Not an ideal start to the week.

After racking up the miles at the weekend I had to visit A & E with the pain in my ribs on Monday morning. The pain had become unbearable by Sunday night and I haven't slept properly for almost a week. I thought it would be quicker to visit out patients than wait to see my doctor, who might just send me along there anyway. However, apparently this is no longer how it's done. After waiting for a while and being assessed I was told that I should have gone to my doctor first and had to wait while the nurse got me an appointment with my own GP. I really wasn't impressed. I mentioned the fact that what if my doctor sent me back to A & E (this has happened to me in the past) and I was informed that it was a possibility. Eventually I was told that there were no appointments available with my own doctor that day (I could have told them that) and I should wait to be seen by someone at A & E. I was confused to say the least.

However, I was seen by a lovely nurse who, after a long examination, informed me that I had a soft tissue injury in my rib cage. The treatment is rest, prescription strength pain-killers, anti-inflammatory drugs and avoiding activities that aggravate the injury, such as sport. It can take anything up to 12 weeks for a soft tissue injury to heal so I must have returned to training too soon after my bout of flu, which caused the sore ribs in the first place. I didn't mention to the nurse that I had ridden to Brighton and back at the weekend.

I'm taking a couple of days off training to rest and see what happens but I expect to be back on the bike sometime this week and out on the road at the weekend. I'm sure if I keep going along sensibly without losing too much fitness, the Belgian cobbles will sort me out one way or the other. I'm really getting excited about Flanders now and I'm also excited about getting back to some proper racing after the big event.