Thursday, August 17, 2006
Well, it didn't start out that way. Last night I transferred the brake levers from my old bike to the new one (mainly to have access to levers that could be used from an upright position as well as from the drops.) So today I headed out to the Mohawk-Hudson Bikepath over in Niskayuna to give the new bike a good shakedown ride and see how the triple chainring (as well as basically mountain bike gearing - no surprise, this road bike was made by Kent, which mainly manufactures mountain bikes) would handle the hills by GE and Knolls Atomic Power Lab. The ride out was good - the gearing takes some getting used to, and someday I suspect I'll replace the rear derailleur, which shifts a bit rough - and after about 45 minutes I headed back. And going down the last big hill before a mostly level several mile stretch back to the park where I'd left the car, I crashed.
Not sure why it happened - I was lightly riding the brakes, so I wasn't going full bore down the hill, but about halfway down things didn't feel right and I said to myself "I'm going to crash." I seem to remember doing an endo over the handlebars, so maybe the front brakes caught and slowed the front wheel too quickly... I really can't say. All I know is a second later I was smashing into the ground, probably at about 20 mph or more (haven't installed a bike computer yet.) Don't know if I hit the pavement first and then bounced into the grass or if I managed to aim myself into the grass. My right hip and butt hit, as well as my right side and the right side of my back, including the scapula area, and somewhere in there my head hit too, hard enough to destroy my helmet. Knocked the wind right out of me, because initially I thought, "Oh, no, I can't breathe - I've broken my back." But then I rolled onto my back (a good sign) and after a few seconds was able to gasp out some moderately painful breaths. Took stock of the limbs, which all seemed to be working, and painfully got to my feet... checked out the bike and found it to be unrideable (the seat is all twisted up... as it turned out, the rear derailleur may have also been damaged, but so far I haven't felt motivated to look that closely) so I pushed the bike hobbling along the path for about 75-90 minutes. (Worst part of that - it was a mosquito-fest. 2nd worst part - the other riders zooming by me from behind without any warning that they were passing. Some of them were obviously serious cyclists and should know better. I did have two riders ask if there was anything they could do to help.) Painfully loaded the bike on the car, drove back home, eventually managed to get myself, my bike, and my gear up all the steps to the house, and made phone calls to let Ann and Master Hillicoss know.
So the current list of injuries (self-evaluated) is:
- scrapes on my right calf, hip, and elbow and across my shoulders
- a cut on my right pinkie finger
- a sprained right wrist (seems like a minor sprain, with almost no swelling.)
- at least strained and probably pulled groin muscles
- major bruising on my right hip and butt
- major bruising to my right ribs in the back and a bit on the side
- major bruising to my right scapula area and probably strained/pulled muscles in that area
- strained/torn cartilage between my ribs on the back right side, with possibly some cracked ribs
It all hurts like hell, but everything seems to be functional, so with luck nothing is fractured. I'm not coughing up blood (actually, I try not to cough, because it hurts too much) and can breathe normally, except for the fact that its bloody painful to take a deep breath; also no blood in my urine, another good sign.
Unfortunately, getting around is a bear, and I can't lie down (partially because it hurts too much and partially because I wouldn't be able to get back up.) I've been working on ways to "lay" on my much-too-small futon couch, but haven't managed to do much more than doze for short periods of time. Gah...
So - no 20 miler at Savoy this weekend. No 8 mile Greylock Road Race on Labor Day. Unless this heals awfully darn fast (yeah, right) I suspect this will also destroy any chance I have of running the Adirondack Marathon (I may be able to run again a month from now, but I doubt I'll be able to run 26 miles...) and probably the Mount Desert Island Marathon in mid-October (I might be able to be ready for that, but I need to register soon, and I'm not sending $55 in for a race I might not get to do) and the Mendon 50K in November (I really don't want to do that one without having run a marathon first.) In other words, the Year of Long Distance may have come to an early end, and I'll have to wait until next year to do these races... yes, I'm more than a little upset and depressed at that thought.
But I am trying to remind myself that it could be a lot worse.
And now I guess I'll go try to manage that dozing/sleeping thing again. It's going to be a long few days (at least...)
JMH
