Monday, March 23, 2009

Time out

What I had planned for this weekend:
Up at 6 AM Sat- ride 3 1/2 hrs. before work.
Work.
Drive to Macon, GA for the Georgia State XC opener.
Get my new race bike dialed in.
Race.
Come home.

"Plan B"
Up at 6 AM Sat- ride.....6:30 AM- get up off the ground and ride back home one handed.
Go to the hospital.
Get x-rays.
Get a sling to wear for a few weeks.

Long story short as I am typing with my left hand..
Seems that all the trash on the road here pulled one over on me and I got booby trapped.
A metal handle from a 5 gallon bucket seems to have hooked a spoke in my front wheel and got sucked into the wheel where it stopped dead when it hit the fork. I think I was still pedaling on the way down trying to force the obstruction through. Didn't have any Idea that was going to happed and never even got my hands off the bars. Landed square on my right elbow at a 90 degree angle to the pavement resulting in a separated shoulder. Got up, started to feel the effects of going into shock and sat down to figure out what I should do. Watched some cars pass for awhile- not one person stopped when it happened- big surprise- and decided to ride back home as Liza's phone was probably out of earshot.
My front wheel was so jammed up that I had to release the QR and kick down on it to get everything loose. One bent spoke. That wheel also survived the last vehicular assault on me as well without a scratch. Got a broken frame, fork, and a blown tube- but the wheel was spotless.
Anyways- got the wheel on and rode home one armed and going into shock. Took me alot longer than it should have but finally got there and then on to the hospital.
Remarkably, that was the fastest I've ever been through the hospital anywhere- probably about an hour from parking lot to parking lot. Diagnosis- fotunately no bones broken but my shoulder is separated. Should be OK in 3 weeks. I figure another couple of weeks after that I'll be able to race my mountain bike. Singlespeeds are not very easy to ride with a weak shoulder.
Anyways- That's it for now- I'm gonna go NOT ride my bike now. Be careful out there- freak accidents can happen anywhere!
DH

3 comments:

Tristan Cowie said...

Mannn, not cool dude. Get better soon. We will miss you at the races.

ben said...

Sorry to hear that man;
Yeah, the same thing happened to Michael Jackson and Marelyn Manson; talk about freak accidents!

ben

CoffeeBean said...

dude...that sucks.

Seems like Lance just joined your party....

heal fast, heal right...think of this as a necessary recovery before the real racing begins...