Tuesday, August 14, 2012

9:00 am

I'm simply waiting for that time because then I will enter the final stage of my recovery. Surely its been too long since I've updated, but quite a bit has been going on and I'm going to share some of that with you. After my last post I entered Tour of the Tucson Mountains. It was the 26th edition of the race and supposedly the last one ever. I hope thats not the case because i really enjoyed myself that day. After that event I realized I wanted to do more racing so I set my sights on the upcoming time trials. My first time trial came at Arizona City, AZ. I signed up for the 40k to test this style of racing and I learned the hard way how difficult time trails are. Those races now in the rear view my confidence was high and I was ready for the next time trial in Red Rock, AZ determined to do well. Two and a half weeks before the event I went for a training ride with my friend Ralph and Jeff, and that's when it happened. After all the hard work of riding through gates pass, after we has rode up the front side, down the back side, up the back side and finally coming home. As I passed Ralph coming through a right turn I realized I was going way too fast. Apply the brakes to follow through the next turn and my rear wheel locks up. As my rear end is sliding from under me I correct the bike and go off the side of the road. Here for my oh so soft landing was a layer of boulders and cactus that had my name written all over it. As I make my tumble off the bike upon impact of my front wheel I'm thrown on my right side which takes the brunt of the fall. I've now ended up in the middle of the street from rolling and I really cant move yet. As my friends ride up freaking out all I can do is lay there like a piece of bacon sizzling on the hot road. My whole right side is in absolute pain and I cant really feel my hip. I can move my hands and legs which was a great sign but I need to get out of the road. After a kind gentleman offers to give my busted ass a ride down the hills I'm finally realizing how lucky I am to be alive. Amazingly no serious injuries but I didn't come out unscathed. My whole right leg was practically bruised for two weeks. The major impact my leg took actually created a massive hematoma under the skin. This past friday I recently had surgery to finally remove said hematoma and it feels great. This whole experience really brought me down and helped me think about a lot of things. I have a deeper respect for what i'm chasing and it feels good to know i'm so close. So close to getting back to the one thing I craved so much, Speed.

Setup for the first time trail. Cannondale CAAD2

New time trial setup

Quintana Roo Redstone

Video 30 mins before crash

Bent rear wheel

My leg 3 days after impact

Video of hematoma 2.5 weeks after impact
Drain tube sewed to the leg after surgery.