That is what I was today, a human pinball. For about 2-3 seconds. Then I got a nice introduction: “Mr. Road, meet Rick; Rick, may I introduce you to Mr. Road.” Not exactly the way the script was written.
Today was day 2 of the annual race weekend put on by the club. I spent yesterday working at the finish line of the Mt. Hamilton Road Race, opting out of the logistical headache of getting from Livermore to Isabel Creek and back, in order to race today at the Memorial Day Crit in Morgan Hill. The plan was for me to cheer on the Cat 3/4 women, do my warmup, race in the 45+ 4/5 field, then work for a couple hours of course marshal and ride north towards home. At least that was the plan.
And the plan worked, up to a point. And that point was to about the 12 minutes left mark in our race. Things had been a bit sketchy a couple of times, notably some wheel dueling on the nice sweeping curve between turns 3 and 4. Coming into the very wide and nice turn 4 I was towards the right side of the field on a right hand turn, marking my inside guy as we came into the turn. Then about halfway through the turn someone came around me to the outside and dove in hitting my front wheel, I spun towards Mr Inside Guy, bounce back to the outside to hit Mr DiveIntoTheTurn …. and eventually I could not get it under control and went down. Fortunately it was solo. Unfortunately I have a nice bruise and road rash on my left hip, left hand, left elbow, right elbow, and right knee. And my helmet is toast, as are the gloves, my bib shorts, and left shifter. The jersey might be worth salvaging.
Thanks to Andrew, Joe, and Benson who came to help within seconds of the crash, and EMT Katherine who assessed the damage then cleaned and dressed the wounds. And to The Wife a big thanks for everything you did to assist, and all you will do over the coming days. And a big apology for not coming out clean.
* P.S. Apparently the fun continued; there was a crash in the very next turn. Can’t help but wonder if it was the same over-aggressive corner diver.
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May 26, 2008 at 6:38 pm
DrKim
Rick–sorry you got caught up in a crash! Bummer…
I have some advice for you, take it or leave it…Tegaderm! Buy it in large quantities, and cover the scrubbed out road rash completely…it will scar a LOT less than with traditional bandages. Looks a little weird the first couple of days, but then it just looks like you’re wrapped in saran wrap :-). You can get it at medical supply stores or good drugstores.
Unfortunately I know from experience it is pretty darn hard to save it when your front wheel gets taken out..and being the human pinball doesn’t good either. Glad you didn’t break anything…after reading about the woman who crashed at Hellyer yesterday….cycling is dangerous!!
Take it easy, and heal up quick!!
May 26, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Ali Krasnow
I have spent the last 2 hours doing seating arrangements for the wedding. I should have invited you over. It’s potentially mildly less painful than your crash.
Sorry to hear that you went down. Heal fast. Eat lots of ice cream…it definitely helps!
May 26, 2008 at 7:06 pm
CyclistRick
Doc Kim - Thanks for the suggestion. In fact, I saw your comment when I returned from buying .. more Tegaderm! Got a nice big chunk of it covering my left hip at the moment.
As for the crash at Hellyer, that is indeed quite sad.
Ali - Tough call, road rash or wedding planning. Ms. Chatterbox can attest that I find the whole wedding preparation a bit painful. And since I could not course marshall I went to the VeloGirls BBQ for some chicken and ice cream. Yummmm!
May 26, 2008 at 7:22 pm
DrKim
Rick…excellent
Now take the opportunity to take it easy…lay low for a day or 2 and you’ll be good as new in no time! Ms. Chatterbox will take great care of you, I’m certain…
Sounds like the corner-diving continues to plague the crits.
I’d always pick racing over wedding planning…although crashing vs. wedding planning is a tough call.
May 26, 2008 at 8:38 pm
chris
Rick - you crash as much as I do! That blows about the corner diver. His antics will catch up with him eventually. Take care of that road rash!
May 26, 2008 at 10:57 pm
twinkiepatissier
May 26, 2008 at 11:26 pm
CyclistRick
twinkie - thanks! The thumb is more or less fine. More in that there is no pain, less in that I am still working on regaining flexibility, a slow process.
May 27, 2008 at 7:11 am
CyclistRick
Doc Kim - yes, Ms. Chatterbox will take care of me … though I probably do not deserve it.
Chris - I thought of you right after the crash. Specifically, I thought about how I needed to keep from allowing the wounds from getting a raging infection like you had a couple of months back.
May 27, 2008 at 8:53 am
Russ
Rick - So, so sorry to hear about your crash. I’d go with Ali & DocKim’s suggestions to take it easy for a few days and don’t forget to stretch as you get restarted. Heal fast!
May 27, 2008 at 10:20 am
PandaElf
Aw, that’s terrible! Glad you’re not that much worse for the wear, though. I ended up going to the front to string it out with 2 laps to go when the big teams decided to save it for the last lap — too much bunching for me.
Heal fast!
May 27, 2008 at 10:35 am
CyclistRick
Russ - thanks! I have already proclaimed that I will not race at Hellyer this week, and will be sitting on the sidelines at Dash For Cash.
Panda - Funny how I keep finding new bruises. I had a good view of the first 2/3 of your race since the medical tent and wheel tent were one and the same. You probably did not hear us cheering you on, but we were.
May 27, 2008 at 11:44 am
chatterbox
Don’t worry, I will kiss you all over to make it better
And, I will take care of you as best I can over the next few days. But, you are so darn independent and hard to lavish care on at times. I love you!
May 27, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Dennis
Hey, you’re not alone. I crashed in the Cat. 3 race! In my case it was by the end of the cones on the back curvy “straight” (after turn 3, I guess, or should we call it turn 3-1/2?) Last lap, teams were setting up, and we hit 35 MPH while the leadouts were swerving all over. As they passed the last cones they went left and squeezed us over. The guy ahead of me clipped his pedal on a stack of 5 or 6 cones, and they dropped right into my front wheel. I went over the bars and flat on my back. I was pretty banged up, but X-rays were fine. My bike’s frame is history though. Sigh.
May 27, 2008 at 2:14 pm
CyclistRick
Ms. Chatterbox - not so hard to care for; but I still need to do some stuff and cannot lean on you for everything.
Dennis - Glad you are relatively OK (i.e., nothing broken), but sorry about the frame. Much worse than losing just one shifter. We knew someone had toppled out there on that last lap of the E3 field as they would not let us take the course for a preview/warmup lap. Were you the one that had a friend take them to the hospital? If so, the CR was running all over trying to find your number and name while I was sitting in the medical tent (waiting for them to take the guy from the next crash away in an ambulance …).
May 27, 2008 at 6:00 pm
clm
Sorry to hear this! Hope you heal quickly.
I had bad vibes about the race yesterday so did about 4 laps and called it a day and went for a solo ride then to the track later.
Take care!
May 27, 2008 at 8:41 pm
kimmy
Rick, you’re such a tough sport. I’m really impressed. Let’s see some pictures of the carnage!
Katherine, the gal who helped you at the race, is my teammate. She’s also an avid blogger. I’m sure she’ll be glad to know you’re okay.
P.S. Thanks for the big hug at Mt. Hamilton.
May 28, 2008 at 5:35 am
CyclistRick
clm - thanks! Sometimes you just have to listen to that inner vibe.
kimmy - Wow, you had an awesome weekend. Congratulations, Ms District road champ! I know Katherine a bit; she and I had a nice chat about Kern while she took care of the wounds. I was going to put up pics of the carnage, but then remembered I got chastised in the past for pics of carnage so held off.
May 28, 2008 at 1:12 pm
DrKim
We love carnage photos…
So..is being a spectator at Hellyer really fun? I just realized I am going to be in the area Friday night (on business on the way to another business trip) and could maybe possibly show up! I might miss being ON the bike..but then again I alway s tell myself that it would be fun to just go spectate at a race sometime and NOT worry about racing! Should I go???
May 28, 2008 at 1:20 pm
CyclistRick
Doc Kim - if you are going to be in the area then come on down. This Friday there will be a female slant to things with VeloGirls sponsoring and Michael promoting. There will be multiple rounds of ‘celebrity’ chariot races for the women, and if it is like last week some of the guys will be in skirts acting as holders/throwers. Definitely was a lively party atmosphere last week, and you are just inches from the action and nothing is ever out of sight. And if you want to try one of the races I am sure we can probably scare up an appropriate bike someplace.