Univest Grand Prix 2002

Univest Grand Prix 2002
Recieving Univest Grand Prix 2002 Best local Rider award

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Sunday, June 29, 2003

Family Time While Seeing the Sights

Four weeks since my crash and I am almost fully healed I am just waiting for the doctor to say I am ready to go. I have been running and riding lightly to keep myself in shape. Time away from racing is hard since I came to Europe just to race. Fortunately my parents came to visit at just the right time. They arrived two weeks after my injury just as I was starting to feel better. I was able to do a lot of touristy things with my parents that I would not have been able to do if I had been racing. We had a very buisy but relaxing vacation. We did a whirlwind tour of the Ben-Lux countries with a little excursion into Germany and a small part of France. It took my mind away from the boredom of thinking, when I can race next.

Monday, June 2, 2003

The Crash

Monday, June 02, 2003
I have been sitting in Ruben and Rein’s house for 4 days now with my broken collarbone. It is very boring to be in a country to race and not be able to ride a bike. I would love to travel also but it is just too hard to move and it is also hard to shower. On Wednesday I will see the doctor again and hopefully he will say I am healing fast
On Thursday at Hasselt spa Hasselt I was racing well and felt really good my legs were just starting to come around. I had made the front group. I was very thirsty and wanted a feed bad. I left a lot of space between my teammate and I in the break. Other riders were doing very strange things in the feed swerving every which way and looking backwards. It is hard to find my soginer Tom because he always seems to be hiding while giving out feeds. I spotted him just as my teammate Paul was receiving his feed. Paul had almost stopped to get the feed. I didn’t want to have to chase after the feed so I was moving fast. Tom watched as Paul rode away and didn’t look for me so I yelled his name so maybe I would get the feed. Tom had the feedbags in his left hand near the ground. He grabbed one and moved it quickly from left to right. It looked to me that it was ether going in my wheel or hitting my handle bars. I thought I could save myself by grabbing it and razing it above my bars. But Tom had the bag so low that I grabbed the top of the string and could not raise it fast enough. it slammed my bars and I lost control landing on my head and shoulder breaking the collar bone and scrapping up my right side. It was a horrible day.

Fallin Down and a Broken Collar Bone

It has been four days since I broke my collarbone. It is very hard not being active like normal. The pain is not that great any more and the road rash is healing quickly. On Wednesday I see the doctor again to get my harness adjusted and a real prediction for when i can be back on the bike. I am hoping to be training outside in about 2 weeks. My parents are arriving in a little over a week so it will be good to see the family.
This all happened last Thursday the 29th at Hasselt Spa Hasselt a very good race. I had been near the front of the race for most of the day when I came into the feed zone at 120 km of the 166 km race. People were doing strange things in the feed zone this day I think it may have been because of the heat. I left a big gap between my teammate and I so we both could get our bags. I spotted our team soungier just as he was passing the muset to my teammate. Tom our soungier watched my teammate ride off and didn’t look down the road for me so I shouted his name. To pass the bags the soungier is supposed to hold the bags in his right hand high in the air so we can grab the sting where we need to while at high speed. Tom still had all the bags in his left hand while I was coming and he quickly switched one from left to right and it was swinging right for my front wheel or handle bars I though my only hope was to grab the bag and lift it up so it would miss. I was not fast enough and ended up on my head and shoulder breaking my collarbone and looking very stupid. This is the first bone I have ever broken so it is very an unknown recovery for me I hope it goes smoothly. so far it has been boring. I do not like sitting around and doing nothing. I hope I will be back racing soon.