So this happened yesterday...

Saturday was an awesome day to be on the bike. I had the pleasure of riding with a choice few of my fellow Evolution teammates. As advertised, it was pretty much a 'Real' zone 2 ride, for real. In my opinion, that's where we should be riding in December. Let the measuring contests and the ego efforts  dominate later in the training season, not in December! In my world, the saying goes 'hero in December, zero in June'. I dunno, maybe I've got it all wrong but Saturdays ride was just right for me.

With about 20 minutes left in the ride, we were more or less single file on Loudoun County Parkway, rolling along around 25-27mph (based on reports I've heard). I remember seeing the rider in front of me swerve to the right; I was already to the right to I assumed I was ok. Then I wasn't. It happened in a split second. My bike abruptly stopped, throwing me off the saddle onto the top-tube. For a second I thought I was going to save it but then I was flying to the left, still attached to my bike. I remember the feeling of my face hitting asphalt, my head hitting the ground and then my shoulder finally stopping the movement.

I did not lose consciousness but I was definitely in shock. I couldn't really see straight and I just wanted to go to sleep. My teammates were there before I opened my eyes. I don't remember the sequence of events - I knew it was bad when I heard someone calling 911. I remember Tania saying she hit a piece of wood, someone asking for The Boy's number, I think Brian noticed that I had a Road ID and asked if it was the interactive version. I heard Chaz leaving a message for The Boy, I heard a lady talking to my teammates, I think she gave someone her card in case we needed to get back in touch. I was shivering, so cold. Someone laid (what I later found out was a shirt) over me.I don't remember who took off my helmet but I do remember hearing that it was a miracle that my glasses were unscathed. At some point someone took off my shoes.

The ambulance was there quickly, I heard the sirens coming. According to team reports, several vehicles stopped and the woman I heard was blocking traffic for us. The EMTs kept asking my name and my birthdate. I heard teammates already making arrangements for my bike and my car. I just wanted to go to sleep. They rolled me onto the backboard and pushed me into the ambulance. It took them forever to get moving, they kept asking questions but I was having trouble speaking (probably something to do with the fantastic swollen lip I was sporting).

The ambulance ride wasn't long but I swear they hit every pothole on the way. The EMT tried to push an IV but after several tries she old me I have 'bad veins'. I distinctly recall mumbling "don't judge" after her comment. They asked me what hurt and i was too out of it to shoot back "what doesn't" ... they cut my jersey to get a look at my shoulder when I pointed to it. And I didn't care.

The Boy was out riding and doesn't answer numbers he doesn't recognize. I apparently told someone this fact before I got in the ambulance but I don't remember it. That set off another chain of events to try to get someone in contact with him.

I had a teammate at the hospital before I got there. Thank you, Jeff, I can't tell you how much it meant to see a friendly face as I was starting to come around and take in what was happening. Tania had the wonderful foresight to grab my race bag and purse out of my car and drop it at the hospital. I was shivering like I was naked in the arctic so they kept throwing more and more blankets on me.

The nurses took a long time cleaning all the blood off my face. They pumped me full of morphine and ordered X-rays. A woman came in to stitch the gash over my left eye - I made a comment about her being the best since this IS my face and she declared that she loved to sew. X-rays came next and she wanted me to stand for them. They ordered for my shoulder, my chest and my eye. I stood for the first and nearly passed out. The X-ray tech declared, oh I see the problem. I thought "sigh, there's a real problem". She showed me where the plate in my collarbone held up but the piece of bone at the end looked like it had fractured - very faint but need to see an ortho.

Me and my cool nurse

Then it was the waiting ... By now I was starving, the morphine was wearing off and I felt pretty gross. I always say "chamois time is not saddle time" and by now I was hitting all-time records for chamois time. Plus, after a decent 3+ hour ride and then sitting in sweaty, clammy bike clothes (and no, the piece that was ripped off my arse did not provide ventilation), I'm sure I was smelling like roses.

The Boy arrived, quite stressed after getting bits of info but not knowing the full story. My nurse came back, said the obligatory nice things about how much better I looked but still took pity on me and sent me off with my first dose of Percocet and a goodie bag of supplies to get me started. The Boy had the joyous task of washing wounds, doing a sponge bath (and not the sexy kind), and trying to forage food. He did a splendid job, especially given the circumstances.

Jeff and Phil returned my car and bike today. Thank you both, it was an extra effort and very much appreciated. I saw my helmet for the first time. To quote Jeff, who has seen many a mangled helmet "This was the most damage done to a helmet that I've seen" ...apologies if I misquoted but you get the drift.

 Thank you to each one of my teammates on that ride: Brian, Chaz, Phil, Tania, Dave, David, Rick, Tods...please forgive me if I missed someone; I did just recently hit my head. You were all there and you all played a part in helping a fallen teammate and friend. I can't tell you how much that means but I'm going to say thank you for now and offer up a nice dinner together when I am healed up.

Let me say this - and I will say it again with every post regarding this injury and the recovery to come:

Wear your god-damn helmet. I won't be a drama queen and say it saved my life but it definitely saved my noggin from much more severe damage, possibly debilitating or fatal.

Get a Road ID or carry easily accessible info at all times. If I had been alone and on the pavement, at least they know my name and up to 3 contact numbers.

Now...recovery begins.

TGIF - 7/26/13

This past weekend I decided to skip Lost River and collect myself after Coppi. I haven't raced Coppi since ... maybe 2008? And I remembered why about halfway through the race. The course doesn't seem overly hard but it's a doozy.

I was there early to hang out in the feedzone with the likes of Katy and Kat - both of whom are formidable road racers so I knew it was going to be a long day. As I watched the guys finish up, I wasn't feeling any better about it; most of them looked like death. The clouds were parting and temps were rising - definitely a long day ahead.

As I'm pulling myself together I realize that I forgot my race wheels. The boy had laid the bag against my bike so I'd have to see them - and I did, as I moved them out of the way to carry my bike out to the car. Thankfully, he was finished with his race wheels so we quickly made the change and I was on my way. The 1-2-3s were racing with the 4s but scored separately, so it made for a decent size field, given the time of year and the difficulty of the race.

We got underway after a neutral-ish roll out and commenced with small accelerations but nothing super hard. ABRT had the most riders in the field, as usual, and we all knew it was a waiting game to see who went first (and who countered). The attacks started and the field shrank but Kelley and I both held on and made it through to the rather civilized climb to finish the first lap. As soon as we made the first right turn, it was on for reals. One after another, attack, counter attack. It's a simple and effective strategy if you've got the bullets to spend. I followed one, got brought back, recovered, followed another ...(repeat a couple times) until we hit the dreaded stair-stepper, where ABRT attacked again and I just couldn't follow. I was summarily dropped and considered soft pedaling in. But no, I could still see the pack ahead of me and Kelley was up there so I went into "rabbit/greyhound" mode - chase what's moving in front of me. I made it up to one group of riders and we slowly clawed our way up to what was left of the pack after it split. Kelley was in that pack and I was happy to see a friendly face. I had recovered a bit by then and I started pushing the pace. A cat4 kept jumping, trying to break free, and I kept jumping with her as the 2 ABRTs in the group would bring us back. I didn't understand - the main pack was in view, we could do this!

I proceeded to question WHY - why won't they let us go? It's a Cat4 and me. Let us dangle out there, let us drag you up. The 2 ABRTs with us had been given the direction that they were to ride slow and keep anyone from rejoining. Really? If I went, killed myself to get up to the pack and brought them up to their teammates, wouldn't that make more strategic sense for them (not necessarily for me!) I tried to explain this to them in vain. They did wind up letting a Cat 4 slip off the front but refused to let me race. By this time we had whittled down to 4 - two cat 1/2/3 and two cat 4s. One ABRT in each category. Why the Cat4 ABRT let another Cat 4 off, I'll never understand.

So, I sat on. I surfed wheels, let ABRT pull me around and refused to pull through. Coming through to the bell lap, it was something close to a cookie ride. I looked around and realized we had dropped one of the ABRT riders so we were down to 3- ABRT, NCVC and me. I still let the ABRT drag us around and we picked up a Kenda rider - she was obviously suffering but rallied to catch the train as we came through.

We kept a decent pace through the rest of the lap. I couldn't do anything but wait for the finish. Quote of the day was something to the effect of "Oh God, there it is" ... as the finishing hill came into view. We all giggled in commiseration. I practiced a sprint up the hill - I was actually trying but it had to have looked ridiculious. One of these days, I'll figure out how to be graceful on the bike. Maybe.

I need someone to explain to me why the strongest team in the race (and in the district right now) with the most riders in the peloton (most races) would need to instruct their racers to ride negatively. We could have made it a race and had some fun doing it. In my opinion, they would have done better to get back up to the pack to help their riders do something else. The apparent global thought is that if you have a teammate up the road, your race is over. That's nonsensical - the teammate up the road was alone with several other riders of different teams. Bringing 2 of their team and one of another team (lets face it, I'm not setting the roads on fire right now) would have helped the numbers, if anything. 

Someone explain the logic because I'm clearly missing something here. 

Commentary, a couple of race reports and some pictures.

So, it's been a while. I have plenty of excuses but the bottom line is I wasn't inspired to write. I know, and I suspect my readers can tell, when I'm forcing it - the end result is informative but not especially interesting.

It is very frustrating when I actually open up and question my own preconceived notions out loud, as it were, only to hear gossip going around with whatever hurtful or downright bitchy comments that can be made. In the future, talk to me - shoot me a msg, post a comment - whatever. Have some pride and have an adult conversation.

Enough about the negative. A big, huge, I-couldn't possibly-explain-how-much-it-means-to-me thank you to those who have expressed concern and/or commiseration, offered an ear or shoulder, put up with me being debbie-downer, given advice or simply encouraged me to keep on keeping on. 

In the infamous words of Forrest Gump "and that's all I have to say about that".




Onward. Reston was a rainout for us ladies - simply survival. Several girls (arguably smarter than the rest of us) either didn't start or exited early. The wrecks started on the second or third lap and even in the small, single file groups, people slid out on random corners. Even the steadiest wheels fell victim and, to be honest, I was happy just to stay upright. I believe I'm a contender in the "funniest face" contest with this shot from Dom Boonen.

Not my best side - Photo Credit: Dom Boonen

Teammates Dana, Kelley, Christine and I all succeeded in staying upright and finishing the race no worse for the wear (except maybe emotional scars). Of course, the sun came out with about 5-to go and the rest of the fields had dry, sunny and, as the day wore on, hella hot conditions. I did get a rocking tan from marshaling - only on my back and shoulders. You know, to even out the awesome bike tan lines on my arms and legs. My masseur is going to crack up when I go in later this week.

Overall, I'm glad I did the race not just because I stayed upright, but because we just received word that Reston Town Center will not be hosting us in 2014. Very sad - it's a great race, in a masochistic way, and a classic in our district. We (Evolution Cycling Club) are looking for a new venue as I type, one of similar feel and status for the new and improved race in 2014. Ping me if you have ideas!

Next up: Adventures for the Cure Road Warrior race. This was a new event on fabulous roads in my old stomping grounds. I know these roads well, as I cut my racing/training teeth on them a long, long time ago. Hold your tongue, it wasn't that long ago. Anyway, given my mental and fitness issues, I didn't expect much and got less. Dana had a great day, finishing with the chasing group (chasing Katy - oh, what, you're not surprised?!). I held on well until I didn't and pulled myself with one lap to go in order to spare the moto's and officials from having to search for me when I keeled over in the woods. 'Nuff said. (I have to say, I'm rather pleased with how un-rambling this race report is).

This past weekend - Hagerstown Crit, the Sr. Championship race. Attendance was low, ostensibly due to the holiday weekend, but our field was strong. Evo strong - we had 6 in the race (to include the Cat 3s that were racing with the 1/2s but scored separately). I went into this with (finally) a different mindset - I wasn't going to just ride to survive. I was going to play, dammit. If I blow up, I blow up but if all worked out, my teammates could capitalize on the effort.

this side is a bit better

We went into the race with a plan and we executed. It was FUN. We played, we controlled the tone of the race and ... we were racing, not just rolling around, waiting for a sprint finish. There were some hard efforts as we tried to wear down the pack and get someone away. With about 10 to go, I was off the front and something happened in the pack - two girls went down really hard on the 120 turn and one of our Evo's took a softer dive to avoid the melee. I was caught and heard about the crash while recovering in the pack. We did a lap (slow around that turn as the EMTs cleared the riders off the road) and launched another Evo attack at the top of the hill. Despite a nice gap, they were just letting it dangle -the pack caught up and suddenly got the 2-to-go call. They shortened the race by 6 laps to get the ambulance on the course. Unfortunately, we were all caught out of position for the final hectic scramble. Kelley pulled out nice effort to make up ground for 4th, I finished 5th, Dana 6th and Christine 8th (all in the 1/2 field). Tania and Gwenn finished 3rd and 5th, respectively in the Cat 3 field. While we didn't get the top spot on the podium, I'm proud of the teamwork and good, solid racing by our squad.

Can't wait to do it again.

Tania, Dana, Gwenn, Kelley and me - missing from photo: Christine- I think we did capture her car (on the left side)         Photo Credit: Claudia