It gets worse!! When will it end!

Having booked myself in for four months of Euro therapy riding and racing the bike all over the World cup circuit, I at least had a goal. I was back on the bike after a run of bad luck although resigned to being "bunch filler" for the first month of my travels as I got the legs upto Euro race spec.

And so, to kick it off with the National Marathon Championships in Avoca, just out of Melbourne. I'd spent the last few days trying so hard to comply with the crumby 23kg weight limit that Qantas were generous enough to stinge me with. The bike bag with bike and spare wheels only, was 16kgs, not bad, says I. Another bag to check in at around 10kgs would see me 3kgs over weight. Fine for domestic, $10/kg extra charge, I can cop that. The carry on limit was absolutely bursting and so I would have to. It's when you come to fly International that the problems begin. The check in attendant was nice enough to let it slide for only $10, not $30. A nice gesture and things were looking up. Perhaps she'd seen the effort i'd gone to, or perhaps she was there the day before, when I showed up a day early. Whoops.

A quick night ride around Lysterfield, home of the Commonwealth Games course, but thankfully not around the course itself, but the myriad of other trails in the area. Many locals have dubbed these as no fun, boring, not technical enough. Coming from Sydney where Manly Dam is the benchmark I quickly silenced any nay-sayers and was having a ball with ex Sydney sider James Kennedy.

The tail end of the ride saw us drop down the last fast fire-road descent toward home where all would be well. Between myself and home was a problem - the rabid, foaming, red-eyed, off-spring of Beelzebub who had been previously spooked by James and was now standing 10ft tall in the middle of the trail wielding a shot-gun in one paw and a chainsaw in the other. Like anything inanimate I decided the best plan of attack was to go round it; problem solved.

The next few pieces are blank and I remember being roused by James and asking if I had a phone with me (thankfully I did) as he called numerous numbers, most of which were probably International calls back to his family in the USA at my expense. Just over an hour of walking later (I thought it was 10mins!) we were greeted by flashing ambulance lights and for myself, a small amount of morphine. What a great Friday night! Turns out the hole in my knee was rather large and I had broken my right collarbone, compounded with concussion. I was asked if I knew what day of the week it was and I did, but it took me a good 5mins to get to the conclusion of Friday. They said I was fine.

Emergency: and the x-rays come back with confirmation of a demolished collarbone, in three pieces that would need surgery (as every person I spoke to, medical or not, confirmed) as the two ends of the bone were so disjointed the healing time would be far too great. They also did the liberty of cleaning me up under a general anesthetic and putting five stitches in my knee. Upon being released I was informed by both Doctors who had seen my during my stay, that "you will not need surgery, it will heal on it's own, collarbones always do" even after being informed of how I did it, and what my regular pastime was. A second opinion was needed.

Private sector said the same, and with their help I would have the public sector on my side and "fixation of the collarbone" would be done.

So the overseas racing trip was no more, the consolation being I missed the hoo-ha with Iceland ruining flight times, so didn't have to deal with that. Qantas to give a credit in the fare, which was nice.

I have now been plated and screwed (haha, not gold plated and not that kinda screwed - but I haven't yet received the bill!) A plate of Titanium and seven screws, I am now bionic and have bragging rights of having a Ti plate rather than a stainless steel one. Healing is going well, albeit slowly and extremely boring and at this early stage I have no time frame for when I'm back on the bike. I hope to do a little exploring while off the bike, a light trip to Perth (which I've never seen) and back to Sydney for a short period, before coming back to Melbourne where I am currently parked up for another appointment.

I am completely up in the air right now. On one side i'm free; I have no residence, job, just some measly possessions. On the other; Can't move properly, can't ride, and have some appointments to keep, so am tied down.

You'd think with all the thinking time I have now I'd be able to figure out a future plan!