Ouch! Rashes of Crashes

It was looking like it would be a great Sunday. Clear skies, warm temperatures, nothing on my calendar except the Giro Ride and maybe a haircut. Dan stopped by early and by 6:30 we were headed down Carrollton Avenue to the lakefront. There was a good group on hand and I was looking forward to a good workout as we crested the two bridges and rolled down onto Hayne Blvd. As usual I was in the middle of the group as it slowly started to get up to speed. Suddenly a dog comes running from the right side of the road in a full sprint straight into the pack. There was no time to react, and in fact I don't know if I hit him. I remember the dog running in front of me, and I remember the rider just ahead and to my left braking and coming over into me. I went down pretty hard and from my injuries I guess it must have been mostly vertical because while the road rash is minimal, the impact damage is pretty bad. The right collarbone snapped out toward the end and it was pretty obvious I wouldn't be riding home. I suppose I shouldn't be complaining too much since it took something like 36 years for me to finally join the collarbone club. Big Richard also hit the deck hard, and I guess there must have been someone else too. Howard Luna went to retrieve his car and was nice enough to drive my bike and me home where my neighbor (The Wife is out of town) offered to drive me down to the ER.

So I get to the Tulane ER where they have just received a couple of really sick patients, so it was a bit of a wait until I actually got into the ER itself. Then, as they're waking me to a bed I notice the bed next to it is already occupied by someone in cycling clothes. Turns out it's Roy Tedesco who had been on the same ride. He had crashed later in the ride out on Chef Highway when he pulled his foot out of the cleat. Compared to him, my injuries didn't seem so bad. He had gone down hard with a concussion and impact seizure, broken collarbone and some broken ribs. Looks like he'll be spending the night at the hospital. What are the chances of having two broken collarbones on the same ride in separate crashes? Freaky.

This particular blog entry, by the way, comes to you courtesy of Oxycodone. This thing really hurts! I'll try and get in to see a real orthopedist tomorrow. To make matters worse I took a look at the bike and discovered that one of the carbon seatstays got partially pulled out of the aluminum dropout. Nothing a little superglue can't fix, right? Too bad it won't work on the clavicle too.

My neighbors Kim and Nancy are taking good care of me, though, picking up my prescription and bringing over a bunch of food and stuff. I'm thinking I won't likely be getting any exercise for a couple of days, and then I guess I'll be forced to dust off the trainer.