Sometimes life doesn’t always go the way you want it to go.
Things go wrong, at the worst of times. And you just have to push through. You
just have to take a deep breath, keep calm, and carry on. Life sure has been throwing me some curveballs
lately. My asthma has been flaring up pretty badly, and I got slammed by the
flu a few weeks ago. This last week I was back on track and I headed to Marin
County for a training camp over the weekend. A weekend of riding with my team.
On sweet trails. We’d be riding with Olympian and current National Champion Sam
Schultz. I was stoked.
On the first day of camp, the mountain team headed out to
Mt. Tam for some good climbing and some good shredding. I was feeling great
when we finished the first long climb and hit some fun singletrack descending. I was feeling the flow, taking the lines of
one of our fastest mountain guys and we were hauling. And then it happened.
I don’t entirely remember what happened, but from what
others told me I know it wasn’t pretty. I hit a rut from a weird angle, my
front wheel got thrown off and I ran into the bushes on the side of the trail.
My bike stopped when it hit the bushes; but I didn’t. I did a full front flip
over the bars and landed hard on the trail.
The main thing I remember after that is a horrible headache.
I don’t remember walking from where I landed to the sag vehicle. I barely
remember the 20 minute car ride back to City Cycle, and I don’t remember
talking to the people at the shop. I didn’t notice the sharp pain in my left
wrist for over half an hour after the crash. I remember my teammate’s dad, a
doctor, taking me in the back door of Marin General Hospital. After a 3 hour
hospital visit, my wrist seemed to be intact but we were still unsure whether there
was a fracture or not. I have a concussion, along with a noticeable bruise on
my right cheek. My right hip is cut and bruised, and my right shoulder is very
bruised, swollen and sore.
I can’t even tell you how bummed out I was for the rest of
the weekend. But I’m fortunate enough to have the best team someone could ask
for. Everyone was so supportive and they kept me optimistic. There is an
unbelievable amount of things I could not do with my huge splint on, and every
single one of my teammates jumped in to help me out. It made such a difference.
I’m home now, and focusing on recovery. The orthopedist I
saw on Tuesday confirmed that there is no fracture, just a bad sprain and soft
tissue damage. The best news? I can get on the trainer and start doing core
workouts as soon as my concussion symptoms are gone for good. I hope to be back
on my bike in as little as 2 ½ weeks. With the support of my family and team,
this should only be a small bump in the long road I’m on. I’ve got to work with
what I have and not let a rough start to the season get in the way. Most
importantly I just have to keep calm and carry on.
Avery
