Wipeout

 

I am not doing so well.

I took a pretty bad spill yesterday afternoon on my single speed. My front tire slid out going around a turn on some singletrack out past Granite Bay. The turn was a fast left-hand sweeper, slightly off-camber, and I hit the edge of a small rut with the inside edge of my tire. Boom! It happened so fast. A half inch either way and nothing would have happened, but I hit the edge of the rut just perfectly. Or imperfectly. Life is all about perspective, I guess.

I had the bike spun out, so I was going over 20 miles per hour. I was about 14 miles from home, and it was a long ride back. I am skinned up pretty badly with abrasions on my shoulder, elbow, hip, thigh, knee, shin, and ankle—pretty much my whole left side.

Scrubbing the dirt and gravel out was fun. We had plans to go out to dinner, and Jennifer arrived while I was in the shower. She heard me screaming and was pretty horrified by the shower scene she saw. She gained some insight into the life of a bike racer. She might not come back.

I'm in some serious discomfort right now, but I made it to work today. I tried to bandage as best I could, but eventually I bled through my pants. The hip injury is by far the worst part. I lost some serious skin, and there is a deep laceration right through the middle of the abrasion. It probably needed to be stitched up, but the area around it is such a mess, I don't know if they could have.

The ground where I hit was like fucking cement, so I am bruised and sore in addition to the (off) road rash. I am pissed off at myself because I just don't make dumb mistakes like that. Now I will be on the shelf for a while, just when I felt like my fitness was coming back. Frustrating. So very, very frustrating.

The irony of making it through two criteriums completely unscathed just a few days ago is what bugs me the most.

Later.