It's All Over Now Baby Blue ...

You must leave now, take what you need

Well, not just now, but ... sadly ... soon. Very soon, we hope. That's probably not what most readers were expecting to hear from the next blog post of our 2018 holiday with all its big plans. But that's the way it is. Here's the tale.

Freewheeling in Ferrara 

My last post was from Pagnano in the Venetian Hills. Dianne and I had a great time there, with some excellent riding including a foray up into the Dolomites to do the sublime Sella Ronda - a long-held dream.

Di rolling through the wonderful Sella Ronda

Having a Mellow Time in Emilia Romagna

From Pagnano we moved down to to the flats and the historic town of Ferrara on the River Po. We had booked an apartment for a week within the old walls of this ancient city - which dates back to the 6th century BC - so we could enjoy the feeling of living inside an old town along with the locals. It was lovely, with life at a very slow pace. The old town is very bike and pedestrian friendly. 

No cars here

Our accommodation was less than 100 metres from the National Archeology Museum, which perhaps gives a sense of the history and culture of the area. Less than a kilometre away was the the central piazza. In our short street there were two bicycle repair shops which were all about bikes for living in the city. This repair shop was almost directly across the street from us ...

Bikes for town living

One afternoon passing a bakery we saw something that I don't know exists in Australia, a bread delivery bike ...

Bread delivery bike

While in Ferrara we had a few rides around the Po River. It was by far the flattest cycling either of us had ever done, which was perfect leading up to our tour.

One day we had a rest from riding and went to visit the town of Chioggia on the southern end of the Laguna di Venezia and enjoy some Spaghetti Vongole for lunch. Chioggia has a wonderful atmosphere and seems to be largely still inhabited by locals. It's a canal city ...

The main canal of Chioggia

... and has a large central piazza. There are a number of restaurants there, but it certainly is NOT overwhelmed by a tourist feeding frenzy - unlike the other canal town around the way. We were delighted to see a group of casual cyclists roll through the piazza together at a relaxed pace ..

Things were going along just about perfectly until two days before we joined our tour.

The Highway is for Gamblers, Better Use Your Sense

Actually, the "highway" seems fine. It's the bike paths in Italy that you've got to watch out for. Each one of them seems different from the next in the way they are marked, delineated, constructed or furnished. Some of them share space with cyclists, others don't: some of them have lines down the middle of them, others don't. It was on one of the shared pedestrian/bike paths that a mishap occurred that has brought our holiday to a premature end.

We were less than a kilometre from our apartment, riding along a path with lanes separated by thin steel bollards about a metre high, spaced about 20 metres apart. They looked pretty much like the one below ...

... but unlike this one, they come with a lovely olde worlde patina that renders them almost invisible in the afternoon light.
Di was cruising along slowly about 30 metres behind me when I heard a heart-rending crash and a cry of dismay. She'd been watching the scenery, not the pathway. Suddenly realising she was about to hit one of these bollards, she thinks she somehow avoided the bollard but landed squarely on her butt in the process. Unfortunately it is often the slow spills that do the most damage.

Although Di was in great pain, her first concern was for her bike - normally a good sign. She had a very sore butt, soreness in her midriff - which she thought was from muscle spasms and bruised kidneys. She was able to gingerly get back on the bike and we rode the 800 metres of so to our apartment. She thought she would be alright with a bit of rest and the first two days of easy riding leading into the Dolomites.

Risky Riding

We had a complete day of rest after Di's accident apart from packing up our bikes. Di was sore but moving okay. The following day we duly set off for Venice and the start of our much anticipated bike tour. We met all our fellow riders, put our bikes back together and had a casual ride down to the end of The Lido and back. Understandably, Di was feeling a bit tender but riding fine. The following day was a bit more of a test: a bit over 100 kilometres but flat riding until we got into some gentle hills towards the end of the day. She was quite upbeat at the end of that day after feeling very comfortable on the bike throughout the ride. She'd already planned on missing the long hill at the end of the next day and skipping the Sella Ronda the day after that, as we'd already been up to ride it while we were staying in Pagnano. The following day began with a 700 metre climb up to the Passo Falzarego. Here is Di nearing the pass ...

More gorgeous Dolomites riding

A lovely descent to Cortina followed, where we took morning coffee and then it was a largely downhill roll for the next 60 kilometres, much of which was on superb Austrian bike paths. Di really enjoyed that day and we thought things were looking up. 

However, Di was often feeling quite uncomfortable off the bike, including having trouble sleeping due to what she thought was bruising in her kidneys. 

The Bad News is Delivered

There was a massive day ahead over the Grossglockner which Di had originally planned to ride but decided to forego given her condition. She thought it might be a good idea to go ahead in the car with Eva, one of our support staff, to the hospital in Zell Am See for a checkup. Once in there an X-Ray was done that showed she had fractured her T-12 vertebra, which is pretty much right in the middle the back. (This is apparently quite a common fracture in impact injuries, more so in older people. 🙁)

We haven't seen the X-Ray, but we've been told it is a non-displaced fracture. The emergency doctor initially thought that Di would be kept in overnight, that the doctor would visit her on their rounds the next day, she would see a physiotherapist for some exercises and instructions on what to avoid doing and then she would be released. Her immediate thought was that we could continue to have our holiday, but she wouldn't be able to ride her bike or do the trek of the Cathar Way that we had planned. She thought I could finish the bike tour and she could meet us on the rest days while she travelled around on public transport, then we would collect our hire car and continue our travels in France. Not so, as it turned out.

The News Gets Worse

Di had had a CT scan done as well as the X-Ray. Along with the fracture of the T12 vertebra, it showed the T12 - L1 disc is compressed. When the doctor came to see Dianne the next morning he informed her that the hospital would be recommending her evacuation to Australia by ambulance, flat travel while on the airplane, transport within airports via wheelchair and ambulance from the airport in Hobart to the hospital. The information that we have at the moment is that she will have to avoid "sport" for 12 weeks. Devastating news, particularly for Di who has never had such a serious injury before.

Naturally, she was pretty upset. But, as she does, she collected herself and moved on to the visit with the physiotherapist. Here they are in discussion about things to do And things to avoid ...

Getting the good oil

... and here's another photo of her shortly after, feeling a bit more upbeat ...

She'll be right!

Moving On

We are well aware that things could have been far worse than they are. Di will live to ride and hike again as long as this injury is managed appropriately. She has no sign of any nerve damage. The doctor was shocked to hear that she'd ridden her bike more than 300 kilometres since the injury, including up several fairly challenging hills but at least that shows her body is still functioning pretty darn well. Like I said, she's tough. I am immensely proud of her. After quite some time trying to liaise between our insurance company and the hospital staff, we have finally been told - informally at this stage - that we will be on our way home on Tuesday, so the day after tomorrow. And I guess that brings this blog to a conclusion. But we definitely expect that there are more sunny days like this one ahead ...

There's always something to smile about

Adios from the two of us