Pat had a great morning.  His best finish so far in the expert class.

I was ready to go for my race and took my bike to the starting line early so I could line up on the inside.  I had practiced starts for nearly 30 minutes that morning and the inside seemed a perfect setup for the second turn.  Also, the morning race starts convinced me that the inside was for once the safest place to be.

I was ready to go and when the flag dropped I was off!  I got an excellent start - 2nd place!!  My starts are definitely looking better this year.  I held 2nd into the woods until we ran across a mini rider stuck in the middle of the trail.  The first of several such sightings in that first mile.  It wasn't muddy but the sand was deep and the woods were tight.  People were stalling their bikes or losing it in tight turns.  But back to this first one.  I wasn't in a good position to get around the rider and lost a couple of places getting around him.  But that was ok!  I was riding good.  A couple more turns and I was past a rider in my class that was stuck.  Things were looking good but there were several bikes close behind me.  

Then I overshot a right-hand turn and went over on my right side in the sand.  Darn it!  A couple more riders were by me.  For some reason my left wrist felt a little sore.  Very odd since I went over to the right.  Oh well, it would wear off.  I got the bike back upright pretty quickly - but not quickly enough - it wasn't starting.  And I was having a little trouble pulling in the clutch with my left hand.  After many kicks and much frustration as my entire class went by I got the bike started.  But I wasn't working the clutch very well and I needed back over the quite deep, very sandy berm.  I killed the bike.  Great.  Boy, my wrist was really starting to hurt.  Only it wasn't exactly my wrist, maybe a little higher on my arm.  Maybe I should only do one lap instead of two.  After all I hadn't made it a mile yet on a 13 mile track and I was already worn out.  And it was getting increasingly difficult to work the clutch.

I was getting very frustrated.  But then I saw a spectator heading down the trail in my direction.  Yeah!  Someone who passed me must have told him I needed help!  Things were looking up.  He got my bike back on the trail and started.  I thought I was ready to go as long as I didn't need to use the clutch much.  There were a few whoops ahead of me.  No big deal right?  Until I hit the first one.  Extreme pain in my left arm.  Ok, the end of the woods section was coming up, maybe I should head off the track and have the paramedics put an ace bandage on my arm.  Since holding it tight helped the pain, the bandage should make it all better.  A couple of whoops later and I wasn't sure the bandage would be enough. Luckily it wasn't far and not only was I out of the woods and whoops but the camp was in sight.  Yeah!

By this time my left arm was cradled up by my face and controlling the bike was getting difficult.  Besides, my class was long gone.  By the time I got to the medic tent I couldn't even hit the kill button to stop the bike.  

The slightest movement was causing significant pain on the outside of my arm about an inch above my wrist.  And if I put my other hand on my left arm a couple of inches above that, I could feel something popping.  The medics said they couldn't tell if it was broken or not.  They put it in a splint and told me to have it x-rayed.

I left word with a couple of people that I was heading back to camp in case Pat came by wondering where I was then I headed back to camp.  Patman and Brian were the first of our campsite members that I saw.  Patman took my picture and then headed off to retrieve my bike.  Brian helped me get some medication into my system and then I sat down to rest and tell my story as each person headed back to camp.  Maher was just about to head off in search of Pat (the plain) when Pat came wandering in.  He had seen the last of my class go by without me and had come to see what was going on.

So off to the Nocona hospital Pat and I went.  I was their first race injury of the day.  The on call x-ray technician showed up right away.  He sent Pat out of the room to protect him from the harmful rays to which I was to be subjected.  Or so he said.  I think the real reason was that he didn't want Pat to see him torture me.  First I had to lay my arm on its side.  Painful but bearable as long as I twisted my entire body sideways too.  And he was quick.  I didn't have to hold it long.  Then came the real torture.  I had to hold my arm upside down.  Since I couldn't stand on my head that meant my bone was out of alignment with my body and it HURT!  Still, he was very quick.  I know he didn't torture me on purpose.  I think.  He seemed nice.  I think.  

So he posted the x-ray and said the doctor would be in soon to tell me if it was broken or not.  Of course, all we needed the doctor to tell us was how badly it was broken - the x-ray made it clear that there was a break.

The black spot to the left of the break is where the fragment at the bottom of the break is ordinarily supposed to be.

1999:  Muenster | Fort Hood | Bulcher | Bonita | Jacksboro | Bryson | Olney | South Bryson
2000:  Red Mountain | Pittsburg | Bonita | Rocky Ridge | Jean | Muenster | Bridgeport | Lake Murray South Bryson | North Bryson | Bonita | Flying P | Jean | Lake Murray | Alvarado

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