This weekend, Jamie and I went to Lake Havasu for our first race of the season. Jamie finished 4th overall and 1st in her AG in the Sprint triathlon and I was racing the Olympic distance. For the first time in 4 years of training and racing, I had never crashed on my bike..until Saturday. :)
So, here's what happened...
I had a great swim, coming out of the water in just over 22 min. I had a relatively uneventful T1 and ran my bike out to the mount line. Got on and into my shoes quickly and out on to the main road. It was about 3 miles down this road you had to make a right hand turn up into a local neighborhood. There were volunteers at the corner directing both Sprint and Olympic bikers to make the turn as well as a cop for traffic control. As I approached the corner, there were 3 other riders in front of me and I got a little anxious and moved to the inside as we began to turn. There was room, but I was forcing the issue when I shouldn't have. As the rider in front made the turn, I stayed closer to the curb...and my rear wheel caught a grove in the pavement where the asphalt met the concrete of the curbing and down I went on my right side. I was in a little bit of shock and then I felt the burning pain of road rash. I got up and the kids volunteering rushed over to help. I got up and they got my bike and I moved over on tot he sidewalk. As I stood there thrying to see if I was ok, one of the kids was like, "DUDE!" I looked at the underside of my forearm and I was bleeding heavily from a deep cut. The cop came over and asked if I wanted a paramedic and after a few seconds looking at the cut, I said yes. They took about 15 min to arrive as I stood there feeling sorry for my poor decision and watching everyone go by. The paramedics washed out my cut and wrapped me in a bandage and sent me on my way. They said I would need to got to Urgent Care for stitches and a tetnus shot.
I got back on my bike and rode slowly back to T1. I thought about it and realized if you are going to DNF, better like this than flatting out at the far end of the course as I wasn't carrying a spare. Also, I had seen Jamie finishing her swim in 9:00min, which was a huge PR for her and knew she was having a great day and I wanted to be there for her. As I rode into T1, Jamie was walking to the car to get back to the hotle, check out, and get the dog's. When she saw me, her face said I wonder why he's going so slow! Ten she saw the bandage. I told her what happened and I went back into T1 to get my gear...and for the first time, turn in my timing chip. We went to Urgent care and they were awesome and patched me up. ;D
Man - sorry you got a bit banged up this time. It will be a nice "war wound" to have though. It will probably hurt quite a bit more tomorrow. Take it easy.
Oh man Bryan.. sorry things didn't turn out that great for you.. I'm very happy for Jamie.. sounds like she did great.
One thing I have to say is you always have a smile on your face.. even when you r arm and shoulder are covered in road rash and your skin in split opened.
Hope you have a speedy recovery.
oh man! Bryan! OUCH! I'm sorry that happened. I am glad you are ok and have a good attitude. What I like about you is that you will be up and running again in no time. There will be many more races and many more opportunities. Hang in there friend!
I'm praying for you!
Quote from: moyer777 on March 22, 2009, 05:39:36 PM
oh man! Bryan! OUCH! I'm sorry that happened. I am glad you are ok and have a good attitude. What I like about you is that you will be up and running again in no time. There will be many more races and many more opportunities. Hang in there friend!
I'm praying for you!
LOL! I love you all. :) I biked 25 miles today and ran 8 so yeah, I'm right back at it. :)
Glad you're okay. :)
Ouch, man. But like they say, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. Glad you jumped back in the saddle. :)
YOUCH, that looks painful. I guess there is a first time for everything. Good thing that doesn't look too bad. o7 dude. :)
King
Wow that looks painful!
It reminds me why I don't exercise or do sports... ;D
Hope you are doing OK.
Nice battle scar Bryan. Glad you're ok! Remember, slow and steady wins the race! :)
I was so overdo for a bad race it was silly! I placed 3rd in my age group at my very firsttritahlon and in the 4 years since I have had perfect training with no injuries and perfect races. I was charmed! Now I have had my bad day. :)
Sorry to hear about your misfortune Bryan. Your Wife had a great day, so that is good. I am sure this will make you even more stronger and determined.
Oh mate that smarts. Even my wife who is a nurse went "ouch thats impressive", mind you i think she was on about your physique ;). Hope you are ok and please i hope you didn't put cotton wool on those road burns. Congratulations to your good lady.
Ouch, looks painful. I remember crashing my bike when I was a kid (then everything was triple painful). My burns were hardly close in comparison, but darn, again, looks painful.