Hurt, Pain, and Agony

First of all let me squelch all rumors... there are no broken wrists, maybe a hand bone, but no wrist. When i took my big fall a couple weeks ago i came down hard on my hand and thought i had just sprained it, but its still not better and so i went to the orthopedic and they said, 'hey, lets put a cast on it just to be safe.' i said, 'I've got a race this weekend and i don't think a cast will work well' so they gave me a hard splint thing that I'm supposed to wear. Looking back i think a cast and not riding might not have been a bad option. The race was a charity event for the Cancer society. One of our friends, a breast cancer survivor and local Cancer Society representative helped organize the event. The race is appropriately called, 'Hurt, Pain, and Agony.' Turns out, they were right. You can follow the link below to see the details, but basically it was a long mountain course with a lot of climbing. A lot of climbing, followed by more climbing. If you know cycling at all, (and i don't really, but I'm pretending and everything you read on the Internet is fact so this is pretty much truth) you know that there are a special bread of cyclist that excel at climbing. They're usually Spanish and... well... smaller in stature. They're like jockeys and they have these tremendously large legs that push them quickly up hills. Turns out I'm not Spanish and not smaller in stature and therefore not extremely quick up the hills. However, I finished... not first, but definitely not last. The night before the race Zach S. called and said that he didn't in any way condone my cycling, but that I'd better not be last. One quick funny story...and of course its a little embarrassing, but after posting my rear cheek on the blog what could be worse? So the steepest part of the race came at mile 50 and at the end of a road called Mahogany Rock Road, (if you are ever riding your bike and you see a sign that says Mahogany Rock Road, turn around...it's a good idea... trust me). It seemed like we climbed steady for a really long time, forever maybe... people started to get off their bikes and stretch out their cramps and what not. Then all of a sudden the department of transportation had an idea to make a road and see just how steep was too steep for asphalt. Turns out the answer is... real steep. So I found myself going up, leaning forward as much as i could to not let my front wheel come off the ground. The guy in front of me gets about half way up and bails out... gets off his bike and starts hiking the bike up the hill. So i catch him as he dismounts then as he starts to hike, I'm still pedaling, but not passing him. He walked, i rode and yet, we made it to the top about the same time. There were several people along the top of the road cheering the riders on, so here i was... dude hiking the bike next to me, me nearly dead, and people cheering like we were about to win the Tour DE France. The bike walker then even says to me something like great job man. I looked at him and gave him a half smile, with the pain it probably looked the face of the man on 'men in black' (you know the one, "I'm looking for a man, a dead one") anyway what i was really thinking was, dude... at least push. So, it was tough, long, beautiful, and I'm really glad i did it, but really really glad it's over.
http://www.bmcc.us/id42.htm