It’s been a rough past 7 days!
After a couple days off post-24 Hour Nats, I decided to hit up Valmont Bike Park because I had only been once so far! I was having a great time riding the XC trails. I even ran into Jason HIlimire (Coach) and the CU downhill team. I got to ride the Slalom course using gates too.
XC side
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Pump track!
Next, I thought it’d be cool to do the medium line on the bridge trestles. I biffed it and did not carry enough speed into the jump and endo-ed HARD and landed right on my face and shoulder. The first thing I checked was to make sure my teeth were still in place. After that, I realized it felt like I had been punched in the cheekbone. I dusted myself off, Jason made sure I was alright and I rode home. I was hurt, pretty shaken up from landing on my head, and extremely upset that I had taken that chance.
Just after impact
It started to evolve…
and full on:
The missing skin on my shoulder still hurts. Tegaderm has been helping but it comes off. My temporomandibular joint (TMJ) on the opposite side is still really sore as well… the black eye is still there, my cheekbone is still swollen and bruised but I’m healing… slowly.
I had a tough time riding the next few days and ended up turning around and going home after each attempt. I felt dizzy and my heart rate was really low. I was not showing any other major signs of concussion. It was a major bummer because I was supposed to do a mini training camp for Brazil and could barely ride! I decided to call it and take a few days off.
Sunday, I went to the Foo Fighters concert after buying my tickets back in July! They are one of my favorite bands and I was sooo excited to finally see them live. They were fantastic. Halfway through the concert, I had to sit down because my stomach was hurting. I felt really bloated and nauseated, but I was determined to make it to the end of the concert!
Dave Grohl is such a living legend. When I saw him, I thought, “Now THAT is a freaking rock star!” Foo Fighters play with a TON of energy and played for 2.5 hours! I sang as loud as I could to every song.
I could only afford to buy nose bleed tickets for this concert…but I would LOVE to save some cash and be on the floor next time!
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Dave Grohl played 2 acoustic songs too.
The drummer, Taylor Hawkins, was awesome too. He reminded me of Animal from the Muppets!
We left at the last song of the encore, I was feeling too sick. By the time we got to the car, I felt so sick I threw up. When I got home, I threw up again and this time, I couldn’t believe a person could even vomit that much at one time! Let’s just say chicken and broccoli do not sound appetizing right now.
I ended up having a 24 hour flu bug and spent the majority of Sunday night throwing up, etc. and all of yesterday bed ridden. I could barely stand up. It made me forget that I had a black eye and busted face!
Today, I feel washed out but leaps and bounds better than yesterday. I’m disappointed that I missed out on being able to fine tune my fitness 2 weeks before the Brasil Ride, but I’m lucky it wasn’t worse in all regards! I bet my face will be back to normal by the weekend, but I don’t look too much different yet.
Jeff and I leave for Brazil a week from Friday. Brasil Ride starts on Oct 23!!!!
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