The ringing in my ears lifted with a wave that travelled vertically through my body. A couple of people leant in to help me get up, but I told them I needed a second as my body dropped back down to the ground – the kerbstone made for an uncomfortable pillow as I waited for some strength to come back to me. Conscious of my smashed collarbone I picked myself off the ground with my left arm and staggered down the pavement to a bus shelter seat before blacking out again – bugger!…
Proper injuries are thankfully a rare occurrence for me – I’m always aware of over training and for me riding is about having fun, so if training starts to hurt too much I tend to take it easy until I feel strong again. But some things can’t be avoided, especially if you can’t see them coming! Not wanting to go into specifics I basically knew nothing about the crash before waking up in the ambulance.
The paramedics did a fantastic job of waking me up and getting me to the hospital where it began to sink in that I had weeks off racing, which was one of the few things that was concerning me! A couple of x-rays and some morphine and I was out of there! Apparently even if an operation is the final answer they can’t do anything until the swelling goes away.
Lots of sympathy from friends and family has overwhelmed me a bit and after all of the support they’ve given me over the ‘cross season I decided to make it along to Cyclopark to watch round 8 of the LCCA league to give some shouts to the other riders and take some photos. It’s interesting to see a ‘cross race from the outside for a change – I made some predictions at the beginning about who’d gone off too fast and who might be keeping their powder dry for the last few laps.
The Vets/Junior/Women’s race was great to watch – a lot of the vets are really experienced and take lines through stuff that I hadn’t spotted beforehand. The chasing juniors worked hard to stay with Jon Lyons who was in charge at the front of the race. James Flury did a great job to stay at the head of the race to win the junior race and Claire made it a double victory for Vicious Velo in the women’s race just ahead of Sophia Joy.
In the seniors, Matt Holmes made a strong start, with Jack Finch chasing behind. Michael Butler followed the pair through the first few laps before attacking Jack, moving ahead to Matt to form a strong partnership at the front. Stuart Spies, Dan Drake, Chris McGovern and several others fought a really interesting battle for the top positions and left me wondering what might have been if I’d been racing! Butler eventually put the hard work in to win the race ahead of Matt and Jack.
The racing was enough inspiration to drag my broken body back onto the turbo trainer five days after I’d been taken out – three sets was enough to get the blood pumping! It was great to see everyone at the race and for all of your get-well-soon messages. As the former governor of California may say, “I’ll be back!”
Photos by Glen Whittington. Additional photos and video by John at ukcyclesport.com. Header Image by Pip Jenkins.
Glen races a pair of Boardman Elite CX Pro‘s which are available via Tribeca Sport. He races in the London CycloCross League and is supported by Bike Science and Helly Hansen. For 2014 he’ll be racing mountain bikes also for KTM. All views and opinions are personal and should be taken with a pinch of salt – This blog is not for cissies or cry-babies.
Glen runs THE.TRIBECA.SPORT.WØRKSHOP which is based at 28 London Road, Southborough, TN4 0QB – 01892 533 339 – glen@tribecasport.co.uk . The shop specialises in precision servicing, race prepping, 3D Bike Science bike fitting and high quality bikes and equipment. Drop in, give us a call, visit our Facebook page or browse our website for more details. He also runs the shop race team and club as well as racing ‘cross, road and cross-country nationally.
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