Ouch. Friday Night Track Racing (7/4/2008)

I was doing well! Really well. Bree and Emy got to cheer for me, and got some of the nearby crowd cheering for me too. Emy had fun in the Kiddie Kilo:

I'm ready Bilko! I'm ready!

And I had fun in the cat 3's too. I got 7th in the 10-lap scratch race, and then in the 2-lap heat I actually managed a 2nd place, which meant I would get to compete in the 5th-8th place final for the 2-lap races. Except for some surprising bumping (mostly on my part, trying to move around the two guys in front of me to sprint) with Brian who started sprinting behind me and happened to be even with me as we were both trying to pass - I was happy with my result. I managed 2nd in the final, which meant 6th place in the 2-lap race.

Then, in the 5x5 points race, I sat in for the first sprint, and attacked two laps after the first sprint, and stayed away solo for 2.5 laps to get the 5 points for 1st in that sprint. I saved enough energy to make sure I could just rejoin the group when they caught me (not long after the line). We were then rolling around, racing, and I sat out another sprint, biding my time, when my teammate Mark attacked! I was just thinking I should move near the front to block when I felt movement at my right side, and saw the guy in front of me start to crash. A split second later, I too went head over heels, and all was dark while I heard the officials fire the gun three times and yell that the race was neutralized.

The next thing I recall was Bree walking me to my chair in the infield, despite my protests that I was "fine!" And then I have about 15 minutes missing from my life forever. Apparently people were asking me how I was doing, but I said, "I don't know what you are talking about!" Luckily, I had the onsite medic checking me out, and Bree defending my mental state to the well-wishers ("He's got a concussion.") When I came to, it was dark outside, and the 1,2's were doing their final race. The medic was checking my pupils, and shortly thereafter some paramedics arrived and asked more questions. They were satisfied that I was mentally back to my self, and Emy challenged me to recall all the names of her classmates (luckily I was interrupted by someone else after I started struggling with names following Ruby and Hannah). Bree got us all loaded up, and we drove home.

I didn't sleep too well that night, partly because I think my brain didn't want me to go sub/un-conscious. I'm doing a lot better, but here's some gory photos for your pleasure (or, don't look, if it's not your pleasure):

There is a lot of road rash under there

My face bore the brunt of the impact,
after my helmet and sunglasses absorbed the worst of it

both elbows are pretty awful

the loss of skin between the knuckles actually hurts the worst

my chin has a strange pattern, even after two days

face all cleaned up after a day has passed - it doesn't look that bad!

as of today, a black eye is brewing

There's more, but most of it is upper body. I've got a good chunk of skin missing from my right hip, but this pic isn't work safe.

I'm taking a day or two off work to try and heal up - I'm not nice to look at, and I hurt all over.

But don't worry - I should be ready to race again by this coming Friday night! I just need some new handlebar tape, and a new helmet.