Not a Good Day on the Bike

The day actually had promise at first as Chris and I got ready to pre-ride the Deer Valley course.


But then on one of the fastest downhill sections on the race course, I came whipping around a BLIND corner and to my surprise there were two riders coming uphill at me! I slammed the brakes on and skidded for 20 or 30 feet at least on the loose dirt. Since they kept pedaling towards me and didn't move over as they yelled at me to slow down (.....can't you see I am TRYING to guys!!!!!!!!!) I didn't have that extra bit of room to slow down and had to (not so) willingly bail into the trees in order not to touch them.

I slammed my bike onto a tree launching my water bottle (figured this out later) and heard a snap in my ankle as my body landed. Immediate pain set in. But I got my act together enough (and the two riders had stopped by now) to tell them politely that they were going to encounter TONS of riders since we are all pre-riding the course right now and I knew there were more people behind me coming. I was genuinely concerned for these 2 riders despite the terrible circumstances and the throbbing in my ankle. And the (not so) lovely gentleman (with a foul mouth I might add) decided to tell me that he "Didn't give a #$%%#" and that he "lived here!!!!!" as though that gave him a right to do whatever he wanted to do I guess. I replied "yeah so do I" (live here).

We parted ways and they continued to go the wrong way on the race course after my fair warning and I continued to ride downhill with my new injury. It is a very weird situation and I think the lesson is to not expect any race course anywhere at anytime to ever ever ever ever be closed off completely even during a race.

For the sake of putting my head into race mode I need to think of this as a mere "tweak" right now and nothing more. It may be more I don't know but I can't let it stop me and it hasn't yet. It actually feels better to ride than walk so that is good.

This picture can only explain my thoughts on my new injury. I am just getting over my thumb and now this. I spent most of the day crying. My ankle is hurt, swollen, occasionally gives me a good zing and clunks and aches like a mother.


Speaking of mother, my spirits were brightened by her visit from WA today. She is here to watch me race this weekend as well as get away from the WA scene a bit. We went to Costco immediately after picking her up from the airport and she road in this thing around there.


Actually, no, it was more like she zipped around in that thing so fast that I couldn't keep track of her!!! No...not kidding. It had me laughing which was good because I really really needed that. I seriously thought she was gonna take someone out though. Man, next time I am giving her some race plates! I think I know where I get it from now.

And a big thanks to the boys at Bingham's Cyclery. Chris, you rule. Today I brought him in a new pair of shoes to set up with about 2 minutes notice and he got it all done up. I could have cried at the drop of a hat while there but instead you all made me laugh. I needed that. Thanks for the smiles guys. It meant more than you know on this very weird day.