Scott Martin

My right hand is greenish-yellow. This, I'm told, is a good sign.

Five days ago, my hand was reddish-black. Two days ago, it was purple. So greenish-yellow represents progress.

Six days ago, my right hand was nice and pink. Then two riders crashed in right front of me at 30 mph during the final sprint of the Panoche Pass Road Race. My front wheel hit their fallen bikes and my handlebar jerked sideways. I remember feeling my helmet scraping along the asphalt for a long, long time.

Result : two broken fingers and Filet of Scott from knee to hip to elbow to shoulder. Plus a munched carbon handlebar and lacerated shift levers.

Not that I blame those testosterone twins for taking stupid risks in the old-farts category of a no-name race. After all, the top five finishers get T-shirts.

Regardless, I'm facing 4-6 weeks of :

• riding the trainer while it's 75 degrees and sunny outside
• showering with a plastic bag over the splint on my right forearm
• learnkm... learning tp tyo... learning to type with one-and-a-half hands.

The bigger issue is, what happens when I recover ? Is racing worth the danger ? Do I give up the uber fitness that competition forges ? Relinquish the buzz I get from pushing harder than I thought possible ?

I long ago swore off criteriums : way too scary. Maybe I should limit myself to the 3 road races a year with slow uphill finishes. Or - ugh - time trials.

"Just upgrade," says my buddy. "It's safer in the advanced categories." Then why, on the day after my fateful race, was there a massive pileup in the Giro d'Italia ? I hear those pros are okay bike handlers.

Anyway, the decision's in my hands. My greenish-yellow hands.

7 juin 2007

In last week's Scott's Spin, Scott Martin wrote about breaking bones in a crash caused by "testosterone twins taking stupid risks in the old-farts category of a no-name race."

Hence, his question : "What happens when I recover ? Is racing worth the danger ? Do I give up the uber fitness that competition forges ? Relinquish the buzz I get from pushing harder than I thought possible ?"

It's a dilemma many cyclists have faced after doing everything right in a race or fast group ride but then becoming the innocent victim of someone doing one thing wrong.

Several RBR roadies responded to Scott's column. One well-expressed perspective came from Steve V. of Boston, who has dealt with the hard choice of racing or staying out of harm's way. He wrote :

"Sorry to hear about your recent crash and resulting injuries, Scott. That just sucks. I'm sympathetic to the question you raised in your column about the value of racing versus the potential cost. "I raced for several years (as nothing more than pack fodder). I too enjoyed the uber fitness, the challenge, and the feeling that I could taste just a bit of what it must be like to be a professional. Very heady stuff indeed. "But after a particularly violent and painful mass crash (caused by two riders punching each other at 30 mph), I was left writhing in pain on the side of the road. I decided to 'retire.'

"For all the fitness, fun and romance of racing, the fact is, I don't get paid to race. I don't have the resources to support myself if I were badly injured and needed a long period of recovery.

"It was a hard decision and one that I continue to evaluate every season. So far, I've decided that I'm still better off not taking my chances with testosterone-crazed imbeciles, although I watch the local clubs ride past my house on training rides and find myself wishing I could accompany them.

"I guess what I'm saying is this: If you get paid to take your chances as a racer, that's one thing. Wonderful, great, fantastic -- life couldn't be better. For mere mortals, though, a more balanced calculation is called for.

"Some of us will opt for racing, risks be damned. Others, though, will see that cycling is a part of our lives, but not everything, and decide that potentially surrendering the control of our health and well-being to folks who have more aggression than common sense just doesn't seem to be the most rational thing to do.

"In the grand scheme of things, that's okay, and you shouldn't feel badly if that's the way you decide to go."

At RBR, some of us race and others have stopped. We're roadies in large part because of the fitness cycling produces -- we ride for the health of it. Racing is a great way to get fit, but there's always the risk of accident and injury simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

We fault neither decision. Just be careful out there !

une page mise en archives par SVP

vélo ski de fond plongeon
Consultez notre ENCYCLOPÉDIE sportive