Friday, August 27, 2010

The end of my season

If you've been around me enough you know there's a saying I always say each year. I'll admit it's a rather grim prediction but one that I know has a good possibility of happening. I say each year I will have one major injury a year. For the amount of time I spend on the bike, I've always been aware that injuries are bound to happen.

So lat night while practicing for cyclocross with Micheal Bloomhuff, my luck caught up with. We had just gotten done practice dismounts and had moved onto cornering practice. We had set up a figure 8 course and I was going around and hit a hole as I was entering a turn and my front wheel hit a hole and the next thing I knew I was on the ground and I immediately knew my collarbone was broken. Micheal asked if I was ok and I simply said "I broke my collarbone." Micheal tended to me and then went to get hi car as I laid in the middle of the field, clutching my left arm, helmet still on and my bike still at my feet. We slowly get me into the car and as soon as I sit down, my version goes blurry and I'm about to pass out. One thing I'm good at is dealing with pain and being aware enough to communicate with whoever is helping what they need to do to get me through. I had Micheal blast to cool me down as I was overheating.

Luckily, Cleveland Clinic had a satellite hospital right around the corner. We got there and I was wheeled in in a wheelchair. We had to sit in the waiting room for what seemed like forever but was probably only five minutes. I finally got wheeled into a room and was given a tetnus shot and a morphine shot, the morphine shot made it bearable. Now, I sat there alone waiting for the x-ray of a bone that was clearly broken in half. My head dropped and I closed my eyes and these two sentences ran through my head over and over: "I broke my collarbone. My season is over." I sat there having those lines repeated over and over again, on the verge of tears. All that hard work and just these past two weeks if feeling on the bike and getting my form back, and all the races I was ready for and in those moments I knew my season was over.

Well after the x-ray, which involved me vomiting, i got slinged up and my prescription. I was sent home. Now I'm o go to the doctor to see if i need surgery. Wish me luck.

4 comments:

  1. I know a few young fit guys like yourself getting back at in 5 weeks: http://ryandknapp.blogspot.com/2009/10/its-taken-me-few-days-to-get-motivation.html

    http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?compid=232977

    The second USA cycling site, the guy broke it 10/12 and was racing again 11/21........

    Hope the surgery goes well

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  2. I hope thats the prognosis, but it's a rather complicated break. The bone split in half and there is a fragment of bone pushing the two pieces apart. So the have to go in and attach the fragment with pins and the put on the metal plate over the entire break. Maybe I'll get to do cross but as of right now I need to focus on getting back to healthy

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  3. You'll be able to get on the trainer if nothing else. There's "OK to ride" after 4 or 5 weeks, but "OK to crash" is farther out. Drink your milk and heal quickly.
    -B

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  4. Good luck, heal quickly, and know CX season stretches far enough into the winter that your season may not entirely be over. I do know that bummer feeling though- I broke a couple ribs yesterday in a mtb race and am looking at 4-8 weeks off racing. Hang in there.

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