Is it broken?

My blog has been pretty stagnant lately, so we not enliven it with a doozy...

Yesterday I rode down to Colorado Springs with a couple teammates for cyclocross race. My first in over a month. In fact, I've only ridden my CX bike once since my last race. I've been feeling unmotivated to ride, so I thought this would at least force me to put in a good effort.

The course was decent for me. It started out with a big hilly loop, which meant that I didn't really need to fight for a position at the front. I just sat in the top 20 and picked people off as they got tired. I was around the top ten by the time we got on the actual course.

I rode pretty well and also made some mistakes. I was caught up behind a group of three that was using a smooth dirt section to recover so I decided to pass them. It made me take a really sketchy inside line through a steep downhill corner, but it worked out. Until later that lap. I went to get on my brakes in a bumpy 180 and slipped off of them. I ended up in the weeds and the people I had passed went right by me.

I stayed in the top 10 the rest of the race, and on the last lap I was in 7th. Coming out of the final barrier section, it was clear the I wasn't going to catch the guy on front of me so I just needed to take it easy into the finish. Only 3 more corners to go, and disaster struck.

On my remount, I didn't get clipped into my pedals. My right foot slipped off the pedal and got grabbed by my front tire and sucked up to the frame. My front wheel, of course, immediately stopped and the bike flipped hard. In an instant I was on the ground.

Helmets save lives. My helmet hit the ground hard and did its job by breaking. No concussion for me. The medical guy on staff came over and recommended I go to the hospital for an x-ray. While my friends were getting my stuff together I called and told Christine. Then I nearly passed out as I finally calmed down from the race. I was 40 minutes into a race working hard, and then came to a sudden and complete stop.

Mike D took me to the emergency room (which was freezing) and I didn't have to wait all that long for an xray. I'm no expert. Do you think it's broken?


They gave me a sling, and I'll go to a doc up in Fort Collins for a follow up. They offered me a Percocet, but I'm just not that into pain meds. I guess I like to be constantly reminded that I'm hurt. I took the prescription so I could take some to sleep if I had to.

The value of this team goes beyond the race course, and they really showed it today. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have friends close by to help me out. Ron was first on the scene. He happened to be driving by and saw my spectacular new method of dismounting. Mike D was close by and ran up to help. Both of them hung with me while I recovered my senses and then helped me get my stuff together before going to the e-room. Ron stuck around and let Isaac and Kevin know the scoop because they were lining up to race as I crashed. Conveniently, Isaac and Kevin finished up their race and got to the emergency room just as I was getting out. Bob and Susan were there to take videos of me *not* crashing and offer me well wishes before the hospital. Thanks Isaac for buying me a Whopper, but in retrospect I should have gotten a kids meal so I could wear the crown.

So here I am, in some sort of sling for the next 6-8 weeks probably. I guess this is a decent time of year for this type of thing to happen. It's early enough into ski season that I should heal up in time for the really good snow. I've got lots of time for cycling season, although my training will probably have to be pushed back a bit. Christine leaves for London next weekend, so it ought to be interesting gimping around for a few weeks by myself. Hello fast food and TV dinners.