Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Monday, September 09, 2002

What a Weekend

This last weekend has been fuller than most on many levels. It all began with Kathy giving my birthday gift, an iPod. It's very cool. I'll blog more about it later but it's a really cool thing for a lot of reasons. On Saturday, we went down to Macon to pick up my new mountain bike, a Specialized M4 Stumpjumper Pro. This bike is basically the same on used to win the MTB World Championships a couple of years ago. It weighs 21.5 lbs which is absurd for a mountain bike. While I was picking it up I dropped off my road bike to have a carbon fiber fork put on it that someone is giving me to try out. So, me, my wife and our bikes head over to the Georgia Children's Home for a bit of a test spin. I've ridden over there a couple of times and I did OK on the old Urban Assault Bike. Kathy decides to beg off a ride after her stomach starts to bother her so it's me and the Stumpjumper. I learned something very quickly; the bike was too fast for me. Corners I had had no problems on on the old UAB I was now struggling to get through. That's how I figured out I was going too fast. At one point I grabbed the front break a bit too hard and all of the sudden I'm Superman for about 15 feet and then me and the ground get acquainted. So does the handlebar and my knee. I would limp for the rest of the day. Still, by the end of the ride I think I've got a feel for things.

Shift to Sunday. It was time for penance. I skipped church and went to ride in my first MTB race ever. After the crash I had decided to ride beginners class. It turned out to be a good choice. In the race I crashed hard twice. The first time something hit me in the left side and knocked the wind half out of me. I thought I had punctured a lung but for some reason I jumped on the bike, kept going and it got better (say that in your best Monty Python accent). Now I think I just bruised a rib but boy does it hurt. The second one was the spectaculr one. It was good enough to make the OLN highlight reels. I was on the BMX part of the course and I took the second jump a little too fast and I endoed. Right onto my head. I hear something crack and I knew that was bad. Confirmation came shortly after I came to rest, about 30 feet from my bike. From the observation deck a voice cries out, "Dude, are you OK?!?" I'm not making this up, really. You have to say it in you best Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure voice.

So, there I am, flat on my back wondering if I'm not paralyzed. That's when I feel my hydration pack against my back and realize I can feel everything down to my toes. I can't see straight though. I quick fix of the unbroken Bolle sunglasses takes care of that. Strap the helmet back on as a sit up. Something feels funny as I do that but no time. I stand up and get a round of applause from the crowd (my adoring fans) and off I go in search of the bike. When I get there and get the chain back on I grab the handlebars to mount and that's when I realized that something was amiss. My right ring finger didn't care to have much pressure applied to it and was complaining loudly about it. "Screw it," I thought and off I went. Another 5 miles and back to the finish to complete the race. I took 9th out of about 35 in my age/class group. I even racked up a few points in the GAP MTB series. My helmut was shattered thoguh. Had it not been for the plastic cover, the styrofoam parts would have exploded off my head when I landed on it. Also, had it not been for the helmet, I would likely be eating through a tube right now while the doctor checked to see if I had come out of my coma. If you ride, wear a lid. No excuses.

Anyway, I did ok, but my body hurts pretty badly.

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