And I thought the rug burn on my knee hurt…na, that wasn’t pain. I know this because I got up close and personal with pain on my ‘get back to my roots’ weekend in Winter Park. That’s Brian and I shortly before the moment of impact.

BJ I’m sure, can recall the incident better then I since he was right behind me on the trail. As far as what I recall? I recall being about half way through our ride on Tipperary Creek, after climbing for about an hour we were ready to hit the downhill. My favorite part, I have biked this trail several times, I know the downhill pretty well. The first part is steep and fast with loose rocks and a drop off to the left. My approach is always to just go with it and go for it, you can’t have hesitation, you simply have to go.

Brian led the descent, he set the pace and was flying. Somehow I wasn’t too far off his tail, I guess that meant, I was flying as well….yes, I was hauling. About a quarter mile down going about 20mph I started to fish tail. Next thing I see is my front wheel perpendicular to my bike and it stops, unfortunately for me, I kept going. Gravity soon took over and I took quite a blow to my right side…the epicenter of this impact the right hip. Ya dudes, I bailed hard.

I’m ok, I’m ok…I knew instantly that I was ok but I was shaking, extremely weak and nauseous. Brian heard sounds of the wreck and came back up to us. The boys cleaned out my wounds, I dusted myself off and got back on the bike for the rest of the downhill. I felt confident, mentally I was ok to continue. Really, I had no choice, I had to ride out. I was in good spirits. For the most part it was ok but the pain started to kick in and grew from there. I knew once I stopped moving I would be in a world of hurt and that biking was not actually helping my injuries. It was a Saturday of HTFU.

The extent of my injuries thus far:
1) my right femur and pelvis took the brunt of the impact and some juicy bruising is in the works
2) strained my adductors near the attachments, more tendon stress than muscle belly
3) cannot adduct or medially rotate my femur
4) other muscles that are hurting - hamstrings, TFL, Gluts, QL, obliques
5) doesn’t appear to be any ligament or joint damage
6) rock rash on my leg, elbow and a bit of flesh missing on my left hand
7) my right shoulder and upper arm is pretty sore and stiff

I’m better today then I was yesterday and I’ll just have to see what happens from here. Right now I’m doing a bit of lymph drainage on myself, icing, using arnica and keeping movement in my hip. The quality of my movement has increased but not the quantity. The pain has changed a bit too, still prominent but has dulled down a bit from last night.

I’ll come out of this just fine but the next few weeks will be nothing but making sure I rehab from this accident thoroughly. I’m hoping to get into the pool in a few days to start active recovery. In the meantime, ice and rest are my best friends. So my 12 mile run is out tomorrow seeing as walking without assistance is a huge feat but that’s alright its just some more pain training for the books. Any pain and discomfort I am in is overshadowed by the sheer joy that I didn’t die or break my head open on one of the many rocks that outline my landing area, I was so lucky. The consequences of this crash although painful are welcomed in lieu of what could have happened. I’m also elated that my work tools (hands, arms) are for the most part uninjured so I will be able to work this week.

In hindsight, yeah I was going too fast but I was having a great time! This will only make me tougher.

Thanks BJ, Brian, Petra and Molly for getting me ice, putting the ice back, getting me water and margaritas, food and helping me get around condo for the rest of our trip. I would have been screwed without you.