Getting There

Friday marked five weeks since my accident. Alternatively, if you prefer, Monday, April 4, marked one month since the brain injury.

Over those five weeks, there were times when I honestly thought I’d reached my peak and would never feel like myself again. Interspersed were days when I felt pretty darn good. Most days I just dealt with whatever it was that happened to be bothering me that day, whether it was a headache, vertigo, virtually no concentration, or being excessively agitated. (Then there is the whole issue with numbers persistently tripping me up. I consistently invert numbers when I write them down, which isn’t great for work when trying to assign a page to students, but at least I’m aware that I do it now and my students are always more than elated to correct me.)

Perturbed by feeling so pissed off and sorry for myself all the time, I decided that at four weeks I was going to kick my brain injury’s butt. I also decided to give it a one-week grace period because late assignments should be accepted in a situation such as this. It was determined that at the five-week mark I’d get back onto the saddle. I stuck to this and showed my brain injury who was really in charge with a short ride on Dry Creek Trail. Of course, my road bike is still out of commission so my bike of choice was my Trek mountain bike, which saw dirt for the first time in nearly two years.

Having been advised to not ride alone when I was ready for my comeback (yeah, I’m calling it that), Chris was kind enough to meet me after work despite battling her own knee injury. I survived the ride and had only a couple of nervous moments.

Men's Pro/1/2 at the Turlock Lake Road Race

Saturday was a bit more unremarkable than Friday, but it was also my first day back behind the camera lens at a race. Thanks to Chris’s connections, we enjoyed full access to the course. We had a good time and snagged some good shots of the riders, but the day wasn’t all fun and games.

Unfortunately, a crash took out a couple of the women in the pro/1/2/3 group. They were taken by life flight to a nearby hospital with severe head injuries. I can’t help but worry about their condition even though I don’t know who they were. Five weeks ago, that was me, minus the helicopters, remote location, and actual element of racing. My thoughts go out to the women injured and hope they have a full and speedy recovery.

Now, back to me, since this is about me anyhow, I’m happy to report that I’m definitely feeling better even though my symptoms haven’t completely disappeared. I’m feeling confident enough to ride despite some pretty major skull discomfort wearing a helmet and look forward to hitting the road more often in the coming weeks.

See you out there! (Or some of you at least!)