A bump in the road

Well, not actually a bump in the road more like an abrupt stop and then another abrupt stop as I did a face plant on the pavement.  On Saturday morning I headed out on a 100 mile ride for CASA of Berkley Springs, WV.  The morning was beautiful with low humidity, clear blue skies and temps in the low 60's with sun and low 80's forecast for later in the day.  I was riding with a friend at 14.7 miles per hour and hoping to finish the 100 miles in 7 hours or so.  We were on pace to finish in our timeframe.  We came over the crest of a hill at 16 miles an hour or so and begin to descend when I saw the stop sign at a very busy intersection. I began to slow, attempted to release my cycling shoe from my left cleat. My foot would not release, my heart rate began to rise as I got closer to the intersection. I hit my brakes, my wheels locked and the law of physics took over as I became an object in motion flying high over my handle bars and according to the friend I was riding with my head turned slightly to the left as I did a full face plant.  I rolled over on my back, moaned, got up and began to inspect my bike for damage as blood gushed from several places on my face.  My limar bicycle helmet and oakley sunglasses protected me from being hurt more than I was.

By now several other cyclists were on-scene helping me to the side of the road and getting me to lay down and stop worrying about my bike, which faired very well much better than I. Did I mention there was lots of blood?  My friend called 911. Prior to EMS arrival a doctor, also on the charity ride pulled up and started to administer basic emergency treatment. After introducing herself as a doctor, she shyly said that she is a doctor of vet medicine.  I told her that was fine since all the organs are basically the same just different sizes based on the size of the animal. She was wonderful and kept me calm, alter and on the ground until the EMS folks arrived.

A 15 minute ride to the hospital, a two hour stay in the ER a number of stitches in my upper lip and an x-ray of my right knee.  I was discharged and headed back to the ride start Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, WV.  A guy and a gal who were waiting for their friends to complete the 50 mile loop kept me company with the dog they were watching.  The guy told me I made all the other bicyclists look like wimps.  I can assure you, my goal was not to crash and therefore making the others look like wimps was accidental.   As you can see from the pics I look like I participated in a boxing match not a bicycle charity ride.

A big thank you to Debbie the friend I wad riding with for first taking care of me and then making sure my bike got back to the university. A thank you to Sam for transporting my bike and directing the rescue to my location.  There is a baptist church at the intersection where I crashed.  Thanks to Tim Hott and Justin for making sure I got home safely and checking in over the past few days.