The last time Ben King raced in the US he was soloing off the front at the World Championship road race in his home state of Virginia. 2015 had been a successful season for King, which included a stage win at the Criterium International, second place at US time trial nationals, and his second Grand Tour finish. Unfortunately, King's preparation for the 2016 season suffered a setback last January when he crashed while training near his home in Virginia.
"It was really a silly crash, I wasn't even going fast," King said. "I put my foot down to try and stop the fall, and since I was already at an angle I put my foot down and rolled my ankle and it broke the fibula. I heard it and felt it when I fell so I knew it was bad. I got my shoe off and tried to stand on it, I was like 'Aw, it's broken'.
"But that was the good thing about being in Virginia I could call my Mom for a ride. They live 20 minutes from where I live so I sat on the side of the road and waited for them to take me to the hospital."
ADVERTISEMENT
King had worked closely in the months leading up to his crash with Cannondale manager Jonathan Vaughters on developing a new training program. King had been layering more intensity and weights into his schedule and was hoping to see how it translated on the road at the Tour de San Luis.
His broken fibula required surgery and the subsequent recovery time kept him off the bike for weeks. King estimates that he had about "a month of nothing" after the operation while his body healed. King started training as soon as he could resulting in some marathon, WorldTour length, trainer sessions.
"Before it was even weight bearing, before I was even allowed to walk on it, I was allowed to spend loads of time on the trainer," King said. "I couldn't do intensity because the tendons were too weak and if I did high intensity then I'd start to overcompensate with the other leg and didn't want to cause or exacerbate any other imbalances. I wanted to respect the healing process."
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/1qnSzU8
No comments:
Post a Comment