After 13 years of competitive racing, I have finally had a crash, which left me in hospital with broken bones… 2 broken ribs in fact. I guess some people would say I’m pretty lucky, believe me, I’ve definitely had my fair share of crashes but nothing to serious. And although ribs are very painful, and yes, I have had to sneeze… OUCH. I am still able to ride my bike and it isn’t very ‘serious’.
It’s always hard as an athlete coming to terms with an injury. We live to train and more importantly we live to race. The last thing we want to be doing is sat on the couch (when the weather is amazing outside) feeling sorry for ourselves. I have already had a feel for that last year when I had knee injuries. Being told I can’t ride my bike for two weeks in the most important training period in the winter didn’t go down to well but you accept it and move on.
The crash happened very early on in the race. 5km in fact… I was just riding at the front holding my position ready to go with any attacks. Suddenly I saw a girl fly to her left. I honestly thought I had avoided it so breathed out a sigh of relief but that wasn’t the case… I flew from the middle of the road directly to the right hand side colliding with a barrier. The first thing I thought “ouch, ouch and more ouch”.
Three days on and I’ve already been on the rollers. I’m very sad that I have to miss the Aviva Women’s Tour. I would of loved to have been home racing on home ground with my family watching but I know its best for my recovery to not race.
I guess why I’m writing this blog and what I’m trying to say is that with any sport you can get injured. It may be hard to accept it and it is definitely hard having to miss out on races but the most important thing is listening to your body. Don’t push it. The last thing you want to do it cause more injury and time off. Let it be and everything with fall into place. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, right?
