Today was the day I would get the results of the MRI. After doing plenty of internet research, I figured that the best case scenario was further inflammation of the same hip flexor strain that my General Practitioner had diagnosed months back. The worst case scenario would be a tear somewhere in my hip labrum. Depending on the severity, that could require surgery. Whatever it was, I was looking forward to getting an answer and starting the path towards recovery.

It turned out to be neither of those.

“How does the hip feel?” the doctor asked. A little sore today, but not as bad as this last week.

He came right out and said it. “You have a Femoral Head Stress Fracture.”

Wow, I thought, not really understanding what he said. It turns out the fracture is in the plate of my hip, the right side, not far from the socket (labrum) that connects to the pelvis. He said that the labrum is also off, which points to another injury. Whatever I did to that poor hip, I did it real good.

He asked questions about my activities, trying to figure out how this happened. I never noticed a snap or any moment where this could have happened. He said that it’s more common with running because of the impact. When we discussed some of my rides in a little more detail, he said that it could have happened when riding out of the saddle on a steep climb. That is when I would be most at risk for this type of injury. That jives with my Grandfather Mountain theory.

The only prescription right now is rest, and lots of it. I will not even think about treatment for the next six weeks. The only activity that is at all acceptable is swimming or upper body exercises.

My first question was whether my plans in France are still possible. Yes, he said, with some work. We’ll revisit this again at the end of January, and I’ll work myself back into shape slowly. The goal is to resume training sometime in March. Since the event is in the late summer, my recovery fits within the training timeline.

Even though this is somewhat of a bummer, I am relieved. Finally I can stop training and aggravating this injury, which to be frank, has not been a lot of fun. The next time I ride, it won’t be on a broken hip, and it’ll feel a lot better.

Whatever happens, this story ends in the Alps.