Building Blocks

After another good week of training, with a lot of increased numbers and my overall body/mind starting to come around, I was looking forward to another weekend of racing. As things were conveyed to me, Saturday would be a technical race on very narrow roads, and a very tricky finishing circuit and Sunday would be a French Cup race in Nantes which was hilly and had a flat finishing circuit (which basically meant more starters, big teams and super hard). 

With last Sunday's comeback in mind, I was really ready to see if the legs could handle a result this weekend. I worked a lot of mental visualization and focus coming into both days preparing myself for whatever may happen. 

As we got off in the car on Saturday, somehow I got elected to sit in the middle of the back seat since we all piled into one car for a 3 hour Journey to Matha, small town outside of Cognac. Eventually we got there, after what seemed to be a painful car ride. The weather seemed great, and it wasn't terribly windy either. 

Once we picked up our numbers we had a look at the route, which looked to be the standard 100km loop through the region and then back into town for 30km of "local laps." We all seemed in good spirits as we came into the start, and it also looked like we had a good field of about 120 riders. I recognized some of the riders from other races and in my head marked some of them who were strong. 

As we got underway things were aggressive from the go with exception being we were hitting corners and turns every 30 seconds. If the day was going to be like this I knew I had to be at the front and very aggressive. I stayed top 15 riders for the next 30 minutes knowing that something was going to break. As we hit dirt roads and roads no wider than 6 feet through the farmland, a break formed. We had Kalvis in it, so it was a free ride for me as soon as someone wanted to go across. After about three surges, I was able to get across with Stefan. We had pretty much everyone in the move. Kalvis told me something was wrong with his seatpost and his saddle was coming down and that in the next town he was pulling out. Stefan pretty much attacked immediately after this. 

His move caused a 4 rider split, my job now was to sit at the front and get across. Coming into the 50km mark, the KOM primes started to come and the group was fracturing with the surges and attacks. I marked one of the stronger riders in the group as he tried to make it across. Eventually we came back to the group and I drifted mid pack recovering. At this point we came into a tight left corner, where his teammate attacked (another rider on my list). Unfortunately I was in no position to get across. The surge brought 6 riders up to Stefan. 

For the next 40km, our group maintained about a 30 second gap to the break. Coming into 80 to 90km the desire to work in the group became completely uninterested. This lead to non stop attacking until we got into the local laps. I pretty much fired every missile I had in the arsenal to stay in the front selection. A few times, arguing with a few of the riders trying to make me take a lead of the work load. 

Finally making it into the technical finishing circuit, I used my crit riding skills to nab a prime and get my name announced a few times. Apparently "White" isn't a super easy pronunciation in French and it comes out "Wheat"... So I became a common grain. I won the sprint for our group and I was happy to be done for the day, coming in 16th. The race was super technical and didn't leave a lot of time for drinking and eating, so I was pretty much destroyed. Looking at the numbers we did 130km in 3:08. My normalized power was 284 watts for the race. 

Getting back into the car wasn't fun either. We had a 3 hour journey back home. With the late start we finally made it home about 9:30. I finally ate dinner by 10:15. Then laid in bed trying to fall asleep since we had an 11am pick up Sunday. I noticed my hip and glute were extremely tight (crash side) and hoped in the morning they were ok. 

Morning came, so did the stiffness. I made it a point to sit on my foam roller for 30 minutes before leaving to make sure I could at least have a normal range of motion. Thankfully, we had two cars for today's race, so we wouldn't all have to be packed like sardines in one car. 

We headed for Nantes and got there in about an hour and a half, the weather was beautiful out and it was going to be a nice day for racing. At race parking pretty much every big amateur team and one professional squad made it to the race today. The field was huge with 142 starters. Somehow my reputation proceeded me and I was interviewed for one of the racing papers, asking me about where I grew up and how I had recovered from the epic crash in Loches. Surprisingly I was able to do about 40% of it in French-Spanish...

There was also another American in the peloton, who had made France his home for the last 10 years. We had our introduction and shared some conversation in our roll out. This was short lived since 140 plus riders dodging roundabouts causes some splits. 

Getting into the main circuit of the course, the pace was absolutely ballistic. Again knowing a split likely, I did my best to stay towards the front. As we began the climbs, I made it over the first two without issue. Upon cresting the second climb, we were strung out downhill in the crosswind at 500 watts. We pretty much maintained about 65km/h until we hit the third climb. Seeing the top was no prize for me, my back and hip/glute were not feeling today. I pulled out of the single file line hoping what I was feeling was temporary. It was not. I pulled the plug.  

Not a super happy day for me. 

Thankfully our team had a great showing, Stefan was able to nab the prize for climbers and Kalvis finished 7th. Surprisingly, out of 142 starters about 35 riders finished. As we came into the local laps, I didn't feel too bad riding in the car seeing all the other team cars with bikes on the top racks.

I hope that our great weather here continues and we should have another great weekend of racing. I also hope to keep building from each race I do, eventually ending on the podium.

 

Don't Call it a Comeback: The Two week Turn-around From Coma to Racing

Two weeks ago I experienced the worst crash of my career. Something that left me unconscious and completely unresponsive. Thankfully I had some luck on my side and woke up mid CAT Scan, after being dead to the world for 4 hours. Hearing the words "You're a very lucky boy" shortly after. I really was not sure what was going on. Finally after some self exploration, I realized what had happened, without any sort of recollection of the event that passed.

The next week was one that was full of surprises. The first few days out of the hospital going to the bathroom and moving out of my room seemed to be a hard task. Finally mid week I was able to walk to the end of the block and back without a lot of pain. Eventually the end of the week came and the stitches and staples were to come out. 

Having staples pulled out of your head is about as fun as getting them put in. I was fine with getting the stitches taken out, but the staples were just a little much. As I was putting my jacket on, I experienced something new and it felt like all the life was getting pulled out of me. And slowly again, I was unconscious with people standing over me. Not sure if the ordeal was just too much for me or having metal yanked from my head was too much, but the end result was me on the ground. Thankfully, the nurse made sure I was ok and I stayed most of the day in bed, since I was not feeling anywhere close to myself. 

Thankfully as the weekend came I started to feel more and more like a human being and a return to training seemed pretty possible for Monday. After a quick check with the nurse and cleaning of my wounds, I was cleared to get back on my bike and that I did. I felt a granted freedom and happy to be back doing the thing I loved. Everyday the legs felt better and better as the time on the bike increased. Thursday, Albert had confirmed that I would be racing Sunday. As Friday came along, I also got thrown on the roster for Saturday's race.

Coming back into action from a crash like that is hard no matter if you remember it or not. Especially after taking a week completely off and laying in bed recovering from it. As we headed to St. Christophe on Saturday, I was extremely nervous. I wasn't entirely sure how the legs would feel and how I would feel in the peloton. 

As we kitted up I tried to be as positive as possible and Antoine told me to just get the legs back today and race calm. So that was a little more comforting, knowing there wasn't a lot of pressure from the team. The race was on from the gun, as there were various primes along the outer loop before hitting the local laps. I felt a little nervous in the group, and the legs felt surprisingly ok going up the climbs. I found myself in the front 10 riders over the first KOM and was kind of surprised. 


As we progressed I had a front flat and drifted back into the caravan, but we had no car there. So I rode into the next town and waited for the broom wagon behind the last group of riders. It was my first experience riding in the broom wagon and it wasn't the best. I was happy to get back in the car and ride home after the long day. Thankfully for our team, Kelvis was able to nab third and Stefan was able to get an award for his aggressive riding. 

Personally, I was approaching Sunday with far less expectations. I was told it was a 5km circuit, with a 2km long climb that topped out at 20%. We were set to do 20 laps. So being the amazing climber I am, I was out to get some fitness for the race.  

Not having any idea where we were going, we ended up having a three hour car ride to St. Georges-Buttavent. Eventually we arrived after lots of circles in roundabouts and some rally-esque driving on country roads. The town was having some sort of fair and there was definitely the biggest crowd I had seen at a race since crashing in Loches. Mentally for me this left sucking less of an option and venturing into the pain cave a large probability. As the race got underway, the pace was high again from the start. An early break was established and we had a rider in it. This made it easier for us, just following wheels and not having the responsibility to control the race. Hitting the second time up the climb, I had another puncture. Thankfully I was able to get a spare wheel this time and get back to the peloton. 


 Being such a short course it seemed that the climb was always coming. Fortunately, every time I was making the selection and midrace I was actually hearing people cheer my name. It is only recognizable because "Garrett" isn't exactly something that rolls off a French speaker's tongue. Another funny thing that I noticed was English in the peloton. It caused me to have a double take. Sure enough, two Estonian riders introduced themselves shortly after. They said they heard about the crash in Loches and were amazed I was racing so fast. As the laps closed down, with 3 to go the break had caught us. It brought the group to maybe 15 riders and the field was not sure if we were getting neutralized after that. With two to go, a barrage of attacks started as we hit the climb I made it 50% up and then just locked up. I wanted to ride it out but Albert was happy and told me to shut it down.  


Thankfully Stefan had attacked and had enough horsepower to stick it and take the win solo. So all in all a pretty successful ride for Team Bigot. Personally it was a great confidence builder to make it so far in such a hard race, especially coming back from what had happened two weeks ago.  


As another week starts, we will be racing only this weekend, so it provides some great training all week to prepare for the upcoming races. After the confidence gained Sunday, this next weekend is going to be a great showing!

The Return to the Ring

As today started, the joy of knowing I was going to be on my bike fueled me with energy. It made breakfast a little better and getting out of bed easier. There was absolutely no anxiety to return to something that essentially "left me for dead." 

So as I started my ride, it was like someone turned on a light switch in my brain. Creativity and thoughts were pouring out. Had I not been enjoying my time on the road so much, it would have been a perfect opportunity to sit in the sun and journal everything that came to mind. 

This has always been a blog about cycling and will continue to be. Some of the postings have been dry and very orientated around the details of the subject at hand. Today is a day for growth and change. The window coverings are going to be pulled back and people are going to be able to see a little further into my world. 

The past eight days have been extremely difficult for me, from a wide angle the experience as a whole was uncharted territory for me. From racing to waking up in CAT Scan to laying in bed for a week and moving around like a crippled old man. A lesson was to be learned from this experience. 

Most people would never understand why someone would get back on the proverbial horse after a mishap like this. But I don't. This is life. During our lifetime's we will all have hardship, we will all have a "crash", we will have to learn how to recover, cope and improve for the future. My incident may be a lot more physically involved, but the emotional aspect is all the same. The human spirit must persevere! If we don't get back on the horse, we will always wonder "why?" and "what if?"

So today I remounted the horse and didn't look back. Personally, when I started racing as a Category 4, one of my biggest long term goals was to race in Europe. Now this goal and dream has come to fruition. The years of work, sacrifice and hardship have been worth it. I am not letting a mishap get in the way of the overall goal of racing well here. So I will push on. 


There is no doubt that cycling is the most difficult and taxing sport in the world. There is no other activity that requires this much devotion, suffering and perseverance. It is completely incomparable to other activities. It stands alone as its own animal. Thankfully in this gladiator-esque sport, I have unbelievable support. Nothing would be possible without the support of my family, my girlfriend, my close friends, and the cycling community as a whole. The messages, conversations and phone calls over the last eight days have helped me get through the recovery process. Focusing on the good things can be a harder task than expected when walking to the bathroom is a taxing task. So thank you everyone for being there for me.


As the week starts, I hope to get back up to speed for a big race Sunday in Cholet. The legs may not be there, but being back in the peloton will help dump some gas on the fire of motivation. The ride today was a great success, I was not shaky on the bike at all, and emotionally felt ok riding as well. The only negatives were some inflexibility in my hamstring, hip flexor and IT band. Hopefully after a few days of stretching, foam rolling and massage these can be remedied and we will be good as new!

As always, thanks for reading and stay tuned for updates!

A Very Lucky Boy

I wake up to hear "You are a very lucky boy." My first thoughts are that this is a dream, or something terrible happened... I looked around and noticed that I was in a CAT Scan Machine. Something bad has happened. I continue to drift in and out of consciousness not knowing if what I am experiencing is a dream, even where I am and what is going on around me. I wasn't sure if I was in France or in the USA, if this was a dream... Everything was very cloudy.

As I streamed in and out of consciousness, the next thing I remember is water being dumped on my head. It felt like a fire had been started on my head. I was awake. This was real. My clothes are being cut off of me. I was racing, I am in France. What Happened?

 As my naked and torn body is covered we are moved into a shower room, and it was to be a very painful shower as all the dirt and wounds are cleaned out. I am not sure I have felt this amount of pain before. 

After the shower, my IV is administered and the drugs are being slowly pumped into me as my threshold of pain has surpassed. The doctor told me that my head and face were in need of sutures. I was hoping to pass out for this, but no dice. Being awake as he stitched up my face added a whole new level to pain for me. My head was even worse. Especially when the staples were being put in. I thought I was going to rip the nurse's hand off. Slowly more morphine was administered as the threshold of pain was broken over and over again. 

I still could not grasp what happened and how lucky I truly was. Eventually the facial sutures were complete, and then it was onto my knee. Which looked worse than hamburger meat. I wasn't quiet sure if they were going to skin graph it or what, it just looked bad. Finally, the Doctor went to work with his needle and thread, this time I did get some lidocane to make it more doable... I was almost done, when they realized that my chin was also split open... More suture goodness! 

Finally the nurse began to dress my wounds. This was about an hour of teeth gritting fun, as the small particles of debris had to be removed. The tops of both hands and both arms were completely bandaged. This was the same for both knees and one hip and one shoulder. Somehow I am walking away from this with no broken bones... I am asking myself how?

As I am calming down, Antoine came with my bag and told me Albert would come pick me up in the morning. Then I was visited by the director of the race, who informed me about what had actually happened. He also apologized that it had to happen at his race and that I should heal up soon.

Once everyone had left my room in the ICU, I was dying of hunger! I somehow managed to get off my bed and find my jersey and two nut bars in one of the pockets. This made the nurse not so happy, and she told me that is all I could eat! They moved me to my room at this point were I requested a juice and my cell phone!

I called my parents ASAP, because I wanted them to know I was ok. I wasn't sure if they were going to get any funny phone calls from France or USA Cycling informing them that there son was in ICU. So it was imperative to let them know what I knew and that I was ok. I also called my girlfriend, Emily right after to let her know what was going on. I didn't want her to worry since she knew I was competing and my chance to talk with her that night was already getting limited for obvious reasons... Surprisingly everyone seemed more ok about the situation than I did, but I really had no idea what was going on, so I guess that added to the excitement for me.

Taking things from the top, I started my second race in France, with a lot more knowledge than the first race. I did know that the French riders are cautious in the corner and that the race would get decided about 50% of the way through. The race was a circuit in Loches, that featured some rolling hills and single lane roads. After one lap I felt like today was my day to shine. I was at the front and climbing with ease. There seemed to only be one sector of the course that made me hurt and everything else was great.

As the race progressed, I found myself in the front group, even if it meant me jumping across riders who opened gaps. I was closing them down. As the halfway mark approached I was in the front group. We hit the cross wind climb on the course and I was going through riders, climbing at my own pace. As we turned into the tailwind/downhill section I could see the elastic was snapping some riders. I jumped across into the front selection again... Then lights out! That is all I remember...

At the hospital, the race director told me because of the wind and rain the rider in front of me lost control of his bike and had his rear wheel slide out into my front wheel. I guess that I almost saved it from catastrophe when my front wheel caught grip mid skid and I flipped completely in the other direction with other riders going down behind me. 

My damage was a concussion, and complete blackout, 12 stitches to my face, 10 stitches to the top of my head, 6 staples to the top of my head, 6 stitches to my knee and one to my chin. Also obvious road rash was there.  I was rushed to the hospital in Loches, because I was completely unconscious with apparent loss of all motor skills. The cat scans where all negative... So I dodged a big bullet...

When I woke up this morning it felt like I had been thrown from a moving car. My head felt like it had been squeezed in a vise and my arm felt like I had pitched an entire major league baseball playoff's with no rest. I opted for a morning shower, but realized that it was going to be from a chair as standing on my one leg was pretty painful. 

Eventually post shower, and having my dressings changed, Antoine had arrived to take me back to Les Aubiers. I slept most of the ride. We stopped at Albert's house and I met his wife. She was very nice, and made sure that I had some food and what painkillers I could get because its Easter.

For those that want some photos here they are... A little hard to stomach so turn away if you cant handle it

Race 1... Sharp learning curve...

When going into a race in a place you never have been, in a country you've seen for less than a week, what you expect is pretty much unexpected. As far as the information for the race, no one on our team knew much. This making the unknown factor so much more.

As for the night before, I was asleep early but then a storm seemed to wake me up around 1am, and it felt like I never really was asleep again after that. I got up early, made the breakfast and made sure my machine was ready to go. Then laid back down to make sure I had at least some down time.

When the cars arrived to pick us up, we were blessed with the awesome weather that was to come during the race. SNOW.

Being from Florida, these are not typical conditions we ride in. I just found it funny, knowing this is going to make our unknown race that much more epic. So after about an hour in the car we made it to L'lle Bouchard, and we stopped at "Super U" which is a super market and the guys began to unload bikes. I guess we were at the race...

So it started to know again. Then registration opened inside the store, which was a new thing for me, to be at a grocery store for a race. This is in the photo below.

As we all got kitted up and pinned up, and the race got organized, we lined up in the parking lot for about a 2km neutral roll to the starting line. I had no idea what was going on the whole time. Eventually we got to a start line which was a familiar site! Then they introduced every rider and then gave us 10 minutes to get ready to race. Pretty much not speaking French was a handicap, since I had to ask the Latvians on our team what was going on. Unfortunately they don't speak a lot of French either. 

As the race started, I rounded a corner the normal American way and found myself with a sizable gap. I continued to pedal and was alone for the next 10km. This let me see that the course was not easy. It was super hilly and it was a constant 30-40mph wind. Welcome to France!

I came up the first KOM, and somehow won. Not that it was planned, I just have a knack for going around corners. So shortly after being caught, I seemed to make the front group and then seemed to get blown off the road and stay upright and make it back on the road. But then I was not closing the gap! I rode by myself for a lap, and then was in the 2nd group. 





Eventually that group got smaller and smaller as I decided to use the race for training and really give it gas up the climbs, since I am not the world's greatest uphill threat. This sort of made the group about 3 riders. A little past the halfway point in the race (70km) I got the axe. I would have liked to finish, but I guess it wasn't in the cards. I got back to the car and everyone but Stefan was there. So being the last man standing made me feel a little better about not being in the front group.


Stefan rode great and ended up 4th. All in all quiet the quick lesson in French Racing. I learned that its always windy, the race will usually have rain and snow, the roads are usually about 6 feet wide, French riders do not like corners and the races are that of attrition and selection. Looks like we are racing Saturday, Sunday and Monday; so there is a lot of time for redemption!