Tour of Sussex - Stage 2

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Tour of Sussex - Stage 2

Postby -Adam- » Sat May 26, 2007 5:38 pm

And another one bites the dust...

Got to the HQ nice and early this morning, had a bit of a chat with a few guys, and signed on. The sky looked decidedly overcast and had been trying to rain on the way down there. Great. Anyways so i hopped on the rollers for a nice little warm up. I felt pretty good.

So off we rolled on a very long neutralised section, finally arriving at the start finish line for the flag to be dropped. So... prior to the start, myself and fit-for man John Heaton-Armstrong had agreed to work together in a field of 'teams', I was gonna lead him out for the K.O.M points, and he was gonna lead me out for the Sprint points. Cushtie!

The first couple of laps passed fairly quickly, then it was time for the first K.O.M point. There i was hammering it with a Km to go and my man John was dropped, bollocks I thought! He shouted for me to keep gping and see if i could take it, which i would of done if it wasn't for the lone break that i pulled in as a result. So i was 10m away from getting the 1st K.O.M. But i put 20m into the rest of the field in the last 200m. I felt good. So on to the 1st points sprint and It was a deceptively long way down to the sprint, my man John misjudged it and left me on the front with about 400m to go. Then luckily another rider launched a long one, which i was quick on the wheel of then passed him with 10 to go to take the first Sprint. Nice.

My mind was on the green jersey, oh yes. Trouble was the sprint took a lot out of me, i ended up at the back of the peloton and it took me a lap and a half to recover. Then with a lap to go before the next sprint point i finally recovered, but had to make up a lot of places to get up near the front. I was no where for the K.O.M but nor was John, so it was ok :?

The next 2.5 miles are kind of blurred in my memory, but ill give it a go...

So through the start finish line, at the back, i made it up to the front of the peloton inside 1mile. Which was pretty good i thought. Then i was 4th wheel coming onto the last 1.5miles before the sprint. Good good, stay here i thought to myself. With about 800m to go another guy i know from DeVer Cycles hit the front, very strongly, half seeing he could get away, and half trying to help me out. With about 500m to go he was slowing, then up the inside came a Kingston Wheeler. He called to stay right when he needn't have moved right himeself anyway. Then he moved right, forcing the guy in front of me to move right... cue a viscious touch of wheels. I nearly kept it under control but no. I was going down.

Now bearing in mind we were doing 55kph at the time, this was going to hurt. I hit the deck hard on my right side, then slid on for a few meters, rolled over just to give my left side some matching grazes. I came to a halt with riders still wizzing past, i grabbed my bike and dived for the side of the road. I barely remember any of the next 20mins after this. I remember sitting in the paramedics car getting patched up though. The crash happened a few miles from the HQ but i chose to ride back on my own. She patched me up and off i went.

When i got back to the HQ i was seriously dazed. I sat in my car, head in hands. I was so gutted to have come down when i was riding so well. Argh! And i was in a lot of pain, my injuries are...

Grazes to both calfs, right ankle, left knee, my right knee was seriously dented right on the knee cap i think i was lucky not to get a Pettacci style fracture, but there was a lot of blood. My fingers are grazed, the knuckles on my right hand are raw. My right thigh is grazed, along with just above my hip. Another heavily bruised graze on the left side of my back. Left elbow bloodied. Right arm and elbow has mucho grazing. But the most pain is coming from my right shoulder. I hit it in exactly the same place as i did on the club run a couple of years ago. I can barely move my right arm without being in agony. So, quite a nasty crash all in all. Driving home was somwhat 'interesting'.

Having spoken to the organisers they say i can still ride the rest of the race despite me not finishing today. Albeit no where on GC. But the way i feel at the moment i doubt ill continue. I really want to but the trouble is both stages are very lumpy and my shoulder the way it is i think i will struggle to get out the saddle, let alone be able to sprint come the finish.

Im gutted, so gutted. Dispondant even. There was no one to blame for the crash, nobody did anything particularly out of sorts. Just plain old bad luck. Luckily my bike seems ok, though the shifters look in need of attention.

Hopefully the wounds will heel quick and i will be back on the bike as soon as possible. But im really very disappointed.

Adam
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Postby Stu Merckx Man » Sat May 26, 2007 5:50 pm

ouuuuch :o

bad luck adam, but well done on the other sprint points, hope you recover soon enough!

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Postby Sylv » Sat May 26, 2007 5:56 pm

sh1t
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Postby Snoop Doug » Sat May 26, 2007 6:37 pm

What a p1sser mate. Great report - I feel your pain :(

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Postby Andrew G » Sat May 26, 2007 7:35 pm

Ah bugger sorry to hear about your crash, not another one joining the fun. I wouldn't try and continue if I was you (but then I'm a wimp) and let your body recover.

Ice anything sore or swelling :shock: .

If the road rash is bad go to the doctor (probably a good idea for a check over on the knee etc anyway) and ask them to prescribe Cicatrin cream (it's actually a gel). It's an antisceptin gel with an antibiotic and has helped to clear mine up quite nicely, softens and breaks up scabs a treat :D . This is the UK equivalent of a gel called Neosporin a Belgian lent me in Italy. He and the Americans there swore by it for all road rash. It really does seem to work very well. You just spread a little bit over the wounds.

Hope you're back on the bike soon, and knee isn't too bad.

Andrew.
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Postby carl f » Sat May 26, 2007 7:46 pm

Sorry to hear that Adam,bad luck
hope you heal up quick,glad to hear the bike is ok
You'll be sore in the morning so rest up!
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Postby Paul H » Sat May 26, 2007 8:48 pm

Sorry to hear that Adam and hopefully you will recover soon.

Dont know about nobody to blame though. I think I would be having words with the Kingston Wheeler guy. I think it was somebody from Kingston Wheelers that caused the crash at Chertsey.
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Postby Steve B » Sat May 26, 2007 9:06 pm

Damn bad luck Adam :(
When I was reading the report I was sure there was going to be a great result at the end of it. Bad luck mate, get well soon!

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Postby George » Sat May 26, 2007 10:40 pm

Sorry to hear about that crash Adam.

Sounds pretty nasty especially at sprinting speed, Just like all the top sprinters you gotta take a fall or 2 like Abdujaparov, Pettachi and Jalabert.
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Postby Andrew G » Sun May 27, 2007 10:53 am

Hope you're not too sore this morning. The American I mentioned earlier was a nurse and said (which you may already know) with road rash you should "keep it greasy". This helps it heal quicker and prevents scaring.

See you on the bike again soon.
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Postby Toks » Sun May 27, 2007 11:19 am

sh1t Adam what bloody bad luck!. I hope you heel quickly so you don't loose too much form. Take care :D
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Postby Richard (Apples) » Sun May 27, 2007 10:36 pm

Damn bad luck Adam .

To follow on from Andrews medical advice get some Arnica tablets (think thats the right spelling ) for the bruising/swelling ......don't think they're on the banned list :wink:
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Postby Stu Merckx Man » Sun May 27, 2007 11:04 pm

i second richards advice on the arnica, i didnt use tablets, i used cream, but it worked wonders on the bruises and swollen bits. but in your case tablets a probably best as your not meant to put it on broken skin.
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