Days 1, 2, 3, and 4 also available.
Eating went well yesterday and I’d say it’s almost back to normal. Still adjusting to a lack of teeth so I drop some stuff and can’t clean a fork particularly well, but it’s coming along. Healing didn’t make much progress on the surface other than a thick layer of my lip kind of sloughing off. I kid you not, it was like a millimeter thick and hard like plastic. Multiple layers of skin? It was like the most massive chapped lip peel ever. It turns out that was what was causing most of the tightness in my face and things feel much better with it gone. Sorry about the visual.
Had a great Thanksgiving with a pair of friends over. Ended up taking a neighbor to the ER because she wasn’t feeling well. Felt good to return some of that karma. Luckily none of the ER staff recognized me because that would have been SO embarrassing. Everything turned out fine for her so extra bonus.
Heather and I ventured downtown today to catch the holiday parade (we missed it – 9am on a cold-assed day off and only an hour long? Pfffft!) and for me to pick out a new helmet. The folks at West End rock – I spent far too much time going over the various models and colors, and they were nothing but patient and accommodating. It came down to replacing my existing helmet with the exact same model (unchanged since 2010) or a new model that came out last year – heavier, more aerodynamic, and what a lot of pros are wearing. The old model felt more natural (probably because I’ve been wearing it forever?), but ultimately I ended up in a new Specialized Evade in matte black. It’s totally Imperial and I dig it. I would have preferred something other than black for visibility, but the other color options were pretty garbage. I didn’t get any sort of discount for crash replacement because my helmet was five years old (apparently some government agency put out a report saying helmets are only good for three years so three is the limit for a crash replacement from Specialized) and you have to take it to the place you purchased it (I have no idea where I bought my helmet in November of 2010). I’m now in the system at the shop I bought from today and they said they don’t care about the three year thing so I’ll be covered in the future. Side note: the cold wind killed my wound. I suppose it’s a good thing we missed the parade. Nothing a covering gloved hand didn’t resolve, but not sure it was more than a temporary stopgap.
Finally unpacked my bags from the hospital to assess the soft goods damages. My jersey is scuffed up a bit, but usable assuming the MASSIVE collection of blood comes out. Pretty impressive that such an amount of blood could collect behind my head while I was lying on the ground for [I think] only a couple of minutes. Again, team has a new sponsor next year so I needed to buy a new jersey anyway. Somehow despite a beautifully clean gouge in my shin, my pants didn’t have any holes so whatever foreign object entered me used my pants as a condom… Quite considerate.
I’ve still not heard from the other person involved in the crash. Kind of disheartening. Perhaps he is struggling with how it was his accident to not make? There’s not much to the safety of a pass falling solely on the person making it. I’ve raced a slew of different disciplines/objects in my life and that rule holds true 100% of the time – even in cars where you’ve got mirrors to tell you where people are. Regardless, isn’t it only natural to check on someone who fared really poorly in a crash with you? I harbor no animosity towards him because accidents happen; I’m just kind of dumbfounded at this point.
My lip has receded enough that I can get a look at my teeth. Still not sure how these will be rebuilt with fillings, but my dentist kicks ass so I have faith in him.
A whole bunch of pictures for your enjoyment today!
Comments
Your face looks a whole lot better. Surprising your teeth didn’t get knocked out completely. It’s hard to see how the dentist will fix them but there’s all kinds of new options. As for the shirt, any remaining shadows of blood stains will just give you that hard ass cyclist look, so no worries there. Continue to heal and enjoy the upcoming holidays!
Mike, your teammate reached out to me a few days after the crash over Facebook. We had a good chat and he updated me on your status by pointing to your first post on your blog.
I asked him to pass on my best wishes to you for a speedy recovery but it looks like that didn’t happen and that’s a bummer. And I actually came back to the link just now to see what else you had posted and that maybe my sentiments had been passed on to you.
I think it’s necessary to do so after reading a few of your posts.
Directly after our crash, I stood by you and those who were helping you for what seemed like hours, pacing back and forth…absolutely upset.
Actually, seconds after we went down, I heard someone say that you had lost some teeth and I literally yelled a few obscenities knowing that, while I wasn’t certain I wasn’t hurt yet, I knew I had not hit my face. Immediate concern set in. What had been a great race suddenly turned into a horrible day and I was involved in this situation.
A teammate of yours came over after a bit and with the ambulance on it’s way, the last thing I wanted to do was push everyone else aside to talk to you. You had asked if you won and I was actually the one that said you did. I asked your teammate to please pass on my emotions and concern. His response: “Hey, that’s bike racing and you were both trying to win…”
I have not personally reached out to you based on a few things:
• I assumed what I said at the race and my response to your teammate had been passed on to you.
• It felt a bit intrusive knowing that you probably had a tough bit of healing and obstacles ahead. I just wouldn’t have known what to say.
• Probably the biggest reason: In all honesty, I do not agree with your assessment of the cause of the crash (written in your first post) and did not want to bring that up in any conversation at the time; it would have added insult to literal injury. I still don’t, actually.
I’m glad that you’re on the mend and it’s not an easy injury to deal with. I’m sure it is not easy to deal with an injury that is cosmetic, painful, and expensive all at once instead of the usual collar bone break or separation, or even losing lots of skin (as excruciating as that is).
All that is to say: I wanted you to know, with certainty, that I have been concerned about your injury and recovery and didn’t just walk off as if nothing happened.
I wish you the best and hope to see you out on the road this season.
-Randall
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