First of all I am OK. No broken bones. Just some road rash and some stitches and negative neck x-rays and cat scan.

botto can stop reading now.

I feel so lucky that it wasn't a whole lot worse. I got caught up in a big crash on our local hammerhead/"we're going to yell at you" ride last night. I saw the guy that took my bike from the crash site (Dave from Recycled Cycles in Gainesville - Thanks, Dave!) this afternoon and he said that I looked a whole lot better than he thought that I would. That's kind of scary because I think that I look pretty bad today. I made sure that my wife called him from the ER to let him know that I was OK. Last night I had an email from BF's own Kensuf asking if I was OK. The guys on "elitist" rides are really can be very caring individuals. Well, except when they want to tear your legs off but that is part of the game. I emailed him back to let him know that all was well. The guys that I know through Dave also heard about the crash and were happy to receive good news.

From what I have been able to reconstruct from other folks and my not totally reliable recollection (my Giro Atmos is cracked in four places, so my brain function at that time wasn't the best) is that at the point where the pace would really pick up for jockeying for the first sprint there was a computer monitor base in the road. (!) Some folks hit it and lost control and then somebody went down right in front of me. I hit the downed bike. I remember trying hard not to hit the rider and I may have tried to jump over, but it happened so fast that I'm not 100% certain of that part. I do remember not grabbing a fist full of brakes. And then it is a blank for awhile. I'm guessing that this happened about 30 mph. I must have gone over the bars and hit left shoulder first (ruining my favorite jersey) and then left side helmet/left side face next. I have pictures of the aftermath, but I will not post them.

I was "out" for a while, and when I "came to" I was being asked all kinds of questions: What year is it? How old are you? Where are you? Even though I knew why they were asking these questions I wasn't sure of the answers. (Thanks, Angela. I hope I got that name correct.) I knew then that I was going into the ER. It is kind of an "out of body" experience to be aware that you have a concussion, but you aren't quite sure who you, what day it is, or where you are. The bad gash where my glasses "bit" into my cheek requiring stitches was also a prime indicator for a medical visit. My glasses were outside my helmet straps, if you are interested. They hit lens first and it wouldn't have made any difference in this case. Wearing them probably kept my eyes from being abraided by the road. The lens are really badly scratched and my titanium glasses frames are "toast".

Of course the first question I had my wife ask Dave when she called from the ER was "How is my bike?" All my bike needed was a little bit of front wheel truing this morning. Kensuf tells me that one carbon frame was trashed in the melee (LOTS of riders went down), but there were no broken bones and no teeth knocked out. It could have been a whole lot worse.

No need to respond to this thread. I just wanted to send out a public thanks to all the great roadies out there. When the chips are down you can count on them. Great folks. I'd go to war with them.

Glad you're OK.

These things happen so quickly sometimes. Sorry it happened to you.

Happens to the best of us. Some more than others Get well soon.

Wow dude! Good to hear you came out OK. Do you get a free replacement helmet now?

PICS! (unless you're not comfortable posting them)

Nope! botto is "correct" on this matter.

Glad you are ok, and glad the bike is fine too.

scary... Im so glad you are allright.

glad to hear your relatively unscathed.

Thanks for all the good wishes.

Kensuf tells me that one rider has vertebrae fractures and will be in a neck brace for a month. Please send all of your good wishes his way. He needs them more than me.

I guess you wont be racing Deland this w/e?

Best wishes to you (and the others who crashed) for a speedy recovery.

WE WANT PICS!!!! Glad your ok first and foremost.

Yeah, OK, if you lost consciousness you crashed pretty hard. Any crash that ends in a CT scan is a hard crash. Just be glad you were in your home country. I wasn't.

Glad you're OK.

Glad it wasn't worse; get well soon!

Good to hear it wasn't as bad as it could've been.

Wishing you a speedy recovery!

wowzer! get well soon!

yeeouch. Glad you were able to post, and the steed is ok.

This is why I think all those carbon haters are funny. Accidents suck; get better and get back out there!

Oh c'mon ... not even a picture of your bike???

The irony is that I was on a steel bike.

Accidents suck, though.

good to read.

two questions:

1. anybody find out why the lead person, who went down after hitting the stand, didn't attempt to avoid it?

2. were you wearing regular eye glasses?

For (1) all I have is hearsay. Kensuf told me that the riders on the front said that they pointed out the hazard, but for some reason the information didn't filter back. I'm guessing that it was a big surprise and there was precious little time to react.

It seemed to me that it was just very bad timing as it all happened at that point in the ride where the disciple of the double paceline breaks down and there is a surge up the road in anticipation of the sprint. Most people start looking for wheels to follow instead of hazards, even if they have no intention of contesting the sprint.


For (2) they were "regular" glasses in the sense of not being sport specific, but polycarbonate lenses. Lenses took a terrific beating and stayed in the frames and didn't shatter. That was good. The cut was from the bottom edge of the glasses being jammed hard into the soft tissue under the eye.

Glad to hear you're (relatively) OK. We just had a bad crash this morning on our group ride. Seems like these things come in bunches.

dead horse. smack. smack.

time to get contacts and sports glasses.