2019 was already starting as a very odd year in terms of competing in races, but now things have gone completely upside down after I crashed on my mountain bike. To recap let me start from the beginning.
2019 Race schedule background
My original goal this year was to have fun in the dirt (mountain biking and trail running) while picking up new races that I have never competed before. I also wanted to be financially conservative so I set a limitation that all races should be drivable in the morning, meaning no hotel stays unlike last year with MMTR, Black Bear Double, USAT Nationals, Myrtle Beach, and what could have been IRONMAN 70.3 North Carolina. I narrowed down my goals to the following:
- CMS XTERRA Charlottesville (fun because it is so hard)
- Reston Sprint (Iāve done the OLY in the Fall, but never the Spring sprint)
- EX2 XTERRA (drivable and in Maryland, plus I have never done this)
- āSomething LONG in the Fallā (trying to use up my IRONMAN voucher from North Carolina being canceled last year)
Training for the past 16 weeks, I felt ready for Charlottesville which was scheduled for May 12th with a relatively late morning start. On May 11th I decided to go out for a couple of āpickupsā where I would bike somewhat hard for about 20 minutes, then jump off the bike and run for 10. This is a race strategy that almost every training plan includes 24 hours prior to a race. I jumped on my mountain bike from my house and took off for the easy trails around my neighborhood, somewhat excited as that night a rainstorm had thundered its way through our area leaving the trails nice and muddy. What better way to get my mind ready for XTERRA than a little mud fest!
Where things took a bad turn
What I wasnāt thinking about is my local trails have lots of wooden bridges to make the trails walker friendly. I came barreling down the first bridge which immediately banks to the left for a couple of āSā turns. I stupidly decided to turn while on the bridge and my front tire slipped out from underneath me and I crashed to the ground. I crashed HARD. I ripped a solid 1.5ā square off the top of my knee and my kneecap was fully exposed (at least I think it wasā¦ I saw white and that freaked me out). I was also immediately in pain. I couldnāt roll over or get up for what felt like an extremely long time, but finally managed to hop/walk my bike back to a nearby parking lot to call for help. Four hours later in an ER getting stitches, XRAYS, and shotsā¦ I was released.
Iām recovering quickly as I have already done a couple walk/jog sessions, but havenāt been able to get into the pool yet and cycling is difficult because the skin over my knee doesnāt have any elasticity so I cannot bend it correctly while peddling. Iām going to guess there will be little to zero updates on this site for 2019 as I know I wonāt be able to do the Reston Sprint and most likely not EX2 XTERRA. My only hope for racing this year right now is rehab, and train for something in the fall.
Images
If by chance you want to see images while I was in the hospital (#1, #2, and #3) or a one week āprogressā image, you can click on the thumbnails below. If you donāt like blood, donāt click.
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