When I crashed yesterday I wasn’t of the presence of mind to stop my GPS. Here’s the official record of my travels:

Today was the last race of the Winter Park Mountain Bike series, the King of the Rockies. This race is a classic running annually since that late 80’s and that VeloNews has ranked as one of the top five mountain bike race courses in the world. In 1999 after winning his first Tour de France, Lance Armstrong raced here, finishing second.

I started well, staying in contact with the lead group on the dirt road before the 3 mile climb up Tipperary Creek. I was climbing well though I was concerned that I was putting too much out too early so I tried to moderate my effort a bit, fore there was still 19 miles of racing once I crested the climb. The downhill was very fast but I was caught in a string of at least 20 riders, with little room to safely pass. I started working my way up and finally was at the tail end of a group of 5. I decided not to take any more chances on the downhill and sit in until we arrived at the dirt road where I would hopefully clear the group I was stuck behind before hitting the Flume trail, a gradual downhill that’s tight, twisty and rooty.

As I cruised wtih this group down the backside of Tipperary, all of a sudden, BANG! I hit a rock in the middle of the trail. My visibility was limited, as I was following close. My front wheel slammed it and then my back. I was hurled sideways and over my bars at about 35mph. I came down (I think) upside down, twisted around on my right should/back and my head whipped at the ground hard, really hard. I rolled head over heals at least twice and then slid for what seemed like forever. I came to a stop of the right side of the trail. I did a quick assessment, moving my neck, hands, legs, etc. and noticed a sharp pain in my right shoulder. I touched my should with my hand and fell and heard bone grinding on bone. F*#K! That was it.

The staff at Winter Park was awesome, in 10 minutes an EMT Bike Patrol was at my side fashioning a sling. I stood as he did this and my words sounded like I was under water and the darkness was closing in. Luckily I sat down just in time, avoiding blacking out. Once I collected my self and we let traffic go by, we hiked out with the EMT pushing my bike and his. I managed to duck Truesdale as he went by hoping he would continue and finish. There was nothing he could do for me, and I was proud of him for showing up and racing as promised. It was a 1/2 mile hike out to a dirt road and Jeanie rolled up behind just as we arrived.

We hopped into a truck and were driven to the clinic at the resort. At this point I was deep in the pain cave… We were surprised to find out that they didn’t accept Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance, and we would have to pay out of pocket. It would likely cost $500-600 for an x-ray, a sling and a dose of narcotics. There was no question that I broke my collar bone, that was visually apparent. I made a tough decision and decided to refuse treatment at the clinic and head back to Denver. I think Jeanie thought I was crazy. So she loaded up the bikes and got the car. As she pulled out of the parking lot, she backed into another car. What a day. The damage was superficial but the car was a rental so the guy said he would try to buff it out and return it but just in case he took her Insurance info.

So we headed off to Denver. It took everything within me to stay alert and focus out the pain. The switchbacks on the pass were excruciating. 3.5hrs after my crash we arrived in the ER at Littleton Hospital. In a recent post I commented I need to buy more more jerseys. I didn’t realized I’d have one cut off of me several weeks later.

Long story long, I fractured my collarbone in two places, leaving a piece floating in my shoulder. My shoulder was pretty scrapped up and swollen (they were sure I broke my scapula but thank God that wasn’t the case), my left thumb was sliced up, my right elbow and right knee had really good “trail rash”.

Well, that’s one way to end a season. So much for cyclocross this year. We’ll see what the orthopedist says this week.

They haven’t posted the official results but it looks like Bill won the series taking a REALLY tough Clydesdale class. Congratulations Bill!

Will this post has taken me 1:15 minutes to write, mostly left handed. Enough for now.

Today marks the first time I pre-rode a course at Winter Park and did not get lost! Glorious! I planned to get up there super early, but Jeanie was laid up pretty good after her triathlon yesterday. She felt sick the night before and even worse the morning of, but still did the race. She said she didn’t notice how bad she felt until she got on her bike. She suffered bad for her first Olympic distance tri and spent the rest of the day and night between bed and the smallest room in the house. After a dose of Imodium she started to settle out… OUCH. Anyway, I didn’t get up to Winter Park until 10AM, hoping to catch up with Chris, Bill and Marni who apparently headed up even later because I saw the toaster in the parking lot when I finished.

The entire course (King of the Rockies) took me 2:56 to complete at a moderate pace. My race time should be in the neighborhood of 2:30. My GPS recorded a total ascent of 3314ft, rather than 4000ft that’s stated on the race website. The course is fun, all of the downhills are super fast. Beside the long length the course actually suites me pretty well. The big climb to Morse Pass is steady but not very steep. Here’s the profile I recorded:

Overall I had a good day, though I got dumped on coming down Long Trail and riding back to Frasier. I just can’t avoid the rain this year! In all I did 33mi in 3:25; worth the drive and the mountain traffic on the way home.

This is a public service announcement. Apparently the Forest Service is considering banning bikes from the Continental Divide Trail (CTD). The banishment from this HUGE trail would be devastating to the cycling community and is truly a national issue.

Here’s a link to the directive. Also here is a very easy way to voice your objection to the US Forest Service.

We now return to the regular scheduled broadcast.

Today I rode in the rain… again. Isn’t it supposed to be dry in Colorado? Anyway… Here are a few pictures from the last two Winter Park races. I seriously need to get some new jerseys…

Yesterday was the 5th Winter Park race of the series. I felt much better than I had a few weeks ago. I placed 17th so I’m improving… ever so slowly though. The course was the longest of the series so far at 24 miles (though my GPS clocked it under 23) with 3,600 ft of climbing. I don’t even pretend to be a strong climber; I suffered and tried to open it up as much as I could on the downhills. There were only two extended downhill sections though; not enough to pull back all the spots I lost on the climbs. I must have passed over 20 people on the last downhill though. Erik came in just 30 seconds ahead of me, and I didn’t even see him pass, but apparently he did one of the times I dropped my chain on the first long climb.

Plesko blew my mind yesterday. He crashed HARD at ~30mph about eight or nine miles into the race, snapping his handlebars and getting cut up pretty good. His bars snapped at his left shifter so his grip and front brake lever were dangling. Hmmm…. this is where I would have packed it in. Chris however, kept on racing and finished, with no front brake and his left hand grasping the center of his bar. Did that blow your mind, because that just happened. Other feats of strength (a Festivus tradition) included Big Bill pacing 1st in Clydesdale and Marni placing 3rd.

Jeanie was off on her own doing the Indian Peaks DirtFest Triahlon which sounded like a disaster. The mountain bike course she categorized as “dangerous” and the trail run could barely be described as a “trail”. Apparently the course was just recently cut, but it wasn’t cut at all, instead a few people mashed down the tall grass and put directional signs in the forest. There were impalers (branches and sticks that can impale a rider) galore, some neck level. Anyway, she was pretty bummed. A few of the Xterra pros commented that it was the hardest course they’ve ever raced, even tougher than any of the Worlds courses.

Lastly, I’ve got to share these videos. I spent most of my formative years riding freestyle bikes until switching over to mountain bikes in 1994. I still have a 1988 Haro Master sitting in my garage that I take out to one of the local skateparks once or twice a year. Anyway, these Scotty Cranmer videos left me speechless (thanks Joe):