Well, it was bound to happen sometime. We were on our normal Saturday morning ride on the 25th, about 20 miles in and up near Marysville when it happened. The culprit? Railroad tracks. The problem was, they were not perpendicular to the road, they were at less then a 45deg angle. We have gone over them before, without issues...but not this ride. We were at a steady 18/19 mph pace flying down the road and I thought I attacked them at the correct angle. Apparently I was wrong. I felt my rear wheel slip on the first track of the second set of tracks and there was nothing else I could do. I went down pretty hard, kissed the asphalt and rolled a few times. My left side took the brunt of the impact. I hit my shoulder, my arm and hand, my side, my leg and of course my head. Above all I remember the impact of my head/helmet on the pavement.
It was an interesting feeling because it felt like it was mostly in slow motion. The funny part of the fall was that as I rolled I saw Micah, who was right behind me before the fall, go flying by and over me. He was able to avoid me for the most part and only run over my foot, which didn't hurt at all. Amazingly he was able to un-clip and launch himself off and over his bike and stayed upright. I don't know how he does it, but he is amazingly agile.
We stayed there for about 20 minutes while I shook it off and then continued our ride for a total of 42 miles. Nothing broken and my bike was ok. My helmet is cracked tho and the worst pain I had was in the left of my palm and my little finger. Apparently I jammed my hand into one of the tracks as I went down, from what Micah said. After the fact, he said it was an odd feeling to watch me go down because he felt like it all happened in slow motion and that it took him a long time to reach me even though he was right on my tail at the time. When we talked on Sunday he said that he thinks it is almost worse to watch someone else go down then to go down yourself. Hopefully I won't have to watch one of them go down anytime soon.
I feel like I have been beaten up and I was pretty stiff the next day. But I am recovering pretty well and I am ready to get back on my bike so that I can keep in shape for the STP. I will pick up my bike tonight from the shop because it went in for a tune-up and check over that was already planned so that it will be in good shape for the STP. Hopefully there carbon fiber is fine and there is no major damage. I will be getting a pro bike fit tonight as well. I am looking forward to that. I will keep you posted as things develop and I will post the photos from Flying Wheels as soon as they are available.
A side note: For all of you out there skeptical of wearing a helmet....just do it. I would have had a serious concussion and probably a skull fracture if it wasn't for my trusty helmet. $80 is a small price to pay for avoiding a major hospital visit.
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