It was eventually going to happen

I took off my mavics and put my Reynolds on the bike. The weight savings was significant. My bike weighs 15.38 lbs including my garmin unit.

I wanted to see how these wheels climbed and descended. I took off for a long ride on Wednesday in the middle of the day. I left from my house and went up the alpine loop Provo side. The heat of the day was taking it out of me. I wanted to get in a big ride because I was driving to Seattle the next day.

As I was coming around the last sweeping right hand hairpin turn just above Sundance, I wrecked. I was taking it easy and not pushing the speed. As I was coming around the curve, a car was coming up and cutting in close to the inside of the turn. Being a bit startled, I jerked in towards the shoulder. Somehow in doing so, my bike slid out from under me and I was on the ground. I was no longer traveling in a nice arc, but I was now sliding in a straight line towards the car. The rear wheel of the car was coming right towards me. I thought I was going to get hit and I was sure my bike would be run over. Amazingly the car missed me and the bike. As I skidded to a stop in front of the barrier on the other side of the road, I jumped up, being juiced up on adrenaline. I took an assessment of the damage. My right but cheek was now hamburger. My right tricep was road rash. The chamois pad saved me from a lot more damage. The lady driving the SUV stopped and offered a ride to the bottom. I declined, straightened the crooked brake hood, hopped on my bike and started down the hill. A few things became very clear - Every spot that where I had road rash now stung as the cool wind hit them. My bike was functioning fine except for the ripped up bar tape--no big deal.

I road down to Timpanogos park showing off my bloodied cheeks to everyone that I passed. By the time I got to the park, I decided to stop the misery and have my friend pick me up and give me a ride home. The adrenaline had worn off and I was feeling the pain. The fun was only just beginning. Scrubbing out the dirt and gravel was an incredible experience. That night was one of the worst nights of sleep I had ever had. Any movement I made hurt.

The next day was the drive to Seattle. In summary, it was long, painful, and I had a ton of puss oozing through the gauze pads. Changing the dressings has been a joy, re-inflicting pain on myself over and over.

Seattle has been nice, but I am in doubt about the Tour of Park City on Aug. 2.