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