2 days post crash....

In the grand scheme of things I am very lucky. I could be like my friends Cary, John, Kim, Tara, Chris all with broken collar bones; Cary and John adding elbows into the mix. I think Chris had a broken shoulder too. Of course there is Tara Norton too with her facial lacerations, collar bones, back, and various other bone fractures. All of them from a bike crash; some racing and some training. I am indeed extremely lucky.

The gentlemen in the van that picked me off the course said, "someone was looking over you today" to which I said, "she sure was..." It was instinctive to suggest my mom had a hand in my safety but whatever higher spirit was on my side Sunday to he, her, it, I am really grateful.

It is this sentiment that is carrying me past the anxiety of looking back and remembering what might have been vs. what was.

My road rash is healing remarkably well. Today I am really feeling quite a bit of muscle pain and I suspect much of it is whiplash. Neck, shoulder, upper back are all very, very sore. I have a massage at 2:30 so hopefully she doesn't mind the bandaged welsh bastard on the slab as she tries to work around the various injuries to get at me sore muscles. I am also really tired, flu like tired as my body tries its best to get me better.

All this said, at about 11am this morning I did feel a surge of "I'm going to be ok!" I think that was more mental than physical but all the same it is an indication that maybe, just maybe, late this week I will be back on the bike spinning the lakeshore and getting myself healed enough to race North American Masters Championships in Sutton QC July 2,3,4. My goal for now is to get on the trainer no later than Thursday for an easy cruise.

Right now, it re-bandage time for a few of the wounds on my left side!

Ride safe, PLEASE!

and finally it happens - CRASH!

On Sunday we fielded our full team for the Kitchener-Waterloo Ontario Cup road race. I went down to the race early to carpool my friend MAdelyn Smith to her first bike race! She did awesome, always at the front of her race and easily covering moves on the climbs. Then I didn't see her and knew something was up. She finished a few minutes back after crashing when getting squeezed by the group as the race vehicle came by. NOT a good start to her bike racing career but she is ok and a trooper.

Me on the other hand has gone 10 years without ever hitting the deck. Only one minor skid out on wet leaves at 15km/hr is the extend of my bike riding crashes. That is about 15,000 kms a year without a single scrape until Sunday.

Our full team was there and we had a good plan in place and were executing it pretty well for the first half of the race. Then I attacked to try and bridge to 2 riders up front. I was catching them and a group from the peleton were catching me. Down the descent, hang a right, pedal in the 53/14 around the corner; drop 2 hears to the 53/12 and gliding at 70km/hr (so says bike computer) I look back to my left to see a few guys coming. Then Peter Mogg swerves around my right hand side. I lose my line slightly looking right and next thing I know Peter is coming around me really, really tight. BANG, his rear wheel fully into my front wheel and what felt like forever was from that point to the deck. I played this out last night and here is everything that went through my mind in those 10 seconds from going down to stopping:

1. Hang on tight, DO NOT LET GO OF YOUR BARS!

2. F-C-K!

3. hitting deck I felt my head crash into roadside and I thought "I'm dead" but the lucky Bell Volt helmet came out on top of that battle!!

4. Get your feet first like going down river!

5. roll onto that grass in front of you!

6. look for other riders coming your way so you don't get run over!

7. Stopped, feel for broken bones....nothing? Are you kidding me = DODGED BULLET!

8. PAIN, LOTS OF PAIN; SCREAMING PAIN! OMG PAIN!

9. put me back on my bike

10. F-K my bike, I need to cry.

11. a few minutes of "shock" ensued. Deep crying, deep calve cramp pain, unbelievable amount of self talk to stay lucid, "what's my name? what's my birthday? where am I?" All answered correctly.

12. I AM OK, holy shit!

I am bandaged up along the right side calve, knee, hip, shoulder, elbow. left shoulder has a nice strip off too and the left hip stings but is ok.

Worst injury in terms of keeping me off my bike feels like a left groin pull which probably came from being clipped into my pedals and flinging the bike over me as I rolled.

Here are some before and after photos.

O