I was riding through a tree lined Reno street. I think I shifted my hands from the brake hoods to the bar tops, and in that split second my front wheel hit a short, stubby stick in the road. The handle bar wobbled, I grabbed at the wobbling bar, missed, and fell.

I was fortunate to hit the road with a very large body surface, think acres of surface- so the force of the impact was spread evenly.

I sat there stunned at the pain and shock of a road crash vs a dirt crash. The home owner walked over and took the stick away. I jumped on my wheel to get it to fit in the frame. Clothes torn, oil on skin and an amazing burning sensation- which starts feeling weirdly pleasant once you start riding again…

Juicy & tender.

Sleeping is the worst. You cant sleep on your favourite side, and no matter how careful, you’ll inevitably stick to the sheets…

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And why I’m not racing Xterra Temecula coming Sunday(2005):

It all happened on a sunny afternoon about 6 weeks ago. As usual, I played my own little “carry all the groceries in one trip” game. A 15 kilogram bag of potatoes (Caveman staple diet) obscured my view of the trail leading up to my cave, but hey, being in familiar territory, I climbed the 3 steps leading up to my cave entrance blind…

The previous nights’ Warthog casserole must have been a bit off, which in turn threw my stride pattern out, causing me to miss the first step. Almost. Actually, my big toe nail did make the step. The rest of my foot not. So the big toe nail had to carry the not-so-inconsiderable weight of not only one Caveman, but also about 30kilos in groceries! Lets just say the nail didn’t stand up to the task. But it did stand straight up in the air. For a moment I could see it pointing at the bright blue African sky, but only for a split second, as it was quickly obscured by large volumes of blood spurting from the hole where my big toe nail used to be.

So that was the lesser injury.
The real hurt happened when I fell with the bent knee of my other leg straight onto the sharp lip of the 3rd step. Lets just say it was #&$@! sore. I couldn’t assess the damage, as I was seeing stars, and the blood was flowing like a river. Think Amazon river. The dog loved it.

Eventually ran out of blood after 3 hour ride.

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