Ouch! That hurt a little bit.

Well McLane Pacific is over and done with. Thank God! It wasn't exactly the perfect start of the season for me as I managed to crash in both races. Such a lame thing for me to do, I am such a dork. The first crash was actually captured on film by Canada Mike and since I just love crash pictures I will post it here for you to enjoy. I am also including a few pics from our photo shoot which required a LOT of makeup and we all looked so out of character for bicycle racers.

This spill really wasn't that bad for me as I simply leap frogged my poor teammate Kele (the one already on the ground) and perfected my Tiger Roll landing technique. My teammates and I were able to get back into the race with a nice free lap, love those free laps. Nicole finished off the race with a top 10 performance and we were all very happy with that as it was our first race together and we managed to find ourselves many times and help each other out.

Sunday was the road race and typically I enjoy this race although on this occasion my left butt cheek was really stiff and painful from the previous days Tiger Roll. We had to do 3 laps and at the start of the 2nd lap I finally started to feel my legs cooperating with me and I started to get into the front of the race. I did some work to help bring back the break and then found myself in the back again and as I tried to move up someone bobbled and knocked me off my bike. I remember hitting on my right side and just staying there as I couldn't move to even roll over. My hip and lower back were so painful I just wanted to scream but didn't have the lungs for it. It took about 45 minutes for the ambulance to arrive and cart my carcass off the road, not exactly lightening fast response. Thankfully I was told no broken bones but my elbow was pretty torn up and some bone chipped off on the pavement but I guess it was just extra bone and the joint still works. The elbow is pretty tight as they had to pull the skin together to stitch it and I think I left a lot of skin back on the road. Oh the ups and downs of racing.

So today is Tuesday and the Vicodan is soooo nice. I am walking around although very slowly as my tail bone feels like it's being torn from my bottom when I move. Nice and slow. I am so lucky I didn't break anything as I am already getting itchy to be back on my bike.

Thanks to Brent for staying with me in the ambulance and ER. Thanks also to my teammates for taking care of me after and continuing to look after me at home. I also want to thank everyone who has called or emailed to wish me well. I will not be racing in Fresno this weekend but will be out to support and cheer on our team as I know they will race well.

Thanks again for all of the support!

Jen