The break consisted of American Ben King which was exciting to see. The best part of the day was seeing the Pros ride on the same roads that I ride on. At this point, I knew that any and all KOM's I had worked hard to obtain, were going to be mere memories.
After we thought the Peloton had past the KOM banner, we hopped on our bikes and started to tackle the descent. With the mountain road closed, I was prepared to push myself more than I'd ever on this 2 lane road. I found myself chasing the BMC sag wagon and my Garmin said that I hit a top speed of 52 MPH. Thinking to myself, this would definitely be a new PR on Bear Divide. And then it happened.
Coming into a right turn, with the speed that I had obtained, and the high wind in between the canyon, I simply could not lean into the right turn. Knowing that if I applied any force of braking, I'd most likely go down on the road. I braced myself and hit the ditch going about 42 mph, landed on the left side of my body (Head First), and bounced hard before coming to a complete stop. Stunned, but not broken, I picked up my bike by the cock-eyed handlebars and continued to the bottom. Once at the bottom, I cleaned up my wounds, straightened my handlebars, and started to ride the 20 miles to get back home.
We popped out at Railroad Avenue not far from the finish line of the Tour, and out of the blue, Team BMC ride past us. Still able to pedal, we chase them down, and rode with them for a bit.
Later that night, I found myself at Henry Mayo hospital going through a battery of tests. Blood, Urine, Chest X-rays all came back negative. The CT scan looked good, but the final diagnosis was a bruise on the brain and a concussion.
This will slow me down for a bit, but it will never keep me off the bike.
