Mono Bungs Himself

On Sunday the second round of the N-Duro Summer Cup was raced under the scorching Rotorua sun. The clouds were absent, the wind wasn't there and the thermometer read 24 degrees at 9:30 am. Erk.

I'd had a cold all week, and only got out for 1 short lap of the tip track on Wednesday, so wasn't sure how I'd feel on race day. After getting smashed at the start of round 1 (Something to do with 150 people all jonesing for the same bit of single track...) I tried to get a better start this time. While I was on the second row I got off to a right crapper, and a seemingly endless flow of people cut my lunch at every opportunity. After the first few bits of singletrack (and getting buzzed on the leg by a passing rider - not quite the same as "on your right", but whatever...) I settled into a decent pace, the delicious meat in an R&R sandwich, with Mr. Ed behind me, BGA in front of me and Connor in front of him. I had already started planning my race from this point, looking forward to the climbs up Direct Road and Frontal Lobotomy, when I experienced some sort of skill/concentration issue. On a simple, unassuming bit of Soakhole I binned it, in rather spectacular fashion - OTB, off the track to the right and bounced off a very large log, did a mean head-stall, before coming to rest in the foliage with my right leg through my front triangle...

First thing I did was start wiggling my fingers and trying to rotate my left wrist - I've broken it 3 times before, and I'm always worried about it when I go down. That's right, when I go down. Anyway, once I'd decided it wasn't too badly hurt I got untangled, and dragged my trusty Scott over to the other side of the trail. As rider after rider passed they almost all asked if I was OK, which was nice. I stood there, hunched over my machine, trying to collect my thoughts. I gave up after a few minutes. They're still somewhere towards the end of Soakhole if anyone sees them.

I decided to push on, as I didn't think the wrist was too bad... just sore. I managed to get past a few people on the next couple of trails, before hitting Direct Road and Frontal. My legs felt strong in this section, which was really encouraging. As I got near the exit of Frontal I turned across a rut on the trail, and burped my front tyre. As I don't normally take a pump or quickfill I was left to ride the remainder of the course with around 15psi in my front tyre... not ideal in such grippy conditions. I rode like a Nana on the downhills (Even more than usual) and smashed the flats and climbs to make up time. Unfortunately I couldn't regain any of the time I lost on the downhill sections, and ended up in 13th place in Open Men, over 20 minutes slower than the front runners.

I managed to get an ice pack from the N-Duro guys at the finish which was great, and I think it helped keep any swelling down pretty well. Once I jumped in the car and left Vegas for Welly the wrist started throbbing a bit, and the swelling started to get worse.

I've had a wee check up with a physio today who thinks the end of my radius might be cracked, and I've definitely done a fair bit of ligament and tendon damage. I get a proper assessment tomorrow, so hoping for better news then - hoping the 35ish km I rode on it didn't make it much worse than it might have been already.... time will tell.

Anyway, it's only a wrist. I have a spare.