Tour de Mike

[othy]

I know everyone has been following Mike for a while now, so I thought this would be the best place to post.

He's been in a fairly serious accident in New Zealand, from his facebook page:

"mikebytes- Knocked out descending lone kauri rd. Cracked skull (front and back).
bruise and bleeding in head (probably stopped). Hip, collar bone,1 rib,
usual grazes. Still in Takapuna hostipal level 8 room L. Wont be on email
(using borrowed one), have phone.."

I've SMS'd him, and he is doing ok, to quote "Sh*t Happens", says he may be discharged tomorrow but thinks it will be at least two weeks before he is able to fly home.

It seems a little odd posting this exactly one year from the day that mike informed everyone that I had crashed.

[m@]

Sounds nasty!

Heal well, Mike.

[Strawburger]

oh no. hope he is ok and recovers well.

[sogood]

Spoke to Mike on Sat evening whilst he was still in hospital. He spoke sense and his brain was clearly still working well. The helmet however was sacrificed in the process. Very lucky! Take care out there.

Good to know that he has relatives looking after him there in Auckland.

[goneriding]

Heal fast Mike. This one will go nicely with the punctured lung etc from your track crash some time back.

[foo on patrol]

Get well young fella and that's not going to get you out of this years Grafton!

Foo

[AUbicycles]

Can you pass on our well wishes.

[Chris249]

Othy, can you also pass on my best wishes.

[toppity]

really enjoy following Mike's cycling journey, hope you get well soon Mike.

[mikesbytes]

Sorry I did reply but the post has been lost.

I'm on the improve and I'm expecting recovery to be fairly standard.

I missed my flight out of Auckland and have rescheduled for the 14th Feb.

I withdrew from the NSW masters track champs and won't be entering the Australian masters track champs

[foo on patrol]

That's a good thing with the recovery Mike.

Foo

[Redbull]

I withdrew from the NSW masters track champs and won't be entering the Australian masters track champs

Jeez, you're not going soft are you Mike?

Heal well mate and best wishes.

[mikesbytes]

S*** happens

[rogan]

Mike - good to hear from you, and may the Tour de Mike continue in the near future.

Get well soon.

[mikesbytes]

Thursday 2nd December 2010
Devonport (Auckland) 5k fun run

23m17s - 3rd (yes, believe it or not... 3rd)

Sis's birthday today and shes a runner so she suckered me into doing a 5k fun run. Last time I ran was Jan 28th 2009, I knew this was going to hurt.

Early on it was hurting bad and the strategy came out that running faster would reduce the time that it hurt, also my style was smoother with a bit more pace, I started overtaking and ended up up 2nd by the halfway mark 2.5k. First place was well ahead, I knew I wouldn't be able to challenge unless I felt a hell of a lot better, which wasn't likely to happen. At 4k I hit a pain wall and got retaken by 3rd, I chased but it was pointless and settled for surviving the last K, to come third.

The pain in my quads really showed me how bad a runner I was, despite the result on paper. Tomorrow morning I'll roll my legs for 30 - 40 to try to flush them (Sis's bike), so I can go training at lunchtime.

Well, this is what I did 13 months ago. 2 days before my accident, I repeated the process, this time I came 4th. Basically the first 3 cleared out and I was by myself as 5th place was a long way behind me so I ran the entire race by myself, no one to chase and no one chasing me. Turned out that the guy who came 5th was the same one that came 2nd in front of me.

This time I ran in 22m47.2s, so about 1/2 min faster. There is a minor change in the route which I suspect might make it a few seconds faster. More importantly I wasn't killed off by the run like last time.

And I won a bottle of wine in the lucky dip

My Sister and I before the race

[Abby]

All the best Mike - love your race reports, hope the recovery goes as smoothly as possible...

Cheers,
Abby

[Karati]

Great socks!!

[mikesbytes]

Great socks!!

They say "cancer sucks"

[mikesbytes]

I was advised that if I didn't have a helmet on, that I would be dead

Here's the damage to the back of my helmet. As you can see the rear of it has broken off. Anyone who rides without a helmet is nuts

[Daccordi Rider]

Shhh Mike, the people on the helmet thread will hear you. Next they will try to prove the earth is flat!

[toolonglegs]

Aha... I was going to ask where the black eye came from... Thought you where just playing games at the pub.
Heal up quick mate.

[mikesbytes]

Aha... I was going to ask where the black eye came from... Thought you where just playing games at the pub.
Heal up quick mate.

As a result of being knocked out, I don't remember the accident at all. There is no damage on the front of the helmet and no skin damage, so I'm guessing the front of my head hit the bike

[foo on patrol]

That's a good thing Mike, no not the being hit part, the not remembering the accident part. That way, you have no flash backs
when you're in the same situation and therefore you don't tense up.

Foo

[ft_critical]

Glad you were wearing that helmet Mike.

I put mine on the desk of a colleague who was drifting more and more to the hipster side of cycling. It cured his desire not to ride in one.

[mikesbytes]

Purchased a replacement helmet for my sister today, took her to a location in Auckland where there are 4 bike shops and she tried on a large variety of helmets from top ends ones thru to el cheapo ones.

Got her a specailized one for NZ$120. Not bad for a LBS purchase.

I was surprised at the quality of the cheap helmets NZ$40 thur NZ$75. You no longer need to wear an esky on your head if you are on a budget. Mid range ones were reasonably priced too. Top ends ones weren't, helmets like Lima 104 or Catlike were in the NZ$350 - 400 range.