The Ugly, The Good, and The Bad

So here it is, installment number 3.

As I mentioned yesterday, The Ugly comes in with a crash.

Sunday I was riding Sherman Branch, one of a few local trails actually open with all the rain we've been having.  My first lap was good, but littered with stops to continue the search for the creak.

After my first lap I removed the broken water bottle cage and decided that I would go out for more.  I hadn't ridden in a while and (aside from the noise) was loving the ride.  Bad choice.

I was on Roller Coaster and everything was fun.  I flew through the first section and was back into the field area where I was just cooking it.  My back wheel kicked up a stick/branch which SMACKED my left calf.  Brakes were applied with much force and I stopped right away.  OUCH!!  That hurt - but more concern was for my rear wheel.  All spokes seemed fine, but THAT will leave a bruise (it did).  I pick up speed and head into a banked right turn over a gravel path.  The turn was banked with wooden boards.  Again, I was pushing the limit with my speeds and my front wheel started to wander a little too high...

Before I knew it my front wheel was ON the top of the boards, hit a joint in the board wall and slipped to the far side of the boards... rider down.  As my wheel went off the backside of the turn I was ejected from the bike.  Arms outstretched I was superman for a minute.  I tried to clear my body from my bike and then it happened - the classic elbow vs. gravel battle.

Kinda fitting I was wearing my Blood Sweat and Gears kit... 2 out of 3 isn't bad...

The gravel won.  Even through the blood you can see the embedded debris.

Quick check of the Glow Worm and everything seems to be ok.

Blood is moving quick so I decide riding isn't the best decision.  It appears that blood is also streaming down my wrist, I lift my glove and see a nice gash on my palm as well - gripping and handlebar isn't so much fun.  I bushwhack briefly to access a "fireroad" of sorts that leads back towards the trailhead.  The Ugly rears it's head as I now know I picked up some poison ivy on my other arm... yay for me!

I spray off with my water bottle and attempt to remove my jersey without getting blood all over it - fail. A few people in the parking lot offer ice and water, but I politely decline as I just want to get out of there.  I get home and Annie isn't pleased with the sight of my arm.  She tells me to go shower and then she'll help clean it up.

AYE!  As soon as I step into the shower my thigh BURNS.  I BARELY have a raspberry on my right thigh (must have been the top tube or handlebars) but the water stings me.  I wash the blood away from my arm, the water and soap feel fine.

I call Annie in to help further clean and bandage my arm

All fresh wounds - that one on my elbow is full of gravel/dirt

My brother suggested that a "bobcat attack" would make for a better story

All bandaged up

 This morning I took a shot of my thigh.  Looks as thought I'll have two pretty good bruises there.  That red line... yeah, as I said before it was barely a raspberry initially, no broken skin (at least to the naked eye).  Sore like a motherF.

I woke up at 5:30 am Monday morning because the pain of my arm wouldn't let me sleep any longer.  Ibuprofen helps.  It seems to be doing ok, but the thought of riding and sweating into the wound didn't sound like the best plan so I skipped the weekly social ride - sorry guys.

Other than the swollenness around the wounds, I can tell that my elbow itself is swollen - hopefully just from impact.  My arm does feel a little weaker than normal (grip wise) but I don't feel any pain of anything more seriously damaged than just ripped flesh so fingers crossed everything heals up well.  I try to keep the bandage off during the day as the wound gets really gross when covered up - yuck!

I'll be back before we know it I'm sure.  I was able to bend back the front brake pretty well.  A small little clip of the corner of the pad with each rotation but that will work itself out I'm sure as it doesn't slow the wheel.  It's the best I could do.  If braking is compromised then a new rotor will be acquired.

We are cleared for launch

Went for an after work ride around the seaport with Annie.  Leg looking feeling good, so I'm happy with that.  I won't continue the photo log of the injury because honestly, it looks gross.  The bruise on my thigh is an interesting mixture of purple and yellow and behind my knee is a rasberry/purple blend.

Another adventure I had was taking attempting to take off the old cleats from my bike shoes.  One bolt would not come out and of course I hadn't dug ALL the dirt out so I ended up stripping it.  GREAT!!  So I dropped it off a the LBS close to work and they drilled it out for me.  It had to happen.  On my last ride at Wompatuck my left cleat did come out at inopportune times during the ride... and although didn't cause a crash, caused some close calls.  The ride today was easy, and with new cleats on new pedals (I got myself a pair of XT pedals as Annie will sooner than later be converting to clipless so I figured I'd give her the new pedals I had put on the HiFi originally) things were a bit "tight" unclipping.  That's one of the things I love about the pedals I've been using - they adjust to your personal comfort level in terms of clip-ease.

So the leg is feeling good, the cleats are all set and the pedals will be tuned in for that perfect clipness... all things leading to the best news.  Preride this Sunday at 10am.  All the arrows are up on the course, which apparently has been modified from last year to include more singletrack with some short steep climbs thrown in there.  The fact that it has changed from last year makes no difference to me as I'll be riding it for the first time, but I'm excited/anxious to get out there and see what I'll be facing in a week!!!  Oh boy...  the nerves haven't started but I know they will soon.  I'm certainly not near the weight I'd like to be for race season, my legs are OK, and my lungs are no where near good.  But it's only a 5 miler, so I should be able to push through it and get my ass in gear for the next one.

I'm ready for the eye-opener... hello race world (First Timer class anyway), here I come.

Walk with a gangsta lean

Normally I love the fact that I work on a campus setting.  I get to escape the little closet of an office I have and walk around.  Go check in on kids as they ride horses, in gym class, pull them from math... whatever.  Just to get up and out of a chair.
Normally....

Since the HiFi's first scaring I have not enjoyed walking around so much.  The HiFi wasn't the only one to suffer injury.  And no, I'm not talking about beardface who broke his collarbone.  I'm talking about my damn leg.  My initial assessment was the damn IPhone caused the most damage (while my leg destroyed the steroid injected protective cover) which is the main issue with residual annoyance.  But the HiFi, pissed that I let it hit rock, did exact revenge on my leg.

Check out the photo evidence of my injury.

It had to happen sometime

What a great weekend!!
Weather wise things bounced back from the cruel joke that was played on us on April Fool's.  The sun came out and temps jumped up.  It also happened to be my birthday on Saturday.  And UCONN beat Kentucky to advance to the National Championship.

Saturday Annie and I went for a ride at Wompatuck.  It was a great ride.  We got some nice miles in and took some pictures.  I'll leave the details of this ride to Annie.

When we returned from our ride I discovered that a preride for Winding Trails had been scheduled for Sunday morning.  Oh decisions...  UCONN was playing, Annie made ribs and green beans for my birthday dinner, and there were beers to be enjoyed.  Google maps listed the course at just above 2 hours away... I know that to be on the high side, but a 10am ride time would mean an early morning for me.  This is my first race and I want to be as prepared as I can be so I seriously considered attending.  I jumped on the forum and attempted to post a question as to whether or not another preride would be scheduled in the future.  Apparently my posts have to be approved, and apparently no one approves anything on a Saturday evening, soooo I went to bed not knowing if there would be another opportunity.  My posts never ended up showing up so I messaged the ride organizer to no avail.  In the end Annie convinced me to not go and bank on there being another opportunity.