Injury Update

I was racing at the OMBC race at Caesar’s Creek when I wrecked. The race started normal enough. I went into the single track in 3rd. The first lap was uneventful. It was a 9-mile, technical single-track loop. I was in 5th place after the first lap. I started to recover after the second lap. About half way through I caught two guys and passed them. I hit a technical downhill, which I cleared. Then on the bottom section of single-track, I must have lost my concentration and hit a rock. This catapulted me over the bars, slamming my shoulder into the ground. It hurt a lot. After about a few minutes, I walked out to the road and I knew something was wrong with my shoulder. I had to ride back to the start/finish area, which was about 6-8 miles away, via the road. By the time I got back to the car my teammate Rudy was there and helped me get ice on my shoulder. The emergency room doctor, that had been in the race, thought that I had just separated my shoulder, but I needed to go to the ER to get an x-ray. Fortunately, my wife Lori was there to drive me home. So we went to the emergency room at Akron General where I was diagnosed after an x-ray with a glenoid fracture of the left shoulder. I followed up on Monday with Dr. Thompson, an orthopedic surgeon. He confirmed the glenoid fracture with a cat scan. His recommendation was to let it heal. No surgery was needed because of where the fracture was. Upon following up this week with Dr. Thompson, he said the shoulder was progressing well and that I can start riding again this week. I should be able to start racing by the end of September. Overall, it’s not a bad outcome considering the injury, but I will miss the last National Ultra Series race, which will bump me out of first place and I’ll miss the chance of racing against Floyd Landis. But it will help me for cyclo-cross season because I will be fresher at Nationals and I’m very motivated right now.