Need more practice at riding my bike

Every other year the team heads to Penticton for the May long weekend to ride, run and swim portions of the Ironman course. This year was no different.  I had only been out for group ride once this so far this spring as I took a few weeks off of riding while on vacation in Italy so I was really looking forward to getting in some quality time on the bike.  I packed up my gear in the car and headed west through the mountains for a 12 hour drive to Penticton. It was shaping up to be a great weekend, great weather and close to 2 dozen teammates started arriving. The plan was to do three rides over three days a lake swim and a run of some sort.

The first ride was on Friday,  up, out of town on the Narmata Bench.  This was about 50 kms with a few climbs.  A nice warm up...

The bike I ride has very tight geometry.  We were along Lakeshore Drive as we finished up. I am guessing I was going 15 - 20k when I lifted my arm in the air to celebrate a great ride,  In an instant I wobbled left, cranked my wheel left and was body slammed over the the front wheel and onto the pavement.  I did not even get to put a hand out to stop the fall.  My helmet did its job.  My right shoulder and ribcage absorbed the major part of the energy. 
I was winded and felt dizzy.  I thankfully have so many wonderful team mates that helped me get to the hospital and home afterwards.

The first thing the surgeon said is that I will not be doing Ironman this year.

I was not prepared for that news, not to mention that surgery was required.  

The X-ray shows that my right collar bone is fractured and if I get a plate put in, I could make a full recovery. I went in the next day.
They do a lot of cyclist reparation in Penticton so this is a good place to get this kind of work done. 
The surgeon said the I do not have brittle bones. He put in a plate to reconnect the collar bone and started me on the road to recovery.
Two weeks in a sling and 6 weeks before I can expect to lift 5lbs with that arm. I obviously need more practice at riding my bike.

April fool!

I woke up to a blizzard... and I don't mean the ones from Dairy Queen.  I had entered to race in a short local race called the Spring Run Off.  We have had such great weather lately and I have been able to run outside and enjoy the above average weather. Today was a bit different. A heavy snowfall warning rolled though the city in the morning.  

This is the scene outside at racetime. 

I decided to opt out of doing the 8k race because it was really only supposed to be a mid winter fun run and I didn't think it was going to be much fun.  I can't help but feel a bit of a sissy for not running but that's the way it is.  My focus for this year is Ironman Canada and I need to be healthy and ready for a hot weather race. Period.  

I have been working out on a regular basis and faithfully getting to the group spins almost without fail.

The photo below shows some of the team after a two hour simulated indoor hill climb. 

 Note the array of cooling fans.  

The spin training been great and every workout has been very good for pushing me to get ready for this summers race. I also have been in the pool lately (perhaps not as much I should be or running as much as I should be).  It seems the struggle for the number of hours in a day are the biggest challenge.  Finding a balance between family vs work vs sleep vs training is the biggest challenge. My wife now has a road bike,  I hope we can we can spin and do a some rides together. 

Heading into spring and I am feeling healthy and looking forward to race season... without the snow.