The human body is an amazing creation. The power of the mind is even more amazing. Recently, I witnessed this for myself in the form of a cycling crash in which I went over the handlebars at approximately 30MPH. Note: I was going closer to 40 before I hit the brakes.

It literally looked and felt like this:

First things first, I was ok. Given this photo was taken about 2 minutes after the tumble… I seemed to have come away unscathed.

Not to mention it was my first ride in the new team kit! Anyway, super glad to have been riding with a few friends who helped pick up the bike and bits. We were all about 45 minutes away from our cars, so my best option was to hitch hike.

Luckily, this guy showed up with his truck and I was able to bum a ride back to my car.

After all was said and done, I stopped by Rite Aid to buy a bunch of stuff including Tegaderm which is AMAZING. With a couple of road rash spots, these things were amazing in keeping me comfortable and healing quickly.

Finally, what was the total damage? Below is the broken bike (rear derailleur dropout broken), my shorts and my helmet. It also looks like I lost a water bottle, but hey, I was able to walk away from the crash… so I’ll take trade any day.

In conclusion, it’s crazy how the body heals. I haven’t been in many accidents or other instances of bodily harm, so this definitely was a test. Adrenaline is a crazy thing, I resisted my first instinct to pop back up on my feet and luckily enough I didn’t get a concussion from hitting my head first. All-in-all, it seems the skin healed up in about 2 weeks, the bruise on the foot and hip will be gone by end of this week and my shoulder should be no more than another 2 weeks… not bad for going head first into concrete. Just gotta be thankful that things didn’t end up worse and that I’ve got some good buds looking out for me after the accident.