Saturday was the grand finale of the mountain bike season in MN, closing it out with the Great Escape Mtn Bike Race at the St. Cloud jail trail. I love this trail and I was super stoked to wrap up the season there with all my pals. To top it off, Hollywood Cycles's mountain bike team sealed the Team Omnium to take home the State Championship in the MN Mtb Series! Go Black 'n' White! Hwood even made shirts to celebrate it!
Anyways, the race was fast approaching and Pip and I made our way to the line. Considering the amazing weather, I was surprised when only 3 other gals joined us... bummer. But the conditions were great and the trail was FAST! I got the hole shot and held it til the first main climb. I was still tired from Chequamegon, so I slowed up and let Pip into the single track in front of me. Sure, I wasn't railing as fast as Pip, but it was the fastest I've ever ridden the course before. Me and the White Fox were killin' it, riding a blazingly fast 4th place!
All was going great into my final lap until I hit the rock garden on the 1st half of the lap. As I tried to make my way through the rock garden without losing too much time, my lack of sugar in the brain and focus on what's next caused me to miss a large boulder on the right side of the trail. My front wheel nailed it, bouncing straight upwards, and collided with my nose with such force, a large "crack" filled the air and the next few seconds disappeared in the blur of adrenaline and shock. I stood there looking at my bike laying in the rocks, trying to get my wits about me and finish the race. Then I looked down.....
Large red drops fell from my face and I instantly knew my race was over. "Someone grab my bike"..."How am I going to get through these rocks and off the trail?".... Lucky for me, the rock garden happened to be a great spectator section, so I wasn't alone. I collapsed onto the grass as the kindest people in bike racing grabbed by bike and hooked me up with tissues to try to stop the bleeding. As small as this world is, Jay just happened to be riding by just seconds after it happened and saw me hunched over in a pool of blood and skidded to a stop instantly. He came back to check on me, but I figured it was just a broken nose and urged him to get back out there and finish the race.
As for me, I had help off the trail and into the arms of two EMT's and a Dr. to make sure I knew who I was, where I was, what day it was, and to check my eyes and nose for damage. Lucky for me, nothing was broken. But my Garmin mount on my stem slit my nose open, and the impact busted open the inside, so I sat quietly with a fist full of gauze and an ice pack, trying to stop the pain and blood.
Day one...
Add in a massive crash for Jay later in his final lap, catching his leg between the bars and frame, wrenching his thigh hard so hard he temporarily thought he broke his femur. Luckily, he hadn't broken anything either and just wound up with a gnarly hematoma. Add that to Pip's f'd up wrist and Scotter almost breaking his collar bone, and the Black n' White was having a very Black n' Blue day. :o) All in all, we still won the State Team Championship!!! Bitch, please!
Follow that up with some great food and fun at Leslie's wedding reception, it was a very diverse day! Yep, that was me sportin' a lil black dress and face bandaide... $0.25 cent!
Come Sunday morning, that nice gouge invited some friends to play and Captn Black Eye moved in....
Day 3....
Day 4....
Yeah, I'm not embarrassed by a black eye. I was impressed by my coworkers who greeted me at work with "What did you do on your bike now?".... but was kinda disappointed in the "you look like you got beat" comments. Seriously? Have you met me or Jay? Whatevs. I'm just happy nothing was broken and I left the trail on my own two feet. Sure, I can't wear glasses for a couple more days and sneezing feels like the end of the world, but I'll live to ride another day.
Shinin' on,
Kristy Kreme
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