It could've happened to anyone...

...but this time it was me.
Yes, I joined the growing number of cyclists involved in accidents with a vehicle. Thankfully I was able to get out of it with serious but not life-threatening injuries.

What happened?
Well, on Thursday morning I went our for an easy 1.5 hour training ride. I was preparing for the Arizona State Championship opener on Saturday so I just need to get a couple power workouts getting off the saddle (jumps) before the race. I chose the Desert Classic trail because the trailhead is less than half mile from my apartment and the trail allows me to keep a regular tempo for the whole hour then do the 3 set of 5 jumps that I needed.
Shortly before 11 am I was done with my training and was heading home. Once I exited the off-road trail I needed to ride on a residential street for less than a mile before getting home. I made a left turn onto Piedmont Road and grabbed my water bottle for the last sip, I put it back on the battle cage and two seconds later I was laying on the ground next to a blue minivan. I got up and all I could see on one of the passenger windows was my face covered in blood. The driver came around and apologized, he said he didn't see me coming down the street when he pulled out of his drive way and onto the road, backing half of the car in front of me. I didn't even have time to react. I couldn't even reach for my breaks or use my arms to protect myself, so I went head first through the last window on the passenger side.

At that point so many thoughts go through your mind, thankfully some neighbors came out and helped me. One person brought me a chair, another one brought an ice pack while another driver offered me to call someone. I gave her Norma's number and eventually was able to get a hold of her. One lady event tried to locate some of my missing teeth noticing that I had broken a couple but she couldn't find them. The driver of the minivan called 911 and a few minutes later a fire truck was the first one to the scene. They put me on a flat board, checked my vitals and put me in an ambulance which had arrived a few minutes later. Throughout the whole things I maintained consciousness and the emergency response crew were very supportive and caring. I was taken to the closest Trauma 1 Emergency Room at Maricopa County Hospital in Phoenix were I was able to experience real-live what goes one at those centers. A guy with a wound shot was on the bed next to mine and people kept coming in and out not without taking a peak at my face. I knew things were bad from the beginning then the Doctor on duty told me that they were bringing someone from plastic surgery to close the wound. Before that, I was taking for a tour to the MRI and CT scan rooms, thankfully those test determined that I didn't have any head or neck injuries.

At 12:30 PM and after several doses of morphine and local anesthesia, two plastic surgeons initiated the process to stitch my right chick muscles as well as my lips together. I also required several stitches to my nose and tongue. There was even a piece of tongue that couldn't be saved so they had to cut it. At 3:30 PM after more than three hours of stitching work, they were done with my face. A short walk to the bathroom helped us find a bump on my right knee but it turned out to be just a painful bruise.
After the hospital we headed straight to the dentist office. Just a quick stop by the house to get some recovery drink in my body and change clothes (actually put some on since all I had was spandex shorts and a t-shirt). At Dr. Wang's office we successfully scared off everyone that saw my face. Even the Doctor was hesitant to look for the damage to my teeth. Preliminarily I have one completely broken front tooth and half of the other one on my top jaw. There seems to be some missing pieces on some other ones from the side but we won't know until the swelling goes down.

Lastly we headed to Target to fill my pain and antibiotics prescription. By then it was 6:00 PM and the effect of the anesthesia had worn off, so the half our wait while the pharmacy filled them was probably the most painful time probably in my life.
Last night I slept on and off and the swelling increased. This morning I was finally able to get some liquids in (besides water) however all my meals have to be blended. I got away with drinking lukewarm coffee through at straw thanks to my lovely Norma, who is been by my side every moment. I couldn't have done it without her.

I also took some pictures but I'll wait a few more days to post them.

Thanks to all of you that have kept us in your thoughts and prayers.
We are doing fine and hoping for a speedy recovery.

I am pretty sure I won't be racing on Saturday, but the Arizona Mountain Bike Association was kind enough to move my paid registration to the next race.

That's all for now. We have an appointment on Tuesday to have the stitches removed and follow up. I also have to assess any possible damage to the bike. So far it looks good, but we'll take it to the bike shop for a complete check.

Have a great day,

Jeff and Norma

My New Team

After a few years racing individually, this next year I'll be racing for a team. The team is called Procon/1st National Bank of Arizona and it's based up in Scottsdale, AZ.


I attended one of the team's meetings and discovered that they are very competitive and race focused. Most of their riders race on the road and less than 20 of them race mountain bikes.

Here is a picture of the team while they prepared for a road race.

The team kits are going to be the same for 2007, so expect to see me wearing those colors in the next couple months.
There are a few more weeks of long rides on the road. Last weekend I rode both days and rode for more than 60 miles each day. Gym work is still going on however my lower back has been bothering me in the last few days so I'll take it easy for a couple days until the doctors clear me to go back to weight work.

That's all for now.

Happy Holidays to all!

Jeff

Something Wrong with this Picture???

So I moved to Arizona with the idea that I never would have to suffer with cold weather....wrong! Look at what the weather is supposed to look like tomorrow. Granted it is December, but 42 degrees...come on, I have a race at Estrella Mountain park starting at 8:00 am. I am not going to like this very much.

Anyway, I just finished up digging some of my winter stuff, like a hat and some gloves to wear tomorrow. I am also planning to ride with cycling tights (sexy) and some kind of head band to keep the ears warm. Wool socks are also ready.

This race is going to be interesting. Two long 10 miles loops of jagged rocks and steep climbs then 5 shorter loops of a technical course and a bunch of small parking lot loops. I hope I dont get dizzy.

Lastly, I am 0-2 on the sponsorship race. I got my second "No Way Man" via e-mail a couple of days ago. This time it was the fine folks at Oakley shades that said no. Appearently I am not pro enough for them. Oh well. There are still 20+ pending requests.

Have a great weekend and check back for results of the race. In the mean time I am going to do something I never thought I would have to do in the Desert....turn the heater on in the house. We try keeping the doors closed and turning all the lights on to generate heat, but it's really hard to sit on my hands while I try to type, so time to turn the heating on.

Pura Vida!

Jeff