so I'm finally getting back up on my feet again.  i had a very hard crash at bunny hop this past weekend on the last lap.  i do not have the clearest memory of what actually happened.   i received several emails which all basically said the same thing: you're really, really, really lucky to have walked away from that crash.  it was a doozy.  i remember a rider in front, and slightly to the left of me, unclipping his right foot and doing two big wobbles with his handlebars.  and the next thing i know, i am maintaining a low earth orbit and thinking: "houston, we have a negative on that trajectory..."

I spotted the curb i hit on the way down and impacted it pretty hard.  since i figured my number was up anyway, i tried to be gracious by positioning myself between andrew hong and the tree so he would come through it all unscathed.  we do what we can to help others.  it is the union way. 

and speaking of help, i needed it.  that's the bad part.  the good part is that i got it, almost immediately, and in amounts which I still find gratifying.  lots of people tried to help and that was nice.  again, i don't have the clearest recollection of what was going on but i felt people trying to move me and trying to help.  my clearest recollection is of michael rp, lew strader an arch mckown trying to get me settled and encouraging me to get into the ambulance.  i was recalcitrant.  I stood up, but turned pale and thought i was going to vomit, so I went with what lew and arch were lobbying for.  below is a dramatic re-enactment of the scene:

oh, except that they insisted on putting me on a backboard with a neck collar and using huge webbing restraint straps which ran right over my road rash.  yeah, that's the ticket.  it felt as though they had taken me straight to the dirt road section at poolesville.  the ambulance was jumping around through potholes and all sorts of other stuff.  we arrive and they check me right in.  i won't belabor the experience.  i was unfortunate in that there were several large scale trauma cases and a helicopter trauma case flown in while i was there.  so service was at a premium.  honestly, that i was ready for.  the thing i was not ready for was the surreal problems that particular emergency room was having.  wacked out people wandering around the nurses station, being yelled at to go back to their rooms.  police officers patrolling the emergency room and what not.  tere was an absence of the healing vibe i was seeking. 

I was released late.  the doctor came in to have a pow wow with me.  the blood and urine work showed no signs of internal bleeding, but he was very concerned about the fact that I appeared clinically dehydrated and had exceedingly low blood sugar and that this might be complicating the blood work.  my wife tried to calmly explain that I had been racing, that i had been denied food and had been provided virtually no fluids until they knew my situation.  she continued to elaborate on that theme, stating that it if you really stopped to think about it, it wasn't at all surprising that i'd be in that sort of state.  she was just getting warmed up, but i had to sort of intervene at this point.  i just wanted to go home and i got what i wanted.

so it's all over now.  i'm healing up and i'll be back in a few weeks.  this event has been regrettable, but it happens.  i will mostly remember the kind words and thoughts people passed along.  you guys always show up to races and training rides with your game face on but you're a bunch of hallmark-card-writing softies.  i've still got all the emails to prove it. 

a few random notes:

• my knees: several people told me that they thought i had broken or shattered one or both tibia.  that's not the case.  I have bone spurs in both knees surrounded by all the normal hardware and software.  lucky me. 
• small world: josh was my ambulance/emt attendant.  turns out he worked at the bike doctor store as a mechanic for two years.  he's a mountain biker and seemed really interested in road cycling.  angel, my emergency room charge nurse, is some sort of spinning junkie and is looking to get out on bike trails with her three year old son.  she asked me about local trails and roads and we talked about waba and other clubs.  and while i rarely get tired of talking about the revolution, i was pretty tired of talking about cycling by midnight.  the point, however, is that we often see the world as us (very small group of competitive cyclists) and them (everybody else in the whole &$#@ world).  it's not like that and I'll have some posts up about bike to work day soon that i think will help back this up and hopefully present a more inclusive vision.
• and lastly, you people make me sick.  it was simply unbelievable the number of emails i got asking for pictures of the carnage.  it's like bike porn for you jackals.  even the ever cordial and mild-mannered luecke was circling like a vulture and asking for pics.  i was going to say no on principle, but i have no shame, so here you go.

this is pretty representative of my right side.  only the huge gouge out from under my knee's bone spur requires coverage.  the rest has dried out reasonably well and stopped weeping.  i used to pack these things with talc to try to force them to dry.  some people favor keeping them wet.  some people try to get them to dry out and up.  everyone has a different approach to dealing with this and their way works for them.  special thanks go out to joe baremore for an anecdote that cheered me up considerably on this front.

below is the real damage.  you can see the front where i hit the curb, but rest assured, it reaches around my back.  the rash itself is not impressive but the swelling is positively amazing.  my right hip flexor, with insertion point a full three inches below the impact site, has been numb since the accident from the pressure of the hematoma.  just this morning, it started to feel back to normal.  the swelling is still prominent.

- - - posted by scott