The past months have been a pretty rough for me. I will start at the beginning, back in early October, at the end of Elite Track Nationals. Nationals went ok for me, I got 5th in the scratch race and 7th in the Omnium. I did a pretty risky move in the Keirin and it was either going to work really well for me or I would bomb it, well it ended up not working out so well for me. Live and learn, I suppose. The points race was the final individual event for me. About half way through I got caught up in a pretty bad wreck. I slid for about 30-40 meters down the home straight of the track... I was stopped when I slammed into a metal pole with the side of my neck. OUCH! No, literally OUCH's Doctor Kay ran to my rescue! He was there by my side before I even realized what had happen, holding my neck in place, trying to figure out if I needed to go to the hospital, it was a yes. As the paramedics put a neck brace on me and carelessly flipped me over on the stretcher while grabbing my splintery, bloody side I looked over and saw a crowd of people and I was HUMILIATED! I was taken to the ambulance where my mom rode shotgun and of course I rode in the back with a cute EMT. Following was my entourage. My best friend Andy and my boyfriend Ian where in my car and Ian's mom behind them in her car. After getting to the hospital it all went down hill from there, I wont bore you with the details but it was the WORSE hospital experience ever!! On top of all that, the following day I found out I had cracked the top tube of my bike. Lucky for me, Ian's dad repairs carbon frames and was able to fix mine.
(See look my story had a happy ending.)
Here is a series of pictures that Colleen Cross captured of the crash. (I'm in Blue)
I healed pretty quickly from the crash and after about 2 1/2 weeks I started riding again. One ride I was doing with Ian. A little more than 1/2 way through the ride I got distracted and looked behind me, while the road slightly curved to the left and I did not I quickly turned around when Ian started yelling my name just to catch a glimpse of the truck that I was about to get very personal with. Then SMACK my face met the back of a pick up truck with a shell on it. This was the worse pain I had ever experienced. I crawled to the grass and kept spitting out blood and bits of my teeth. Desperately trying to save my teeth I was handing them to Ian telling him to save them. A few men saw the crash and came out to help, conveniently one was a dentist and relieved Ian of his bloody teeth holding duty. As I assessed the "crime scene" as I call it I looked over to see my precious Specialized in two. That was the last thing I wanted to think about, another bike broken. Ian called his mom and she came to take me to the hospital. On my way there I called Travis Smith to find out what hospital his wife, Dina worked at. She called the hospital for me to let them know I was coming. They were so great to me! I ended up walking out of there with 7 stitches in my chin and the relief that I did not have a broken jaw. The next morning I was on the plane to Houston to get teeth put back into my mouth.
before:
After:
My bike:
Once again Kyle Davenport came to my rescue and found me a new bike, Specialized Amira.
Gotta love that man!
Two other things not bike related:
My dad's dad so my Papa Jake had to got to the hospital for about a week because of some fluid in his lungs. I found this out the day I crashed the second time. He is doing much better now and is at home.
The final unfortunate event I had to deal with was our family puppy, Eve (barely 1 year old) was hit by a car November 22nd and died immediately, which was best. This was very sad for my entire family especially because my sister, Delaney's birthday was the next day. We all love and miss her very much but she is in puppy heaven now.
On a lighter note, I want to thank everyone that has been so great to me these past few months, you made everything so much easier and I am very thankful!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!
(like the Chinese take out bags say)
