. In both cases, there’s nothing to keep you from eventually reaching 5 minutes at 120, smooth revolutions per minute if you go about it the right way, i.e. consistently applying high quality, proper form.

This all comes back to the idea of GIGO (Garbage In-Garbage Out) which gives us a pithy little term to describe the process of building poor habits, ones that can haunt us for years, maybe even the rest of our lives. Building proper habits isn’t just good idea, it’s a necessity that can not only further your capabilities but also prevent injury. And you’ve undoubtedly heard the term ‘muscle memory’. Well it’s this ingrained memory that’s responsible for the difference between the elegance and grace of a grand tour rider and the convulsive spin-bike wrestling you can witness in any indoor cycling class taking place at this very moment.

What’s even more interesting about muscle memory is that, to some extent, it can be learned through observation. Simply watching a grand tour rider sail up Alpe d’Huez can make us better climbers! But I’m getting away from the point I’m trying to convey which is how very important the quality of our consistency truly is. It’s not enough to do something often. What really makes our (limited, in most cases) training time all the more effective is the standards to which we hold ourselves when training consistently. Don’t just “ride lots”; instead, if you’re fortunate enough to be able to dedicate hours upon hours to riding, ride lots really well. And if time is in short supply, pursue near-perfection in riding form & workout quality, do it consistently, and you’ll soon gain an understanding of how this simple combination can bring surprisingly high levels of improvement.

So from this point forward, try to stop seeing consistency as a key to improvement all on its own and start recognizing that it’s only part of the equation that brings us closer to optimal fitness and dramatically improved performance. Consistency is vital, no doubt about that, but without proper habits, ever-improving techniques, and high quality, our consistency can only take our performance so far.

Bike Sale

Cracking medium sized Focus mountain bike for sale.  Shimano XT brakes and drive train with RocShox front forks.  £320 ono.  A very light and fast mountain bike.

Also mountain bike shoes from 5:10 and SixSixOne that are in vgc but not needed. Size 8

Mountain Biking Thoughts

Fiona Gunn, Lyndsay & Ian MacConnel doing proper mountain biking.
 Meal Mhor before the road

Mountain biking is a key sport in North Argyll and Lochaber and one of the things that brings folk to the area and helps retain them. We are fortunate in having great natural trails from deer stalking and forest works, and also the downhill tracks at Glencoe and Nevis Range. Nevis Range also has a superb network of prepared trails that are now being worked on to keep them in order. There is not much family friendly cycling other than forest tracks and footpaths and Nevis Range are planning a couple of family friendly tracks which will be a great idea for them. Funding trails is not easy in this economic climate and will cost £10's of thousands. Oban is also keen on developing trails and is fast becoming a major adventure destination, and Nick Cranes BBC 2 docu on "little towns" featuring Oban will do a lot for it’s profile. Oban is also keen to develop mountain biking, and one of Scotland’s best kept secrets is the plethora of natural mountain biking south of Oban. I spent a week mountain  biking in south Argyll and had a ball on some long natural and remote trails that could have been designed by someone from Whistler, but were all natural.

 

Fiona Gunn ponders An Grianan going over to Glen Etive from Glen Creran

Cycling as a sport is on the increase in general. Much like skiing there is a tendency for the better mountain biker to go “off piste” with a lot of folk really getting into the mountains and wild areas and the prepared trails at centres are bit like skiing “on piste” on predictable. Road biking is a growth sport and leisure cycling on Route 78 our local Sustrans route is booming. The future of cycling as a tourist activity is assured but with such a diverse range of cycling from leisure on the forest tracks, wild mountain biking and prepared trails where is any investment needed?

My own personal view is that trail centre's will be less popular as the same demographic group goes around them, so too much development may not be viable. Not because new trails are not good, more because they cost so much to make and maintain and essentially become boring and worn out after a while. Expensive to make and horrendous to maintain at an acceptable standard this type of “on piste” has maybe had it’s day? A lot more fun can be had with a hand saw and a shovel working with natural forest features and as areas are felled then others can be worked on. No cost, low environmental impact and at your own risk on public land. Just don’t start felling trees, and work with the landscape. Investment in promoting the natural wildness and natural trails, and education on treating road cyclists with respect has to be part of it. A holistic view of cycling is needed and investment if any needs to be aimed at promoting what Scotland has in abundance and more bike piste’s might not be the best use of money and don't help the youth in further out areas such as Ardnamurchan which is also part of Lochaber.  Maybe some bikes and paying a tutour to run profficiency and bike skills on and off road would be good use of any funding and bring on the kids. Other than that just enjoy getting out there and stay away from the honeypots or centres and enjoy the landscape.  We need to teach our kids that it's ok to explore. 

Looking back to Tayvallich. Some great trails down there!

How hard is it to market this?

In the raw this is our biggest asset:

Money can't buy what the film makers see here or the free advertising from it

There is much talk of a BID (business investment district) for the entire Lochaber area in order that funds can be levied from business rates and match funding gained so that projects such as:

• Gateway signage at all entry points to Lochaber
• Complimentary welcome signage in each main community
• Three modern, bold breath-taking viewing platforms in key locations across Lochaber
• A full-time event co-ordinator to help
• An annual and sustained, dynamic whole-area marketing campaign
• Co-ordinated work to increase the power and draw from some of our key regional assets: Glencoe, Ben Nevis, West Highland Line.
• Cruise ships visiting Fort William routinely.
• Much better access to the water for users around Lochaber.
• Phase 1 of a marina for Loch Linnhe.
• Leverage an additional £60k per year from other partners and agencies (eg HIE, Highland Council, VisitScotland).

All this sounds fine and is based partly on Seattle where "The Outdoor Capital" had a visit. It's good to know that those who are members are paying for these trips to get ideas, but I wonder what it really means and who stands to gain in our area. I don't see anything in it for South Lochaber, or as it still is to me North Argyll as I still feel more an Argyll person than Highland.  I see a lot in it for Fort William which as a town seems to be failing badly so a Fort William BID would make sense. None of the proposals will do anything for here and in fact a business levy would be punitive as we might all on this side of Loch Lhinnie vote no, yet still be levied. An event co-ordinator might score with a nice salary though.

Kinlochleven,  Rapidly becoming a must go place for serious mountain biking and a famous and iconic trials bike destination.

My personal view is we have too much signage cluttering our road sides and whats a breath taking viewing platform if its stuck onto the scenery we are trying to protect.  Cruise ships visiting Fort William, maybe but I dont see it.  As for better water access.  We have old ferry slips and a huge coastline along with a very good access code so this is another non starter.  A marina for loch Lhinnie, who for?  A very good pontoon system is at Glencoe, and Fort William could benefit from a similar low cost project.  A marina though?  I dont think so. We are just barely scraping through a near triple dip recession.  Yachts are not selling and frankly are a luxury item unless you are really serious. Who's boats will be bobbing about in the marina?  

Cuil Bay Duror.  Plenty access to the water here!  Duror and Appin are fantastic places to stay with in easy reach of Glencoe and Oban.  Oban - the town that faces the sea, not with it's back to it.

At the Discover Glencoe AGM we are asked what Plan B was if the BID process was rejected.  My Plan B take is that we ignore Plan A (BID) as its devisive and will polarise opinion.  We live in a fantastic area with great natural beauty as a resource.  What we need to help the area is for folks to stay longer and in my opnion we need more for families. I find that my family activities package such as geocaching and personalised maps help.  Again though our mom & pop business is under fire as others with more resources try and squeeze us out. Competing unless there are cups on the table isn't what we are about as we are passionate cyclists not business development types.  

While we wonder about getting more trade then what's happening about key trade thats been lost?  Folk may have noticed a huge drop in the numbers of cyclists on the A82.  That's because the CTC and the many forums are advising folks not to do the JOGLE (john o' groats to lands end) or LEJOG on the A82 as its too dangerous and unfriendly to cyclists.  That includes charity rides. So a few hundred bed nights gone and not much of an advert for an area that purportes to by an outdoor destination, especially as cycling as now the number one growth outdoor sport in the UK.

Ballachulish. A cracking village that deserves a bigger co-op!