Rider Interview: Mike The Simonster Simonson

In early September, Michigan racer Mike Simonson was badly injured in a scary crash at the Shenandoah 100. Broken vertebrae and a large gash in his neck left the Simonster in the hospital for days after the race.

After 5 weeks we checked in with Simonson, now rehabing back home in Michigan, to see how he is recovering from his extensive injuries. 

Read Mike's update below.

The recovery is going very well. I can't believe how quickly I've been able to heal. I had 4 fractures in my vertebrae and one hell of a gouge on my neck. There was quite a bit of ligament damage as well, which was causing most of the pain.

I came home from the hospital and took 2 weeks off work. Of course, I got pretty antsy just sitting around so I started going on hikes with Buddy. The muscles around the neck would eventually get sore though and I could only push it so far. I wasn't prescribed any sort of treatment other than to rest and keep the neck brace on. 

After about 2 weeks, the pain had subsided quite a bit and I started going back to work. In the winter time my buddies and I at work run stairs for cross training. There's a 6-story parking garage on the base and we race each other up and down. We call it "stair club." Kinda like fight club, but we race each other on stairs instead of beating the crap out of each other. The guys in the office love it. Since I assumed my season was over, the guys thought it was a good idea to start stair club early.

"Just walk them a couple times I thought." But once we got over there, the Simonster in me came out and before I knew it, we were full on sprinting each other! This has been going on for about a month now and the soreness in my legs is finally starting to go away.

Last weekend I decided I'd had enough. My wife Mitch left for work, and I decided I was going for a bike ride outside. The weather was beautiful here in Michigan and I couldn't resist, knowing the snow is on it's way.

But again, as soon as I started cranking on the pedals, I just wanted to go faster. Halfway into the ride I found myself doing Vo2Max intervals and hill sprints. I came home with a very sore neck and paid the price the rest of the day. Mitch had no idea what I was up to. I met with the orthopedic surgeon last Monday and came out of there will a clean bill of health.

Everything is looking great and the pain is very minimal. I've been on the bike a few more times and things are really starting to loosen up. There's a race this weekend up north put on by endomanpromotions.com called Peak 2 Peak. It's a fast 30-mile race with a huge nasty climb at the end of the lap. I've won the race twice... perhaps my season isn't over yet! We'll keep you updated on Sunday!