22 Lucky Years, The wheel follows the eyes, Fat and Skinny is still a Great Event, and I think I think these things…
In no particular order:
7. the doctor pepper 10 commercials are my favorite. followed by Gary Busey talking to his pants.
3. pro cycling is super boring. almost as boring to watch as golf. i have recorded a few events this season and with the exception of paris roubaix and flanders i always fast forward to the last ten k. this is especially true of stage races.
18. amateur racing, like what we do, is awesome. always craziness and never predictable (unless TRH brings a full squad) and i find myself more and more in love with this level of the sport. it has been so rewarding to create the team (First IB Cycling) and watch it grow. the guys and gals are doing well (the ladies are particularly impressive this year) and the diversity of personalities is super fun to be around.
7. cody lundeen is leaving dual survival and that sucks because that super-wanker joe teti is now the anchor and they’re bringing some desert-dwelling tarzan in to take cody’s place. guarantee that show is toast and i liked it.
7. i’ve really become a tea guy…or tea person. loose-leaf all the way with the cast-iron pot and everything. golden assam mixed with a bit of jasmine white is a really nice blend. i drink it all the time and i can tell that the antioxidants are protecting me from all manner of diseases and evil spirits.
so i have been racing for 22 years (since i was 18) and have crashed maybe three times on the road and a couple more off-road. i have had lots of stitches and had a torn rotator cuff but never broken a bone. at masters nationals in louisville a few years ago i dislocated my finger with a lap to go when some jerk off went down in front of me and my hand jammed it’s way through his rear wheel when i went down. but never a broken bone.
well so much for that. sunday in the masters crit at fat and skinny up in warsaw i went down due to the ninth-dan numbskullery of one of my breakaway companions. the front wheel generally follows the eyes and those eyes apparently wanted to look behind after exiting a corner at high speed and just as we were accelerating on the backstretch. why? i don’t know. we had plenty of gap and were working smoothly and taking even pulls…a win was assured for one of us. disappointing and painful but…shit happens, as the pope always says. we all make mistakes. the key is to learn from them and not make the same mistake ten times in the same race like said numbskull.
anyway i went to the ER and sat for an hour waiting to be seen by a real doctor. this did not happen and after someone repeatedly came in and told me they were sorry for the wait and that they would get me something for the pain, i was finally convinced that either i was not, in fact, in a real hospital, or that all the doctors were at another hospital. so i walked half-naked to the nurses station and told them i was leaving. they were very concerned and also frustrated at me because i did not appreciate their ruse. but no matter. i’m used to that personality type…i work in the bicycle industry. so i know how to handle them. in this case i just had a box of wine brought in and, while they were busy, shredded my intake forms and left silently with help from mr. mcclary. silly old hens…
my REAL doctor back home told me to come in first thing in the morning and he would assess the situation. so after a somewhat painful drive home and a very uncomfortable night’s sleep i went to see the doc and get an x-ray. this confirmed the clavicle fracture with dislocation and splinters. bad stuff. surgery required asap. doc scheduled surgery for wednesday and i mucked my way through the next two nights as best i could and waited for my wife to get home from a business trip in miami. she’s great. she takes care of me like a champ and is super helpful and would do much more if i would let her. she even tried to mow the lawn, which i have forbidden as mowing the lawn is one of the primary outlets for my undiagnosed OCD. but we’ll get that taken care of later. so surgery:
surgery was super fun and i had a great time with the anesthesia as always. here is what anesthesia is like:
doc: “i’m going to make you a little sleepy now while i ask you a few questions.”
me: “okay…oh wow i can feel it starting to……”
doc: “all done mr. richter, how are you feeling?”
me: “ooooh you rotten bugger you tricked me again…and why the hell are my pants wet?”
doc: “perfectly normal stuff there, mr. richter…would you like a soft drink?”
me: “i demand to see your phone this instant! and why are we in an elevator? this building is only one floor.”
doc: “hmmmmm…mrs. richter? he’s all yours.”
that was yesterday. they put a nerve block in my shoulder so i had no feeling and no motor control of my left arm yesterday and last night which was disconcerting but did eliminate any pain until it wore off around mid-morning. i had fun trying to wash my face at the sink with my dead left arm just sort of sitting on the side wanting to slip off when i moved. weird. and when i was sitting on the couch watching tv last night with beth i kept looking over to check on it and it was never where i thought it was.
and that was that. it’s now the end of the second day and my neck hurts like a sonofabitch. i guess they were wrenching around on my neck and shoulder muscles trying to get the clavicle straight (so said the PA when i asked her why it felt like i had whiplash). hope to sleep a bit tonight. pain meds and me don’t get along very well.
i gotta go man. promise i’ll write something better soon…
oh wait! i wanted to say thank you to rob and nancy gast and everyone else responsible for the Fat and Skinny Tire Fest (version 11). as always, this is a really wonderful event with huge crowds, a super fun festival atmosphere with loads of food and drink and plenty of diversions for cyclists of all disciplines and abilities. and it is held in one of the most idyllic settings in indiana, the Village at Winona Lake. just a really great event and one that i always love doing. if you have not done it, try it next year and i promise you will love it!
