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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. 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.
