I was doing the Sam's Club MS 150 here in the Dallas area yesterday going for 100 miles on day 1. I was looking forward to a great ride and to put another century on my list. At around mile 27, I was in a group doing 22.4 mph (checked Garmin) on a country road made of the dreaded chip seal. I was drafting behind several riders so I could not see the road directly in front of me. I always make a habit to try to look around people since I ride solo 99% of the time and feel comfortable being able to see the road in front of me. All of a sudden people yelled "crack" or "look out" or 'something'. I just remember chaos and less than a second later, my front wheel hit a big patch of uneven pavement. I went down to the left side in the opposing lane. I just thank God that there was not a car coming in the opposite direction at the time. I specifically remember the chipseal rushing by my face as it was grinding away at the left side of my helmet. I rolled or something - can't recall details. It all happened so fast. That's not to say I received a head injury - I did not. It just happened so quick its hard to recall the details.
Another rider went down as well and was in a rare unconscious state. All she was doing was moaning really loud. Other than that, she was unresponsive. To be honest, I was more concerned about her. I just sat there with the wind knocked out of me and pain in my upper left back and shoulder. Eventually, she got up and was fine. I can't believe they let her continue to ride, but apparently, my buddy rode with her for a while and said she finished the ride.
After her, my concern went to my bike. I got up and checked it out. It looks fine with a few paint dings. I'll probably just have it looked at by my LBS before I ride it again though - just to be sure (unless you guys/gals think I can do that myself - kind of an internal debate right now).
The pain in the shoulder continued to grow so I told the paramedics I should be checked out. They brought me in and many hours later I was discharged with some good painkillers, cleaned up road rash, and a shoulder brace (and probably the radiation equivalent to a few days out in the sun on the beach). I have to make a follow up appointment with an ortho this week. He did look at the CT scan of my shoulder and said it probably wouldn't need surgery. I'll find out more when I go see him.
My wife wanted to see the hazard in the road that brought me down so we took a detour between getting my bike from the MS 150 officials and heading home. Below is a picture of it. The ride officials painted it AFTER we had the crash. I tell you. I'm not one to blame anyone else for things like this. It's really not anyone's fault. I see things in the road like this all the time. However, it would have been extremely nice if someone would have ridden the route (or even driven it) and marked/painted all the hazards prior to the ride. That's what I would do - just from a general safety and a "it's the the right thing to do" perspective. Part of me is mad about it, but I know things like this happen. This is just part of bike riding.
God bless my wife! She has been great! I can hardly do anything myself right now. My 8 year old son was looking up ways to help me on Youtube. Life is good!
Another rider went down as well and was in a rare unconscious state. All she was doing was moaning really loud. Other than that, she was unresponsive. To be honest, I was more concerned about her. I just sat there with the wind knocked out of me and pain in my upper left back and shoulder. Eventually, she got up and was fine. I can't believe they let her continue to ride, but apparently, my buddy rode with her for a while and said she finished the ride.
After her, my concern went to my bike. I got up and checked it out. It looks fine with a few paint dings. I'll probably just have it looked at by my LBS before I ride it again though - just to be sure (unless you guys/gals think I can do that myself - kind of an internal debate right now).
The pain in the shoulder continued to grow so I told the paramedics I should be checked out. They brought me in and many hours later I was discharged with some good painkillers, cleaned up road rash, and a shoulder brace (and probably the radiation equivalent to a few days out in the sun on the beach). I have to make a follow up appointment with an ortho this week. He did look at the CT scan of my shoulder and said it probably wouldn't need surgery. I'll find out more when I go see him.
My wife wanted to see the hazard in the road that brought me down so we took a detour between getting my bike from the MS 150 officials and heading home. Below is a picture of it. The ride officials painted it AFTER we had the crash. I tell you. I'm not one to blame anyone else for things like this. It's really not anyone's fault. I see things in the road like this all the time. However, it would have been extremely nice if someone would have ridden the route (or even driven it) and marked/painted all the hazards prior to the ride. That's what I would do - just from a general safety and a "it's the the right thing to do" perspective. Part of me is mad about it, but I know things like this happen. This is just part of bike riding.
God bless my wife! She has been great! I can hardly do anything myself right now. My 8 year old son was looking up ways to help me on Youtube. Life is good!
