Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Hump Day Crash


I am one of the lucky ones. I've ridden a road bike now for about five years, this was my first "real" crash. I did not loose my spleen, even break a bone. Unfortunately, there is not even a great story to tell about my speeding down a great descent to win a crit, there is only a fall on my head.

On the trail back to the shop, we were cooling down from a great Wed ride. A woman runs her large dog on the trail, dog is off leash, she's wearing an i-pod. Dog jumps in front of bikes, all bikes come to a screeching halt, and as we say....the one in back loses. That was me. I knew the instant I hit the brakes that I didn't have time to stop. So I positioned myself to ride up the right side of the rider in front of me. Except he made a sudden motion right, and I flipped hard and fast on my right side, my head bouncing hard off pavement. Prognosis: significant concussion, contusion, bruising, torn/damaged neck ligaments.

I've been asleep since. A gallon of fluids, some good drugs, a hot ER doc, and a week, I am back at work and as of today I hope, back in the saddle.

I am supposed to be out of competition for three weeks. We will see about that. It seems like a long time but a week's worth of fitness has left my body, I still have a pounding headache, the ligaments in my neck are torn/damaged, and staying awake for more than 8 hours in a stretch is a victory in and of itself.

We have lots of other news...some great/some sad...but I will withold that for a subsequent post. I have some digging out to do.


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