I’m hurt. That describes my general feelings right now. I probably shouldn’t have stayed around the whole weekend in Fayetteville and just came home to lay around at least one day before the week begins. But, logistically, that wouldn’t have worked out well.

I seemed to be functioning pretty well on pain killers, coffee and wine, but today I think I’m going to pay for it. Like I posted yesterday, it seems like I was in more demand not racing than racing for some inexplicable reason. I should have just turned my phone off and it would have made my life so much easier. It wasn’t like I was doing that much, just having to use my brain too much when it wasn’t working that great to begin with.

The highlight of the day was running into the EMT guy driving the truck that came down the hill after I crashed. For the life of me, I don’t remember his name once again. That isn’t good. Anyway, he has a different recollection of our conversation after I fell. I have to go with mine still, but I can’t completely disregard his. According to him I was saying yes and no to about any question he asked me. I can sort of see that because I was still trying to absorb what happened and exactly what I thought about my injuries. I don’t think I was as mixed up as he described. Anyway, he was a super nice guy and I’m glad I ran into him.

I didn’t even go over to the announcing stage to “volunteer” to do some commentary. I was pretty done and just took Bromont’s blanket and a couple pillows over to the finish hill and layed it down in the grass, under a tree. I watched most of the Pro race while dozing on and off multiply times. The Competitive Cyclist Team of Mancebo rode tempo at the front and kept it together for a field sprint. It looked like if the field was just a bit better, Competitive Cyclist would have more than had their hands full, but they did an okay job. Eric Young, Bissell, and current Professional Criterium Champion, won the stage over Eric Marcotte, Elbowz.

The 1/2’s didn’t race until after the Pros. It was a better race to watch for me because it was way less predictable and more aggressive. But, it came down to a, whittled down, field sprint too. Jake Langsley, Soundpony from Tulsa, outsprinted the Tulsa Tough tandem of Jason Waddell and Chad Cagle. I approached Jake this past winter about riding with our Team this year, but kind of dropped the ball on it. He is going pretty great, winning the Mt. Gaylor stage and then the criterium on Sunday. He is in form for sure.

Bill drove nearly the whole way back while I laid in the backseat and “rested”. It rained like crazy for a hour or so just before Kansas City. I love spring time because of the weather. I have a doctor’s appointment in Kansas City this afternoon. I have no energy or desire to do that, but am going to drag my butt down there anyway. I have pretty much decided, after all the input and reading, that I am going to just wait it out and see how good my arm works on its own. I’m not big on doing operations that have just a so/so chance of making it better. Maybe the Royal’s guy will convince me otherwise. I doubt it.

Trudi is flying back from Switzerland tonight. She is going to be beat. I guess she ate something bad just before she got onto the flight, so isn’t feeling very good. That must be miserable. Okay, I have to go and unpack the van before I completely run out of juice.

Me, looking a little wild, and the guy that first came upon my crash scene.

The Competitive Cyclists guys setting tempo all day.

My view of the criterium from the blanket. I love this tree.

Somehow I lost my blanket to my Kansas gang sometime during the 1/2 race.

I listened to this guy sing a while on the backside of the course. His dog looked happy, so I assumed he was a good guy.

I’m gonna ride today. I saw the Ortho doctor in Kansas City yesterday and he was great. His name is Lance Synder and he used to play football for KU. A lineman. He didn’t seem anywhere nearly big enough, but said he had lost over 70 lbs. He rode bikes, has a Trek Madone, and was a great guy. He said I had a pretty big separation, but if he were me, he’d just wait it out and see how it heals. He said he can always put it back together at any time. That sounded pretty good to me, so that is what I’m going to do. He put a cortisone shot into it and said I could do just about anything I wanted to now. That was as long as the pain allowed it, which is about nothing right now.

So, I figure I can go out and ride an hour or two. I can’t really imagine doing it at this moment, but I think I can work up enough energy in a couple hours.

I think the biggest problem to riding is going to be my neck. It is super stiff, nearly locked in place. I hate it when I have a hard time glancing over my shoulder looking for cars, etc. But, this is the way it is going to be for a while.

I had a few hours to blow yesterday in Kansas City before I had to pick Trudi up at the airport, so I went by the County Club Plaza and hung. Bromont and I went for a walk by the creek and then I went by the Apple Store to get my phone looked at. There were so many people in there, I thought there was a class being held, but one of the employees said it was just a normal Monday afternoon. I have Apple stock. And it’s increased in price dramactically the last few months. And I’m not usually someone that tells others what to do with their money, but Apple is firing on all cylinders right now. Producing products that virtually everyone in the world wants. They are rewriting the books on stock valuation. I know it seems expensive at $600 per share, but that is just a number. Look at it as 10, $60 shares. Stop by an Apple store and see how they do business. I can’t imagine what could change in the short term that would derail the upward movement of the stock, other than a World incident that puts jitters into all financial investments. Okay, enough of that.

So, I picked Trudi up. She’s pretty happy to be back. She got jacked on luggage fees flying home from Switzerland. She is a Premier United member and should have gotten two free bags, but they said that they changed the program within the last month and she only got 1. So she had to pay for two extra bags coming back. She won’t tell me what the charge was, so it has to be humongous. Man, airlines aren’t our friends anymore.

We stopped at Freestate in Lawrence and had dinner, then walked Bromont around downtown Lawrence. He likes that street. It didn’t seem like that many KU students were out and about.

I am still pretty sleepy all day, so I must of hit my head harder than I thought. (Okay I said it.) I am not sleeping the best, so that too could also have something to do with it. I’m feeling pretty optimistic about the recovery right now obviously. I don’t know what that is, but I don’t see any downside to it. I’ll see how the ride goes today.

Dr. Synder. He is my kind of orthopedic doctor.

He has jerseys hanging all over his office from KU players, Royals, etc. I think he needs a cycling jersey hung up, so I'm going to send him a signed Worlds jersey.

This was the Apple store at the plaza at 3 Monday afternoon. Crazy.

This is a photo I took walking with Bromont down by Brush Creek.

Clover machine, that makes individual cups of high end coffee. I have to admit, it was pretty good.

Bromont was very happy to see Trudi at the airport.

Bromonts favorite driving slot with his favorite human.