Crashing Really Pisses Me Off

Saturday I crashed. One minute I was riding along the next I was sitting on the side of the road in pretty much the same position as Lance when he broke his collarbone in Spain last month. Pure and simple. I was stunned, bleeding and starting to get very sore. What surprised me was the number of cars that slowed down or stopped with offers to help me. Maybe not all non-cyclist drivers are jerks.

Here's what I think happened since I'm not too sure, because it happened so quickly. Truly one second I was riding-the next bleeding. I was rolling about 18-20 mph down Western Blvd in Raleigh near downtown. I'd been battling the wind all day, again, and was at that point trying to decide just how far I wanted to go that day. I approached an off ramp for South Saunders Street and hit one of the street reflectors at the point the road and the ramp split. That blew my tire and that pushed me into the sand and grit that collect in the triangle between ramp and road. Blam, I was on the road not rolling down the road.

Crashes in general piss me off because for a number of reasons. I was pretty messed up and felt a little shocky, so I called my wife to come drag my sorry butt home. The week before she had a conversation with an insurance guy who planted all kinds of you should add coverage this and that because your husband is a cyclist. Greeeaaaat! Calling her for help was very unusual, so she dropped everything-in this case shopping, and came to get me.

While I waited for Deborah to come get me, I inventoried damage to me and my bike. First the bike. The left shifter was out of position. The chain was off. Both brakes were out of alignment and oh yeah, the front tube was blown. There didn't appear to be major damage.

Next I started checking myself out. There was a pretty decent size chuck missing from the tip of my right thumb, which explained the blood on my saddle since I leaned on it with my right hand when I was sitting on the ground. I could see road rash from 4 inches above my ankle up to my thigh and feel more all the way up to my shoulder. I lifted up my jersey to see there was a decent scrape on the top of my shoulder-another section of my body missing a piece. Then I notice blood dripping down my left arm. I had a 4 inch scrape running up my forearm because a few layers of skin had been removed.

My Hincapie jersey was shredded all along the left side. My bibs weren't too bad. Then I realized I didn't have sunglasses on. DAMN! Where are my Radars!? I found them near where I fell and luckily they flew off early and didn't have any damage. At least that was good.

Deborah arrived with all three girls. This made getting my bike and me in the Jeep at the same time tough. We maneuvered things to where I sat in the back with the seats folded down along with my bike. I noticed a new pain riding home as Deborah hit bumps that seemed to be huge compared to reality. My left side ribs were very sore. Great, that means 4-6 weeks to get over that injury. We initially thought I'd cracked one or two, but maybe they are only bruised. We'll know in a day or two.

We got home and I put my bike in my workshop and trudged upstairs to take my gear off and get a true picture of the damage. This is the part that really starts to piss me off. Crashing on a bike usually means road rash. It's a bitch to clean correctly and you have to accept that you're going to be in pain every time you shower for awhile. The amount of time depends on how bad you're scraped up.

There really weren't any big surprises as Deborah and I checked me out. I cleaned myself up a bit and got a shower. Yeah, it hurt as expected. The scrapes weren't too bad but my thumb and shoulder were the worst. The second thing that pisses me off is the fact that you are really sore after a crash, but because you have scrapes all over, you can't just stay in a hot shower to help the muscle soreness.

Deborah went out and got the usual crash supplies, with one new addition. She also got a spray with benzocaine-a pain med, and an antibiotic. Excellent I thought, pain stuff with infection stuff. That was until she sprayed it on me. She started spraying at full blast with sweeping motions to cover my left side nearly head to toe. It felt like someone had dipped me in pure alcohol. DAMN that hurt! I yelled a little-well more than a little, but quickly made it clear that I wasn't yelling at her. She felt bad since I was in more pain, but we both got over it as the benzocaine finally did what it was supposed to do and deadened the pain. Finally we both laughed as I apologized for being such a big baby and she apologized for lighting my body on fire.

I collapsed on the couch with Motrin and a remote control for the rest of the evening. Sleeping is a bitch with bruised or cracked ribs. There isn't a good way to position yourself. There's only varying degrees of bad. I found a position I could live with and went to sleep. However, I woke up at 4:30 in a lot of pain so I took some more Motrin and tried mostly unsuccessfully to sleep. Sleeping gets better as you heal, but the first nights suck.

Getting out of bed can be the most painful thing you do with rib damage. You can't get leverage to get up and over the side without using arms and stomach muscles that put pressure on your rib cage. Getting off low couches, out of beds, out of non-SUV cars and other basic movement you take for granted, now hurt and will for awhile.

The next morning we went to church. This is the second round of people telling you riding is way too dangerous. However, in the final analysis, most people wished me a speedy recovery while wincing as they looked me over. Just here to entertain, I guess like a side show freak in this case.

Every non cyclist tells you your sport is way too dangerous for them insinuating you're nuts for riding on the road. Next they start telling your stories of people who had arms hacked off or thumbs hacked off or heads cracked open or people getting killed. You of course are supposed to stand there smile and nod thoughtfully, rather than scream at them like you would prefer to do. Most of what they tell you is third hand information or worse, but it makes for great story telling, so they tell you.

Bless my dear mother-in-law. She is a true saint and I love her as much as I did my own mother. My mother in-law stopped by after church to drop one of our daughters off. I said hello, but I didn't want her to see me busted up unless I had to. Somebody ratted me out. She came over to the couch smiled like only a mom can and said, "well let's see how bad you are." She looked me over smiled and hugged me. She managed to hug me without hurting me or I didn't notice since I love it when she hugs me. Deborah's family was a huge and unexpected bonus that came with our marriage. She didn't chastise me or warn me or anything else like that. She just smiled and said to get better. Unconditional love, I knew what it felt like with my wife and now I know what it feels like with her family. I'm so blessed and I know it.

Today, I'm back at it trying to get things done and take care of the kids while they are on spring break. I'm still plenty sore, but the scrapes are healing probably as much from the tender loving care from my family as anything else.

Can I be pissed off for too long? No I can't. I get pissed off at the non-cyclists who don't realize crashes just happen sometimes. I've had a run of bad luck in the last few weeks, but I've thousands of miles and been hurt very little comparatively. Basketball guy can blow out a knee, right? Softball guy can tear a rotator cup, right? Even golf guy can bust something up, right? Well maybe not, they walk most of the time. My point is any sport a 40 plus year old is going to participate in has the risk of getting hurt. Get over it! I have!

Can I be pissed off at the pain? Sure, but that will lessen and go away in time. Will I stop riding? Not a chance. How quick will I get back on the bike. Within days, maybe even today just for a short spin. I have a cycling addiction and I'm glad for it. Nothing is going to change that. I'm going to ride until I can't push pedals, which means I have at least 40 more years of riding ahead of me.

Am I pissed off right now? No, not really, but crashing your bike touches off tons of irritations and pain that keep you from participating in the sport you love. That's the ultimate thing that pisses me off, but I'll get over it once I get back in the saddle again, SOON!