For those of you who have been following my posts (and again, why are there only two of you signed up?) you would know that a week ago I suffered the worst bike crash of my cycling career. Now granted, its nothing compared to what Lance suffered last Sunday;
It was probably the roughest day he ever had in the tour but at least he had a doctor there to take care of him and mechanics to give him a new bike on the spot. I have to say, it did make me a bit sad that he lost eleven minutes and pretty much his chances at another yellow jersey. Like him or hate him (although I don't think he deserves the vilification that he's been getting) he is/was an amazing bike racer. I was hoping for the sake of us "older" riders everywhere that he could have at least made the podium again on what would definitely be his last tour ever (or will it?)
Unfortunately, I didn't have my team doctor or my support crew with me (they were probably still in pajamas in Northport) so when I had my crash my race/ride was pretty much over. Oh yes, the team doctor wanted me to inform you that the gash to my arm is three inches long, not two inches (we measured it) as originally reported.
Also, my crash was not as bad as some of the ones that have occured this year, including the infamous "dog incident";
But, back to my stir craziness. I haven't ridden my bike in a week now. I could ride my second best bike, "Black Pearl" but my arm is still a bit stiff. Sometimes when I twitch my arm the wrong way it hurts like $&##@* and sometimes it feels like my stitches are being pulled out (although when I look they're fine). It actually ended up getting a bit infected so I had to go back to the doctor and have it taken care of (that hurt) and she gave me some antibiotics. Apparently they should have done that in the hospital and they didn't. In my morphine addled state I thought they might have just given it to me in my IV - what did I know? Anyway, it got infected and now it still is a bit swollen up but the swelling is going down a bit every day.
The main thing is the damage to Betty. I got the estimate from Adams Cyclery (check them out, the link is on the right) and its going to cost just under $1400 to repair her (not to mention the $279 to replace my shoes). The shifters were completely trashed, the saddle is toast and the wheels are going to need to be replaced, especially the back one. The rear wheels sustained a lot of damage and won't even turn evenly anymore because the rim was bent. Now you have to understand, my frame of mind at the time of the wreck was that if my bike was still rideable and I wasn't too hurt I would've gotten the insurance information and kept riding. I had just ridden 50 miles (some of it fairly hilly) in just under three hours and I was on pace for a six hour century so I wanted to finish. However, when I retrieved my bike out of the glass-strewn street I found that the rear wheel wasn't turning so well and it was then that I noticed the blood on my arm wasn't just road rash, it was a really large gash that was gushing blood. It was then that I figured out I wouldn't be finishing the ride that day.
Anyway, I digress (what else is new?). Betty is out of commission for a while until I can get the money to fix her. I don't really have the money right now to pay for it so I'm hoping we can get this resolved soon. I've contacted the insurance company and hopefully they'll be able to get back to me soon. So this week I'll be on Pearl as soon as I can get back on the bike. I'm hoping for Tuesday, weather permitting. Rest assured I will let you know about the ride as soon as it happens.
For now, I'll leave you with some scenes from the movie starring that other Gene;
Stay well and I hope to see you on the road soon!
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