Back in Business

This little honey badger did know, FYI, that I’d been stung…I’d been bitten by the snake.

“The poisonous venom seeped through the honey badger’s body and she PASSED out on the sidewalk of the Taleo Criterium! What a sleepy fuck! So the honey badger’s just gonna pass out for a few weeks and then she’s gonna get right back up and start pedaling all over again, cause she’s a hungry little bastard. Look at this! Like nothing happened! The honey badger gets right back up and goes on a kick ass bicycle ride! How disgusting!”

Well, three weeks ago today I was discharged from Good Samaritan Hospital after a night spent wondering if my cobra bite was infected. It’s been a tough three weeks, but I am in no position to complain after seeing some much more horrific injuries suffered by my motorcycle racing friends from time to time. Adam S., Mike W., Jaime K., Shawnery H., Rob S., to name a few, and then Eric Arnold, Peter Lenz and Joe Pusateri, may they rest in peace.

This was nothing.

It hasn’t been awesome though, it was the most serious traumatic event of my little life. Thinking back on it, I think both about how lucky and how unlucky I was. Mostly lucky. I could have broken my neck, or had my helmet on a little too loose that day. The ambulance ride was embarrassing and uncomfortable; I felt an insistent pain down at my hip and was afraid to look after hearing the EMTs say things like, “I think that must be her iliotibial band,” (how disgusting is that!) and “there’s the pelvic bone…” (oh that’s so nasty!). My perpetually injured back ached from lying supine on what felt like a concrete board.

But more than anything, I feel immense, peaceful gratitude that three weeks later I’ve already started pedaling, putting down 112 easy miles in the past four or five days. I even got to enjoy some lighter recreational activities, while convalescing, that I might have otherwise spurned for things more worthy of a honey badger.

For a couple weeks there was a lot of ambiguity about how soon I could actually begin riding again, or how my recovery was going to pan out. People warned me that my bone-deep wound was in such an important area of the hip joint that it’d likely be months before I could ride a bicycle, or motorcycle, again. This was pretty stressful. I like to know things. I can handle it, but I don’t prefer uncertainty. I share myself openly with others, and I prefer that they return the favor. When both doctors, and boys, disappoint, is when they simply don’t know the answers, or themselves.

Today, Wednesday morning, I feel amazing. I’m excited about my banged up motorcycle almost being put back together, and I’m excited about how quickly my banged up body has healed itself. I’m going to ride at the Zoom Zoom Trackdays practice day on Friday and then evaluate whether or not I think it’s a good idea for me to race AFM (and the second round of the California State Championship) the weekend. But I think we’re back in business.