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View Full Version : Ordinary riding effort


Kluge
05-17-2008, 05:19 PM
I am shirking other chores so I might as well ask this question:

How much effort do you consider ordinary typical riding?

My hernia surgeon has told me not to lift more than 20 pounds for 8 to 12 weeks after the surgery. This isn't just because the strain could rip the stitches out & make me bleed, but also because the surgery was to sew stuff together that gets torn up when the body is strained.
He's not a rider even though his office is 2 buildings up from the Harley dealer. He said I could ride 2 weeks after the surgery.

So I have a 650 pound Boulevard that y'all know is pretty close to a clone of a softail.
I bought a fish scale and measured:

10 pounds to straighten the handlebars from parked position.
15 pounds to level the bike off the kickstand.

It's not hard to figure the sine of the lean angle times the weight of the bike is the force required to hold it up if you stop the turn without leveling first. That's 70% of 650 or somewhere on the high side of 450 pounds at 45 degrees.

I only had to pull anything like that once, a sharp turn at low speed off a street into a driveway that a car suddenly pulled out of. I stopped in a lean, applied muscle and was wondering if the bike was going to level or go down. It slowly leveled but it was dang heavy. I have no plans to do that again regardless of health.

My cruiser sometimes strains me in nearly stopped turns when I am doing the duck-walk and my right leg gets behind me and has to hold some weight at the same time. I've felt strain in almost the same spot as needed surgery, sort of, I can't remember it well (it almost hurt so I try to avoid it, of course). I don't know if a sport bike riding position would avoid that type of strain, I can only imagine my weight wrongly causing pain in a different place with one of those.

How many pounds do you think I'd have to exert for ordinary careful riding?
Should I just sit out the first half of the summer? 8 weeks is 6/24/08, 10 weeks is 7/8/08.

How many pounds is normal?
(6-g turns while riding like Tony Hawk are not included)

cmhbob
05-17-2008, 06:47 PM
My concern would be getting into a trouble situation that requires some strength, like a bad bump that knocks you loose on the wheels and in the saddle. Trying to recover might cause some pain that stops you from recovering completely, turning a near-miss into a dump.

I'd probably wait more like 4-6 weeks, then try the bike in the parking lot or neighborhood before making a big trip.

MNeedham73
05-18-2008, 03:07 PM
I have to agree with Bob. There are just too many "what if" situations that could come up. Personally, I wouldn't risk it if I were you. It's not worth a trip to the hospital to either repair your hernia again or because you wrecked due to not being able to do what is needed to avoid an accident.

Kluge
05-18-2008, 04:30 PM
Argggh!

:banghead:

Violet1966
05-19-2008, 01:09 AM
Yeah my husband decided to not ride for a while when he had his spinal surgery. It's just more risky you could re-injure or even not be able to react where you would need to and hurt yourself or others. Your better off just healing properly. Give it a few extra weeks. I know this must be killing you, but you have plenty of season left. ;)

ethics
05-19-2008, 09:10 AM
James, I didn't answer because I am not a cruiser and crotch rockets ride differently. BUT, I was hoping others would say what they did and that if I were you I'd wait till you are more healed. You have no idea how many different muscle groups you use when you are just riding, but just riding happens maybe 50% of the time (pending on the road) and the other 50% you are definitely using many muscles.

Brazbit
05-19-2008, 01:02 PM
As much as it painss me to advise anyone not to ride I have to agree. The world is not ideal and as such anything can happen. It is simply to easy for the bike to get out of balance and require extra effort without even a moments notice.

Kluge
05-22-2008, 03:47 PM
I rode a little bit today, 24 days after the surgery.

I figure I just have to ride as if I'm smaller and the bike is bigger, an everyday thing for lots of people I'm sure. Straighten the bike before stopping, keep it balanced, avoid the grasshopper-leg position, observe the speed limits. No biggie, and at $4.099 per galllon, I will save about $8.198 every day I ride it to work.

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