Forced to Put Things into Perspective

I crashed last night.  The short story goes like this:
I was on the Elon ride and we were in a rotating paceline (see the video) on our way to the first sprint point.  



My good friend Kevin decided he was going to break free of the group about half a mile out.  I was behind him, saw his move, and stayed glued to his wheel.  No one else responded and he/we had a gap on the field.  I decided to go for the sprint from 150 meters out.  I stood up out of the saddle and pulled my left foot out of the pedal on the 3rd stroke.  I went down on my left side.  The last thought that crossed my mind before contact was, "do not let go of the bars until contact or you'll break a collar bone."  The resultant injuries are scrapes on my left knee, right shin, left elbow, right elbow, my lower and upper back, and my bottom.  My left shoulder is bruised and I have some tightness in both shoulders.  My helmet is destroyed and I think my shoes are unuseable.  I ripped up a brand new Palmetto Velo Sports jersey and shorts.  Palmetto Velo is the local team I race with.  In spite of all that I seem to be ok and I will be doing an easy ride tonight to see how my legs feel.  

I've thought a lot about my trip to Denver, and I am still very excited to race there.  Before my crash I was getting nervous about the race, but I am very calm now.  I know that I have rode hard and done everything that I needed to do to prepare for this race.  There is no reason to fret about it.  Worrying will only mess me up, I am just thankful now that I will be able to race next week.  While my goal is still to win, I will be happy as long as go out there and ride as hard as I can.

Pictures:
This helmet is destroyed but it kept me from dying or becoming further disabled!


A picture of the left side of my body.


This is my left knee.

First Ride on the New Wheels

I went out this morning to put in my training ride before work. I was dying to ride the new wheels, so waiting until after work was not an option. Bluff road is not a fun place to be at 7:45 AM. There are a lot of very impatient drivers out at that time such as the semi that moved into my lane and nearly hit me. I rode into the grass to avoid becoming a bloody mess on the side of the road. Other than traffic, my intervals were good. 8 minutes in the biggest gear on the bike, it felt like a gym workout. I knocked out 4 of those before I had to get ready for work.
The wheels are great! The roll so fast when they are at speed, and being able to go faster without pedaling harder is a very nice little bonus. The wheels sound cool, too.

Tomorrow's ride will be the Summit Ride after work and I am planning on taking my road bike since it works better in groups and on the hills. Rick Kattouf is supposed to be coming down for the ride, I am really looking forward to riding with him.

Early Morning

I was up this morning at 5:45 so I could meet Jim for a 6:30 ride that started a little after 7.  The weather was gorgeous and traffic was light.  I was doing 10km intervals and the first one was strange.  It hurt in the beginning but by the end I felt like I had gone too slow.  I was having computer issues so I do not have an exact average for my intervals.  I need to get this sorted out.  The second was faster; by my estimate it was 24 something mph, not too terrible.  I had to rush in and clean up so I could make it to my little brother's graduation.  Total distance was about 35 miles.  It was a much better ride than I had yesterday when I could not produce any power.
After the graduation ceremony I went to Cycle Center so Rebecka could refit me on the Time Trial bike.  She was dialing my position in so I could get more aero and produce more power.  We had a long talk about racing and traveling, it was a good conversation.  
I talked to Rick Kattouf today.  I will be going up to Greenville on Monday to pick up a set of race wheels; a rear disc and a HED60 deep dish front.
I have a nice 3 hour ride planned for tomorrow that I am really looking forward to.