Today as I was out on my daily 2hr spin around the country side (as that seems to be my limit these days) I started to think about my problem and how I’ve probably sounded more upbeat on here than the actual reality of it.
Including the time spent on the couch after my crash in January, I have now been in France for four months without having really done what I’m here to do. For a pro cyclist that sux!
So this is what I’m dealing with…….. a trapped nerve (though not the final diagnosis, but if so where?) that gives me a tearing sensation down my left leg when I begin to pedal hard, and if I continue I can tear the muscles down the back of my leg.
I would like to say a big thanks to all those people who have been helping me thus far. Firstly Victor Popov, Australian physio/osteo/guru has been often a well needed ray of light. Brad McGee, mate/gb/and could be a physio himself, helps keep me headed in the right direction. Mattieu Nizau, french physio, always there for massage and help on the ground floor. Corey Williams, manager/mate/gb keeps NZ under control for me. Malcolm Stobie (Thompsons Nutrition) a super supportive sponsor, awesome. And last but surely not least my girlfriend Sarah, as I know I’m not the brightest poppy to live with at the moment and it isn’t over yet (sorry hunny).
I have more doc visits lined up next week, and I will continue on the hunt for the solution. I would like to say that’s all I have to focus on everyday but I’d be lying. Dealing with french bureaucracy, and random occurrences (which continue to stir things up) like our latest episode when our power went out and not even an electrician could find our power box, 48hrs later to be found hidden behind a plastered over plastic panel screwed into the wall behind the couch! Gotta love France, and its non existent building code.
Ok team time for me sign off, and hopefully next time for yours, Sarah’s and my own sake I’ll be in better mood.
Cheers
Tim
Hi all here’s a link to my latest interview with Pez Cycling News
FdJ’s Tim Gudsell Gets PEZ’d!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 3:11:26 AM PT
 |
|
“It was a windy day, but not your average windy day, a gum tree branch broke off and blew into my back wheel. I went down; it was like pulling on the hand brake – I went backwards through the bunch!” That was Tim Gudsell’s description of the Tour Down Under crash which has wrecked this season for him, so far. There’s a lot more to come though in 2009, and Gudsell is upbeat about the possibilities. |
Cheers
Tim
As the weeks tick by, I have my fingers crossed that the next one is going to be the one where everything just clicks and I can ride my bike pain free. After months of more scans, doctor and physio visits, jabs and prods, clinics and waiting rooms, I find myself sitting on my couch in my little apartment in southern France hoping my determination to solve this frustrating problem will pay off soon rather than later.
After being diagnosed with a disc protrusion in my lower back last year that was said to be causing the problems in my left leg, I went about doing everything I could to fix it. Initially it did seem like we were onto something, though after another heavy knock to the body in Down Under it seemed like I was back to square one. Further investigation started and we had to start looking deeper this time.
The next diagnosis came to be an entrapment of the pudendal nerve, a branch of the sciatic. So it was back into the doctors hands and under the scanner to try and hit the spot. Though this diagnosis wasn’t 100% sure it has become a question of eliminating possibilities.
Along with a change of position on the bike, some deep stretching and whole lot of exercises I hope we are now on the right track. It is still too early to say whether or not we have hit the spot.
I also had a brief return to the peloton a couple of week ago, and brief it was. With the team struggling for numbers I lined up at Gent Wevelgem, between doctor visits in Paris. So I signed on and signed off shortly after as the peloton split into pieces within kilometers, so I packed into the bus and took the dry road home.
Next time I hope to be back for good!
I hope you like the look of the new site, an keep an eye out for some new pages which should be added soon.
Thanks for reading
Tim
