Going Under

Well I thought I had it bad at ITU Worlds when I flatted twice and lost my first place standing. It was the worst experience I've had in the sport so far. That is until June 9th. I've waited for a while to write about this for many reasons: it was hard for me to face it for one, I didn't want to write details on the internet before the driver's insurance company accepted responsibility, and I was just feeling down and out about the whole situation without much motivation to do anything.

Most people probably already know about what happened to me, but for those that do not, or don't really know the details, here it is.

I was coming off a terrible race at Roan Groan and knew that I needed more practice at climbing, especially at the end of a race. I wanted to do well at River Gorge later in August, so I set out on Saturday June 9th, from my apartment in East Brainerd. I had mapped out a course that would take me over Missionary Ridge and the toe of Lookout before jumping into the River Gorge RR course. Things were going well and I was having fun playing out in my mind how the race would turn out this year and how things happened last year. I climbed Raccoon, stopping at the overlook to refill my bottles, eat some snacks, and take in the scenery. I started my descent from the mountain to head back home to get ready to head out to River Bend that night. Once I got off the steep slopes of Raccoon and made the hard 90 degree left hand turn, I saw a truck stopped at a stop sign on a side street to my right. He began to pull out to make a left hand turn and come up the mountain towards me. I was getting nervous and applying the brakes. As the truck got further out into the intersection, I was horrified to realize he was carrying a boat. His truck and boat were covering the entire intersection leaving me no place to go. I am grabbing as much brake as I can by this point. My wheels begin to lock up and my rear wheel starts fishtailing out from under me to the left. I was in shock and utter disbelief as I covered those last 3 meters before contact. I couldn't believe this was really about to happen. Skidding out placed me in a more parallel position to the boat so that my left shoulder and knee hit the boat first. I bounced off and swung around the back of the boat as the driver continued to pull away. I hit the ground and my bike went bouncing. I rolled around on the ground in intense pain in my left knee. It wouldn't straighten out and I knew I was injured pretty badly.

The driver and passenger got out of the truck after they pulled over to the shoulder. I laid in the middle of the intersection as they called 911 and asked if I was okay. I think the screaming and writhing in pain should have indicated I was not. Thankfully, I had just seen fellow teammate Jim Farmer at the top of Raccoon. He was packing his bike up and was about to come down. He drove up on the scene shortly after the accident happened. Another woman who had been running on Raccoon also stopped on her way down. These folks helped out a ton (Chattanooga obviously has an amazing outdoor community that cares for each other). My teammate was able to collect my bike and belongings and the other lady was able to call my parents back to let them know what was going on. The paramedics and fire truck arrived a little while later. They put me on the board and we were headed off for Erlanger ER.

Several radiographs and a CT scan later, they determined I had no broken bones and would have to follow up with an orthopedic surgeon the following week. The first visit with the surgeon was terrifying. The laxity in knee from the clinical examination pointed to several tears and disruptions in the tissue. The MRI ruled some of them out, but I was still going to need surgery. Thankfully, I didn't need immediate surgery which would have caused me to miss my first clinical rotation and be forced to sit out of the PT program for one year. Glad I avoided that disaster.

After much hassle with the police report, the driver, and the driver's insurance company, his insurance company finally accepted fault. They are collecting my medical bills and already reimbursed me for my bike minus depreciation.

I've had ups and downs over this time period. Times I would feel super energized about training for next season and all I will be able to do. Other times I was depressed and could only think about all the stuff I was missing out on and how hard it would be to come back after surgery. I missed several races including the Crit State Championship, which I was favored to win, the rest of the TBRA races, which now means I lost my Best Area Rider qualification, two Xterra races, which means I will probably lose my regional champion status and bid to nationals, as well as the Georgia Gran Prix stage race, the Huntsville race weekend, and two more crits in Atlanta. No defending my crit title at River Gorge this year. I also feel bad about letting my team down. This is the first time I've ever raced for a team and it ended with a terrible showing for myself. I wanted to do well to validate my spot on the team. I will have to settle for next year.

I got robbed, and I hate it. I've been so angry. But this is just the year I've been having with several broken pieces of equipment that required replacing and the bad finish at ITU. I have great plans for coming back next year with a more focused training plan, better knowledge of how to train, better equipment to train with, and a burning desire to come back strong and dominate the Cat 4 field. I'm trying to construct a detailed training plan without the help from a coach since I can't afford one. That being said, I would gladly take advice or suggestions from people out there that have had coaches or might be coaches just to make sure I am going in the right direction and I am interpreting my data correctly.

Surgery was yesterday (I meant to write this earlier in the week), so I have started the path to recovery and my journey back to sport. However, I guess I underestimated this surgery because of how easy my last surgery was on my right knee in 2007. I had my ACL reconstructed with a cadaver graft that time and I was able to get a full quad contraction the morning following surgery and was up ambulating without much pain at all the next day. That is not how this surgery has gone so far. I am in a lot more pain than I remembered or expected. I hope that it subsides before classes begin on the 20th. The first day of physical therapy as a patient on Monday the 13th. Should be a good experience. Just have to organize a way to get all my stuff moved to my new apartment while on crutches.

My bike got a little jacked, technically speaking

The culprits 

No big deal

No clue what this leg hit to get bruised 

Race Report: River Gorge Omnium

What a weekend it was. Obviously, the highlight of the weekend was my crit win, but other exciting parts included catching my 30 sec guy in the time trial, my left crank arm ripping out of the bottom bracket of my TT bike, the 22 year-old stud that solo'ed off the front and won the Pro/1/2 race, and the brief time that I lead the cat 4 road race leading up to the Raccoon Mountain climb.

Saturday morning I headed up to the TT start on top of Raccoon mountain. Quickly grabbing a parking spot, I set up my trainer and got about 8 minutes of warm-up. Not exactly ideal, but I got a little distracted talking to some other guys and did not have as much time as I though I was going to. Thankfully, I made it to the start line on time and took off as planned. The first few corners didn't seem as bad as they were during the pre-ride. It might have been because I was used to the stiffness in the wheels by this point or the wind might not have been blowing as much. I was feeling good until I really got into the little climb before mile 2. I was right on my 30 second guy at this point, but the poor performance here kept me from catching him until almost the very end. Being pretty winded from the climb, it took me a bit to gear back up on top and start my descent. I didn't hit 47 mph like I did in my pre-ride. I stayed steady over the dam and then was ready to push once I made the right hand turn. I felt really good making the right hand turn and heading for the finish. Once I got to the curves I caught my guy and passed on the inside. After I crossed the line, I checked the clock and it was just after 8:50. Pretty good since I was expecting to go around 9:10 to 9:20 for the four mile time trial. My trip back to the car was not as pleasant. This is where my crank arm fell off. I knew it was loose and coming off, but I was hoping to make it back to the car where I could find some tools to tighten it down. Well, when I got to the first incline to ripped out and jacked up the drive side crank arm. I haven't been able to get it completely off yet, but I'm thinking I crushed the bearing, broke the c-clip and will need a whole new bottom bracket. Oh well.

So I came back home and switched wheels and brake pads to get ready for the crit race later that evening. I must say, I think the Tarmac looked awesome with the 808's on it. I, on the other hand, was quite nervous. The crit was going to be a field of 84 guys racing around a .8 mile loop in downtown Chattanooga. I had never ridden with a field this big let alone race in one. I lined up middle of the pack and was determined to do my best. I was told that the field would probably go really hard the first 5 to 6 laps and then back down. They did. It was fun zipping around the corners at such high speeds so close to each. Fun here equals exciting, daring, and dangerous. There was one crash behind me, I could hear the carnage but didn't see it until the next lap around. I did rub wheels with someone. I did get shoulder bumped and helmet tapped. I did get yelled at for my cornering at one point. Screw that guy. Anyway, I tried to go off the front for one of the primes and realized that was a bad idea before even half way through the lap. So at this point I decided to not try going for any of those and just focus on positioning for the finish and saving my legs for that. Coming around one lap to go I was still sitting nicely in the front of the group, probably about 12 to 15 riders back. We made the turn to the slight uphill and I jumped up a couple riders and moved to the outside. We began to take the slight left hand bend and I'm not sure if I was speeding up or if the field was slowing down, but I quickly found myself at the front of the group on the inside. About 25 meters later, I crossed through and intersection and expected to see the field right on my wheel. They were not. At this point I knew I had to go for. I cranked down and headed for corner four fast. I took it wide and barely braked. I ended up almost in the opposite side gutter once I came out of the corner. Before I could even really get the bike under control, I stood up to start my sprint. The bike was flying all over the place and I still don't know exactly how I made it all come together so perfectly. Cresting the slight rise in the finish chute, I looked back and the field was way down the road. I turned back and gave a few more sprints and checked again. I was about to win. It was awesome. I threw my hands up and enjoyed the moment across the line with the field quickly closing in. Once again, it was AWESOME. As I settled down, I began to get passed by other riders as I was taking my cool down lap. Talk about building up an oxygen debt. I was sucking for air so hard and it took about the whole lap to just get my breathing back. I then stopped and hugged all my friends that had come to watch including my mom. First cat 4 crit was a huge success.

I wish I could say the same thing for the road race on Sunday, but I am not a climber. Why did I enter the only two races in Tennessee that have climbing in them then? I have no idea. Maybe I'll plan my races better next year. I can say I did stay with the lead group the whole way and did make a jump on the descent into Raccoon Mountain hoping to go off the front and start the climb by myself. I went a little too early and didn't reach the speeds I anticipated. Therefore, I started the climb with the pack and quickly went to the back. I was getting in my groove and then started picking a bunch of people off that had obviously started too hard. Ended up finishing 28th for the road race which got me 4th place overall for the omnium. Not a bad showing.

Overall results can be found as links underneath the race information here

Here is a video of the part of the finish. I guess I sat up to celebrate a little sooner than I thought. You can just see me sit up and throw my hands to the helmet.

I guess I wasn't as close to the front as I thought I was during most of the race.