sorry for the late posting, but for those that were on this ride last week you may remember the guy that joined in half way and then left early after hitting the bituman in east freo.  i had a few people ask me if we had heard how he went, so here is his email.

peter.

After waiting 5 -10 mins my wife turned up and took me home to be cleaned up. Then off to SKG to have the pretty pics taken which revealed a shattered clavicle (well broken anyway with a couple of loose pieces of bone floating around). My wife then used her influence and arranged for me to see Peter Hales the next morning with an empty stomach (that was hard). He gave me one real option which was to hang around til the end of his list and have a plate screwed in to stabilise the clavicle.

                So, the nice people at Bethesda gave me a private room with a multimillion dollar view to hang around and wait for him to do his days work in order to get to me. Glad I had the view!!! Very late afternoon, they wheeled me down to the theatre  and made me sleep. Woke up 3 and a half hours later feeling really really hungry having not eaten since 2000hrs the previous day. They finally gave into my nagging and gave me food at 2230 hrs and although I can’t remember what I had, I can say it was the nicest meal I’ve had in a while!! Ok, I’ll stop with the theatrics now.

                Mr Hales spent over 2 hours putting my clavicle back together and send me out of theatre. The result was that I could move the arm the next morning subject to pain limitation from the operation wound and the pain was gone, apart from the cut he made. Here I am on Monday able to move the arm fully with very little discomfort despite having zero painkillers since Sat night. I’m feeling ready to get back on the bike again although I may leave that for another week or so just to be sure. So, good outcome!

                The downside is that I am in big trouble with “the Boss”, coz our planned Easter trip had to be cancelled and many phone calls made to reverse the bookings and arrangements made. Everyone was sympathetic and we ended up with 100% refunds even from the sites that stipulate there is a no refund policy!!! Just have to make time later on….or at least she will, coz I’m retired and every day is a holiday.

                May I say a big thanks to your riders for the care and help they gave me at the time of the incident. I can’t remember exactly what happened but as Forrest Gump says “S#@* H^$$%@*”. I’m also up for a new helmet! Just who are these idiots who say we don’t need them????

                I’m sorry about stuffing the ride up, but guess I gave you all something different to talk about at the coffee shop afterwards. Once again, thanks for your care and assistance and will see you gain on the track sometime…..perhaps from a distance!!!

                Regards

                Ralph Treasure

footnote:

Unfortunately, I don’t remember all that much of the incident. I think my adrenaline had kicked in to deal with the pain. Did appreciate the help at the time though and one thing I do remember is a girl telling me to have it pinned if it was broken as it would speed recovery. You can tell her she was spot on!! Six days and full movement and no painkillers!

Hopefully will be back on the track in a week or so, when the wound of the operation has healed.