Tough Chicks, Philly and Tiddly-winks

Guys dig tough chicks. At least that's what all my friends are telling me in an effort to make me feel better about my super-cool (or not) cast. Final prognosis: Broken radius, which we knew and fractured schaphoid, which we didn't. Good news is that it doesn't require surgery. Bad news is that it does require a cast immobilizing my thumb for 3 months.

This means I can't even do time trials and by the time I get through enough PT to get some strength back in my wrist, the season is over. I won't pretend that I didn't cry as the doctor was wrapping the cast. The assistant didn't know what to do with me - she offered up all kinds of colors for the cast (hot pink? neon green?) and I swear her next step was to give me a lollipop. Sigh.

Over the weekend, I went up to Philly to support my girls in the race. They are all rock-stars, by the way, and since I've never so much as watched the race, it was quite an experience.

Highlights include:

- seeing all of our local girls excited and ready to tackle the race. I've always loved how we tend to support our local competitors when we're racing out of district. Many thanks and much love to the ABRT gals who gave us words of wisdom and lots of good energy.

- being able to explain my cast with one word: Somerville. In "normal" company, I have to explain that I race a bike, no, not a motorcycle, a pedal-bike, then I have to explain the sport, where we race etc and by that time I'm ready to fill one of the myraid of perscriptions I've been given for narcotics.

- getting heckled in the womens caravan going up the Wall. Long story short, we wound up driving Mitch's car in the race. Which has now been officially nicknamed the hooptie. (worth clicking on the link for the definition). The drunk frat-boys on the Wall were taking bets on whether we'd make it up the hill, someone asked if we were lost, I had a guy encourage us to "light em up", which was funny since the gas pedal was to the floor already.

- Mitch on the radio telling us that she could hear her car all the way up in the peleton.

- hearing aforementioned frat-boys say "Those are the manliest women I've ever seen" (and knowing that none of my girls were in that group).

- watching the mens race - amazing show of strategy and strength. Two teams went to the front and chased back a break with a couple laps to go, pulling them in from a 6+ min lead. The peleton came through the Start/Finish area FLYING - it was both breathtaking to watch and insane to know this pace was after over 6hrs in the saddle. It was as close as I've been to "real" professional cycling.

It was a long weekend but well worth the trip. Here's hoping that I can suffer along with my teammates next year - yes, I realize it's a bit masochistic to want to suffer. I leave you with two quotes that I found today - the first one is motivating, the second one is just plain funny.

"To be a cyclist is to be a student of pain....at cycling's core lies pain, hard and bitter as the pit inside a juicy peach. It doesn't matter if you're sprinting for an Olympic medal, a town sign, a trailhead, or the rest stop with the homemade brownies. If you never confront pain, you're missing the essence of the sport. Without pain, there's no adversity. Without adversity, no challenge. Without challenge, no improvement. No improvement, no sense of accomplishment and no deep-down joy. Might as well be playing Tiddly-Winks."
Scott Martin
"The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community."
Ann Strong, Minneapolis Tribune, 1895