Go Dogs Go! Photo above from Tragic Llama
Snow Dogs Go~ ! ! ~ Photo of skijoring from Bruce'sBlog Today's post will focus on bikejor Safety.
A HIGHLIGHT- Canine control: 
Above info is from Bruceshomepage. He has a great general primer on training and commands crucial to dog powered sports as well. Photos from Tragic Llama.What can I say? The traumatic injury to my leg has sidelined me, but good. SO, my thoughts naturally have turned to the possible ways I might have prevented this injury and long suffering. This is vital information to review, for me, and anyone else who is considering, or is already partaking in, this extreme (and extremely dangerous) sport!
Basically, I've come to the conclusion that short of riding my brakes the whole time, and adhering to the # 1 rule of mushing (who knew?) "Never let go of the sled," there is little I could have done to prevent this. At the death defying speed at which we were traveling, coupled with the drastic change in direction the dogs initiated, I am not so sure I could have held on to the "sled" (read:bike.) Next time though, if there ever is one - this was a random squirrel encounter at just 1 bike length - that is what I think I will attempt to do. Unless I have already become a crybaby wimpy pants and begun to ride my brakes like a grandma, never allowing us to go above 8 MPH...Really there isn't too much trouble I could get into at 8 MPH...But of course, we were going well over 15 MPH.
New motto ideas? On the brakes you ride, then you stay alive, or how about, Believe the 3 second rule, you are a fool, and finally, Go fast you might not last.
KNEE UPDATE: owie zowie. My knee is still nearly as swollen as pictured below, and I've made only minimal progress in my range of motion and weight bearing. boo hoo. 4 weeks and counting. ...
my UK bikejor blogger buddy is always updating his page and has some great info for the beginner right now...
He is also way into caricross, which is essentially competitive cross country trail running with one or two dogs attached to the runner by a line, and it is very big in the UK. 
Carnicross allows you to jog and keep your canines under control. Seems to me that some SO HUM joggers should check out carnicross ; like the cute Chiquita at the So Hum park with her crazy miniature (out of control) chihuahua attack dogs...just an idea. Carnicross pics from tragic llama . He has COOL VIDEOS too.Here is the seldom updated but entertaining chariot lady blog "Featuring the incredible off-(and on-) road adventures of a modern-day Donna Quijote...and two crazy scooter-pulling canines. Call it dog scootering, scooterjoring, or just plain stupid, nothing beats the thrill of running your own private Iditarod." Maybe a few extra clicks will get her posting again...
See you NOT ON THE TRAIL, but on the silly stationary trainer, that thanks to only one functioning knee, I cannot even spin correctly!
3 comments:
I was just gonna ask about your knee... What sort of therapy/ies are you doing for it?
dave u r 2 kind...
acupuncture, chiropractic, massage, prayer and standard MD consults - referred to see an orthopedic this week for MRI...
4 weeks of Advil, elevation & ice...continuing now with hinged brace for support, and increased activity (walking more, and 25 reps/day on the wind trainer...wimpy, i know - but the damn thing won't bend past a 90* angle for all the swelling) coupled with mega vit C, homeopathic arnica, chinese pain patches, tiger balm, muscle joint salve, chilblain red salve (whatever the hell a chilblain is..) .... I wonder, what hasn't been tried? Help me if u can!
thanx~
Dang! That's a good shotgun approach :)
Couple of things: is there any torn cartilege? It's kinda a sneaky thing that can be easily missed since nowadays they only seem to look for torn ligaments. The brace and everything else should be helping that though.
Arnica: wonderful stuff, I've used it on evulsion ankle fractures and it really gets the swelling down. However, if you are using the homeopathic arnica (tablets??) then you want to find some arnica cream. Arnica cream works wonders.
Chilblains: the only thing I know about chilblains is that it's a skin condition caused by cold exposure. How long do you have the ice on? Do you have a lightweight cloth between the ice pack and the knee?
IMHO, the tiger balm and muscle joint salve probably won't do much good (although they are very good for some other things like soft tissue injury).
You being a doggie person have probably heard of DMSO. If you were a horsey person you'dve definitely heard of it. You should be able to get it at a vet's place that specializes in mushing and horse racing. In a dog mushing community like Fairbanks, AK (where I'm from) it's very easy to get. Yes, I know it's an industrial sovlent, but it does a very great thing by bringing other ointments mixed in with it to the area needed. It basically let's the arnica and other stuff penetrate the skin layers very quickly to get to the problem areas.
Here'd be my formula: mix one part arnica cream (say 20 grams, 1 tbsp), one part aspirin cream (just read the labels on the pain relief cream and find the one with the highest salycate content), two parts cold cream (thickens it up so it doesn't evaporate before the mixture can penetrate) and one part DMSO liquid.
Rub it on 2 to 4 times per day, and apply ice about 10 mins afterwards for up to 30 mins (have a cloth between you skin and your ice pack).
Advil: glorified, over-priced ibuprofen. Look at the label between that and generic ibuprofen. You'll find each tablet or caplet or whatever they call it has 200 mg of ibuprofen, which is the same amount in the generic brand --and a lot cheaper! Take 4 ibuprofens (200 mg size for a total of 800 mg) 3 times a day for 3 days. The swelling will go down. High dosage and short duration has no long time side effects. I have this on good recommendation by several sports medicine doctors. Just don't tell your regular doc the amount cus he or she will probably have a fit :)
I guess I shoulda mentioned all this 4 weeks ago... sorry...
I have been a university phys ed instructor for several years and I made sports medicine a hobby of mine since I was still competitive in 3 sports at the time.
Or, you can always toss a pinch of salt over your shoulder and tell me to get lost. LOL, that was a joke.
There's a lot to be said for acupuncture. Just make sure you use a reputable practitioner.
Chiro: I go to a chiro every couple of months for my back and neck. Very good if done right. If you ask for rehab excersizes (and you should) a good chiro will either get you on an excersize ball with PROPER excersizes (not the crap you see on late night TV) or she/he will refer you to a sports physio is she doesn't know about core strength and the importance of it. Did your chiro do a full set of spinal xrays?
Ok, I'll shut up now since this is becoming kinda (ha) longwinded. Drop me a line if you want to talk more, no worries. My email is
alaskandavedownunder(at)gmail(dot)com
cheers from Oz,
dave
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