It was 11pm and I was still wide-awake. I had promised myself sleep much sooner than this. Dozing off, a loud popping noise got my full attention. I wondered what it was, but was too tired to care.
My alarm clock has the “alarm” setting but I prefer to wake to music and by music, I mean the Spanish station, obnoxiously loud, so that it wakes me up and scares the shit out of me at the same time. No snooze for this guy.
It’s 5 AM and the coffee is brewing. I put my kit on, only to find a hole by one of the seams. I look at my bike and the front tire is flat. That explains the popping noise I heard last night. So, this is how it’s going to be on the day of my first race, I thought to myself...hole in my kit, flat tire...what else? Perhaps I shouldn’t have asked that question.
I arrived at the course and my teammate Lauren pulled in next to me. We warmed up on the trainer for about half an hour, then made our way to the starting line.
As a new Cat 4 racer, I wasn’t sure what to expect, especially because it was a field mixed with more experienced racers. Would they try to break away? Would the pace be too fast for me to hang on? We had barely started and my heart rate was already through the roof. It was nerves. Eventually, I settled down and found the “safe wheel” I was instructed to follow. Aside from a few minor hiccups, I stayed on that wheel for most of the race.
We made the final turn and I knew there were only about two and half miles to go. My legs felt great and my heart rate was low. I was thinking that I had a pretty good chance to be the top Cat 4 finisher and then...I was on the ground and in a daze. My head hurt and my vision was blurry. I was instructed to lie down and stay still until the ambulance arrived. They placed me on a wooden board with a brace around my neck.
On the way to the hospital I could see blood soaking through the sheets in several places so I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. Every article of clothing I was wearing, with the exception of my socks, was destroyed. My helmet did its job and has a nice crack to show for it.
The doctor wanted to perform a CT Scan to make sure there were no broken bones in my face. At that point I hadn't seen myself, but the inability to see out of my right eye was enough for me to know there was some pretty significant trauma to my face.
While we were waiting for the test results (which were negative), I started talking to Lauren about next week’s race “I’m gonna do the Cherry Blossom. I already registered for it.” Today, I feel more like I should feel after going down at 26mph, but no doubt; I’ll be out there Saturday morning...when you fall down, you gotta pick yourself back up and keep on going.
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