Back in the saddle after injury and dog training.....

Took a bit of a break from riding last year after a mad 2013. I changed jobs and my commute went from something ridable to something distinctly unridable and the travelling curtailed a lot of plans so I kept active by skating a lot. To top things off in early November I broke my ankle while walking through London (not drunk ) and have spent 8 weeks recovering, healing and spreading as I couldn't skate.
I need to do something about it now so I had my first real skating session on Saturday and was thinking of starting off road riding at the weekend (if it's not chucking it down again) any tips from anyone who's had to comeback from this type of injury in the past (like should I use my SPD's or go with flats for a couple of months first)?
Also as we now have a dog (a lively Working Cocker Spaniel) I was hoping to train him to run with me, so any tips to help me and him not to collide would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Carl.

can't help with the ankle (ouch!), but I have a 4 legged riding companion too





Firstly, make sure you can control him to walk to command; wait, come, heel etc. most of it carries directly over to biking. then, take the bike with you for a few walks, then cycle at walking speed and so on. ramp it up slowly, and he'll get used to the bike. just remember to take it easy at first, if he's not used to the speed and distance you'll tire him out. Ours could easily keep up, but we found that as our 'normal' evening walks tend to be around 4 miles, anything more than that he started to struggle. fine once he got used to it

Pics of said pooch?

He's another Spaniel, a working Cocker so plenty of energy, what's your's (don't want to presume but he's got a bit of a Field Spaniel look about him)? Ours is only about 7 months but he's quite easy to train so those tips I will take on board and might give him a first walk with the bike at the weekend before I start riding with him. His recall is great and when we get behind him he'll sit down and wait for us to catch up. The main concern is that I don't want to get tangled with him as it will not be good for either of us. I think I'll got with the modern bike first and a set of flats.

Anyway here he is:

LOL> He's a working cocker spaniel! 7 years old now, and still a pup. Basically, you've got a newer version of our pooch




Awesomest dogs evar.

He'll be fully awesome when he gets through the mouthing and getting excited and peeing stage. He is a friendly lad though and settled really well with us.

Carl

Like someone has said, get the dog used to the bike and you on the bike, so he's not jumping up you, it shouldn't take long. It helps at first if you can let the dog off the lead and not worry about him running off or chasing things. As for the injury, I am recovering from a traffic accident and have many broken bones. My advice would be to just be aware of yourself, the moment you feel discomfort address it. You do need to train the muscle to do the things it used too so try all the things you used to do but in moderation. It takes time but its worth it when your back to strength.
Hope your recovery goes well and really nice dogs you've got there.

Mark

Re:

I'm planning on riding with this big old 47 kilo bear! :-D Now trained to stay by my side etc.....hoping I can keep up! :-D

Good thing about the large dog is you'll always be aware of where he is.

We've had two walks this weekend involving bikes. Yesterday I pushed mine and my youngest boy wanted to ride his so I let him. We went to the local disused airfield and rode on the runways. Charlie (the dog) was fine, didn't chase the bikes so I got in and went for a ride calling him along and he happily ran along side me. He kept up nicely but kept checking where my wife was with my daughter and running back to check on them. Today my boy and my daughter rode and it was all fine again. I think I can move on. To the next stage of just me and the dog lapping the runways side by aide.

Carl

Re:

Sounds good! :-D

I sprained my ankle badly and while cycling itself never hurt I gave up the SPDs and ran with a loose toeclip for the first couple of weeks, then on to SPD at the lightest setting.