A Day At The Races : The June Edition

Sometimes race day just doesn't go your way. Maybe the weather isn't ideal or maybe you're just having a off day. It happens, we move on and we race again. I really enjoy racing, it pushes me to a new level and I usually find that on race day I really get to see how my training has paid off.

Here's what Strava has to say about my ride a week ago Sunday.

Now, according to Strava I rode 16.3 miles at a average speed of 19.5. This for me, is awesome. The fastest training ride I've done on a flat course was 19.2. Of course during a race you have the opportunity to work with other cyclists and really gain speed. However, the race that day was 36 miles so somewhere I'm missing half the course.

I went down on a turn in town and while I won't place blame I'd like issue a friendly reminder to volunteers to always point cyclists in the correct direction. Just because the peloton of the crazy fast men have passed through does not mean you're job is over. I am always sure to thank volunteers as I pass by them because they help make these things possible and I truly appreciate you giving up part of your day to help keep us safe, especially us solo riders who find themselves riding alone the majority of the ride because you're not fast enough for the fast riders but faster than the back of the pack. This time though I'll say thank you for calling an ambulance.

I won't say thank you for whoever was kind enough to tell me I lost "a lot of teeth" because no one who just collided with the ground at 16+mph and who has a mouth full of blood and dirt wants to hear that. I will start hyperventilating and choking on blood if you tell me that.

Crash statistics:
0 missing teeth - I REPEAT I HAVE ALL TEETH - thank you very much volunteer
Shoulder - road rash
Chest - road rash
Neck - road rash
Ribs - bruised
Chin - road rash + 5 stitches
Side of face - road rash
Under nose - 3 stitches (we have no idea how but it's looked like I've had a nose bleed for a week thanks to a scar and stitches)
Nose - road rash
Inside lower lip - 6 stitches + completely shredded lip + road rash
Head - mild concussion - cracked helmet
Jaw - swollen but not broken

I've been on a liquid food diet for a week. I get my stitches out this morning and if they extend the liquid diet because my mouth is still pretty raw I may punch someone. Salt water rinses should be considered a form of torture and it takes me about 5 minutes every time to talk myself into it. I don't know how people do juice cleanses because real food is awesome. I would punch someone for a sandwich. It's also been noted that I get extremely irritable and pretty much miserable without real food.

But of course wounds heal and I've already made my return to the bike. I'm so grateful for my teammates and Erik that day. While biking sometimes seems like a solo sport, its really nice to have a great group of ladies to call my teammates.

Now I'm off to go get stitches removed!