At least that is what kny said.
Gonna share some details for whoever might care. Personal therapy I guess. Sorry for spelling/grammer, I am a bit drugged up right now.
I went into race coming at the end of a great year cycling-wise. Was in elite wave and hoping for top 5-10 finish. Went full aero: tri bike, trispoke, wheel cover, even freshly shaven legs.
Had my standard mediocre swim and was ready to reel people in on the bike. Was really feeling pretty good. Then we got to the first big descent. This is the one with tons of signs warning us to slow down. Tons of warnings at pre-race meeting. And I saw how dangerous it was when driving the course the day before. The very first corner on this descent took me out.
I went into this corner way too fast. I am generally not one to take major risks on descents but I also don't want to lose time riding the brakes. I clearly misjudged this one. I hit the corner, realized I really needed to slow down, hit the brakes, felt my rear wheel lose traction in gravel, and knew I was screwed. The last thing i remember thinking was "I am going into the ditch". Then I woke up in the ditch.
Looking at my garmin data I appears that I was going 40 mph into the corner and only slowed to 35.
So anyway I remember waking up in the ditch and someone was already in there helping me. I believe this was a local biker who was out on the course named Eric. I was pretty confused and remember thinking something like. "Where am I, I think I was doing a race, maybe I should get up and get racing again, maybe I am hurt, wonder where my bike is". I was bleeding pretty good from my head onto my knee. My tongue noticed what seemed like a missing tooth. That sucks. Then I noticed that as my tongue was exploring my mouth it was also moving my entire face around. I am an MD and quickly realized I was seriously injured. What I thought was a missing tooth was actually my upper jaw overlapping itself. Multiple bad facial fractures.
Went in ambulance to local hospital. They did some scans and discovered that my mildly sore upper back was actually an unstable T9 fracture and several other spinal fractures.. They transferred me to West Virginia University. Had surgery on face and spine on the next day. Neurosurgeons did a fusion of most of my T spine with 2 rods that are supposed to come out in 6 month or so. At least 5 plates in my face. my jaw is essentially wired in place and I am on liquid diet for 6 weeks or so.
No brain damage. No spinal cord damage. Everything will heal. But it does really hurt.
Amazingly my bike seems to have come out without a scratch. Just a flat front tire.
Thank-you to everyone who helped me that day. Especially Eric in the ditch and the volunteer on the motorcycle who stayed with me most of the day while we waited for my wife to arrive. Thanks to whoever took care of my bike and other stuff. Thanks to the RDs who put on a great race. I was adequately warned about the dangerous descent, I just screwed up.
Gonna share some details for whoever might care. Personal therapy I guess. Sorry for spelling/grammer, I am a bit drugged up right now.
I went into race coming at the end of a great year cycling-wise. Was in elite wave and hoping for top 5-10 finish. Went full aero: tri bike, trispoke, wheel cover, even freshly shaven legs.
Had my standard mediocre swim and was ready to reel people in on the bike. Was really feeling pretty good. Then we got to the first big descent. This is the one with tons of signs warning us to slow down. Tons of warnings at pre-race meeting. And I saw how dangerous it was when driving the course the day before. The very first corner on this descent took me out.
I went into this corner way too fast. I am generally not one to take major risks on descents but I also don't want to lose time riding the brakes. I clearly misjudged this one. I hit the corner, realized I really needed to slow down, hit the brakes, felt my rear wheel lose traction in gravel, and knew I was screwed. The last thing i remember thinking was "I am going into the ditch". Then I woke up in the ditch.
Looking at my garmin data I appears that I was going 40 mph into the corner and only slowed to 35.
So anyway I remember waking up in the ditch and someone was already in there helping me. I believe this was a local biker who was out on the course named Eric. I was pretty confused and remember thinking something like. "Where am I, I think I was doing a race, maybe I should get up and get racing again, maybe I am hurt, wonder where my bike is". I was bleeding pretty good from my head onto my knee. My tongue noticed what seemed like a missing tooth. That sucks. Then I noticed that as my tongue was exploring my mouth it was also moving my entire face around. I am an MD and quickly realized I was seriously injured. What I thought was a missing tooth was actually my upper jaw overlapping itself. Multiple bad facial fractures.
Went in ambulance to local hospital. They did some scans and discovered that my mildly sore upper back was actually an unstable T9 fracture and several other spinal fractures.. They transferred me to West Virginia University. Had surgery on face and spine on the next day. Neurosurgeons did a fusion of most of my T spine with 2 rods that are supposed to come out in 6 month or so. At least 5 plates in my face. my jaw is essentially wired in place and I am on liquid diet for 6 weeks or so.
No brain damage. No spinal cord damage. Everything will heal. But it does really hurt.
Amazingly my bike seems to have come out without a scratch. Just a flat front tire.
Thank-you to everyone who helped me that day. Especially Eric in the ditch and the volunteer on the motorcycle who stayed with me most of the day while we waited for my wife to arrive. Thanks to whoever took care of my bike and other stuff. Thanks to the RDs who put on a great race. I was adequately warned about the dangerous descent, I just screwed up.