So here it goes: Monday March 30, 2010...just another awesome day here in Scottsdale...80 degrees, beautiful. I started the day hanging with Jenny and Sophia...breakfast, fun family time, relaxing. A "lazy" day of training was ahead: my first workout of the day was a 3K swim; just a great day to be outside in the pool. Then off on a 3 hour recovery ride...what I call the backwards Rio Verde loop.
After loading up and rolling out, I could tell the recent adjustments to the bike felt "new" (meaning: not comfortable/normal)...we had just fine tuned the aerobar position as well as adding the awesome "RTC" shifters made by Zipp. But what was feeling uncomfortable was the wheel alignment...standing up while pedaling was causing a "rub" in the front wheel. I stopped to adjust it but the problem did not disappear (note: when you think something is wrong with your front wheel on a Tri Bike, make sure it's not wrong for long).
Heading into Rio Verde after the "rollers" section, I came down the hill to a stop sign. Noticing 3 cars approaching from behind, I slowed a bit as I left the stop to let them through, as Rio Verde is a retirement community full of questionable drivers, and this section of road has no shoulder. Counting as they passed, one-two-...I put on the gas for some speed, and this is where things went terribly wrong.
I'm sure I hit road reflectors at least 5 times a ride...they are everywhere and placed inconsistently, and I've had some close calls because of that. My memory is a bit foggy, but as I either stood up to accelerate or crouched into the aerobars (regardless, I moved my weight forward to put more power on the cranks), one of those reflectors through my front tire into spasm, and whatever we call it, my front wheel locked, I flipped over the handlebars, landed on the back of my right shoulder, and bingo, I have my first broken bone, my first major bike crash. Was it something mechanically wrong with my front wheel? Was it my carelessness? Probably, a bit of both.
No one witnessed my crash, but one passerby looped around to make sure I was okay...she must be a very sweet lady as she said that all she could tell was that something was not right---good to know people are still observant! I took inventory of gear and injury--outside of a scrape on my left wrist...no blood! For a moment I felt like Tom Arnold in that scene from "True Lies."
I called Jenny to give her the news without scaring her, and she dropped everything to come get me, take me to Scottsdale Healthcare @Thompson Peak ER, pick me up some clothes from home, and without a bat of her eyes, become my nurse from that point on. X rays confirmed the break, I went home with an Rx for Vicodin and some serious thinking to do. A brief phone consult from the ER Orthopedic MD on call mentioned the probability of surgery...it must be pretty bad! At this point, I knew nothing about anything to do with clavicle breaks.
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