Apologize for my lengthy departure from blogging…….I know many of you out there were salivating for more of my Hemingwayesque prose!!
For the ardent readers of VeloNews they have “Anatomy of a
Bike Race” articles on how a particular race was won and I decided to share
with you my recent experience with a nasty bike wreck and how it occurred.
I was with my Team in West Virginia for our annual Spring
training camp and we started off a chilly morning for a 95 mile ride with about
10k of climbing. I wanted to put in long miles during the camp to ready myself
for a trip to Belgium and the cobbled Sportifs so on this day I rode with the more
experienced riders in the Club. I was never worried about the miles or climbing
but knew I could be dropped as these guys were Cat 1 thru 3…..no big deal as it
has happened before and my ego was ready for it.
After a long climb right from the start and a descent to a
30 mile stretch of flat road we began a rotating pace line. I have done
rotating pace lines before but it was not something I practice on a regular
basis. Today we battled some winds so we were even closer together than we
would be otherwise. During the first few miles my Teammates coached me a bit on
my pace and level of effort so as to not get us out of rhythm and to maintain a
steady effort……….we still had 70 miles to go.
After about 10 miles my rhythm was better
and I was not surging nor changing the level of effort. I will say even though
the level of effort was manageable for me physically I was probably holding the
bars a bit tighter than the other guys. This may or may not have been a
contributing factor…..
So here is a dissection of the events……………for a bit of
history my coach had me working on my cadence while climbing all winter and I
was definitely improving in this area…………..so now my turn is rotating toward
the front (see sketch 1) and I see a small hill coming-up. Instead of maintaining the same
effort I picked-up my cadence as I hit the hill and in a few
seconds I was three bike lengths in front of the guys. The next teammate
coming-up to take the front yelled that he was going to maintain the effort
(probably in frustration with me) and I eased-off to let the others catch-up.
When I did this I had a different teammate come-up (sketch 2) and then
move in front of me………………….hmmmmm……………..so what is going on here……………we are now
out of synch even more……………I start drifting back and see other riders on my
left moving-up. I expect a Teammate to take my former position and I would move
in behind him………………..he did not.
This teammate yelled something (sketch 3) that I did not hear from the
wind and my ears being covered…………so the gap in the pace line stayed as he did
not move up and expected me to move over and take my original slot.
I look to my left (sketch 4) and no one is coming. This naturally moved
my bike a bit to the left as well.
While I was glacially drifting to the left for the next few
seconds the rider in front of me eased his cadence as the natural flow of the
pace line. This caused him to slow and drift back while I was drifting to the
left.
When I look ahead again I see our wheels crossed and about
an inch apart with me moving left. I bump the wheel……….try to hold it. Bump it
again but my momentum is headed left and in the next two seconds I knew it was
going to hurt. Remember……………..the guy that hits the wheel almost always goes
down.
Boom……….at 24 mph I hit the pavement with forearm and elbow
hitting first. I know it was 24mph by checking my Garmin post-ride.
 |
That odd piece sticking out is my Ulna |
 |
One plate, 9 screws, and 25 staples later |
JOCMO: The positive of this experience is I did not hit my
head, the fracture is treatable, and I expect full range of motion. Belgium
will have to wait until next year…………………….
