GETTING YOUR BELL RUNG

I'm a glass half full kinda gal...

Hell, to be honest with you... For me and probably for many of you, the glass is damned over flowing most of the time! Come on.... Think of it....

Most people “our age”... whatever that age may be... 


They get up, go to work... probably barely tolerate what they do for work. 


Then they go home... cranky as hell, grab a beer and TV remote and then channel surf, while trying to decide what they'll eat for dinner. After dinner they'll hang out awhile doing something mindless, watch more TV... maybe play something on their computer... go to bed and start it all over again the next day.

Repeat... Repeat... Repeat.... UGH!!!! 


SHOOT ME NOW!!!!

So... maybe you don't love your jobs... but... folks like you and me have SO MUCH TO LOOK FORWARD TO AFTER WORK!!

Yup, you got it... we are the anti – couch potato/TV junkies... 
We immediately take the after work hole shot!  We go outside and play, until we squeeze the last second of daylight out of the day... often running well into the night, (that's why man created head lamps!).  


And once we drag our butts home from playing during the week... we're busy planning our WEEKENDS!!!  YEAH BABY!!!

But!!!!  


Not, to be the proverbial wet blanket!!!  Yes, you guessed it... I'm taking a left turn and we're going on to a less than fun topic... Time for the sad face... 

When you play long and hard enough, you will get hurt.  And, every once in awhile... you will even ring your bell.  


I have found from personal experience  that the big bulbous thing perched on top of your shoulders, that is intended to protect our tiny brains... doesn't bounce very well.  And when we bang it hard enough to get that "dazed and confused feeling"...  That's officially when you have been entered into the: 


You Just Got your Bell Rung Fan Club, and when that happens... it's now in your best interest to follow some very clear guide lines.  And those are called the:  Return To Play Rules
  
Of course, you can be a total boob... and choose to ignore the guidelines (like I did)...  Be a hero, hop back on your bike and start racing around like a wild man (or wild Peanut in my case) ... and see if it bites you in the ass later....

It's a well documented fact that I'm a boob... and here's how it bit me in the ass back in 2009!

The timing was, January 2009... exactly one week before the World Master Cyclocross Championships, which were being held in Belgium. I was racing in a Cyclocross race in Germany, as a final prep...  for Worlds.

I was the reigning Master World Champion at the time and I was hoping to defend the title.

The course I was racing that day had some really tricky sections on it, but that's not where that crash took place. The crash happened in an open section of the course... where the grass was surprising short, the ground was smooth and there was no traffic. My speed was high and I was taking a large sweeping arcing turn to the left... It was late in the race and I was tired. so my concentration was off a bit and I swung too wide... I never saw it coming...

In Europe... for the smaller races, course builders use close line in place of course ribbon and large wooden landscaping stakes in place of plastic bendable stakes... it was cheaper and I guess that was the material that was donated by the locals.

So... when I swung wide... my bars caught onto the taut close line and that drove me right into the stake... when my bike hit the stake, I did a Super Man style launch over the bars and hit the ground head first... lights out...next thing I remember, I was waking up in a heap on the ground.

I never had a chance to get my hands off the bars. I went down so hard, I landed right on the top of my head and totally blacked out... I must have been out about 10-15 seconds.  When I came too... I tried getting up on wobbly legs... looking through this fuzzy tunnel vision and listening to a weird ringing in my ears and immediately puked... I'm trying to locate my bike... I actually trying to get back into the race... I clearly was not thinking straight!!!


At this point, a crowd had gathered and the spectators had totally take charge... They gently disengaged me from my bike and were busy getting the medics... They've seen this thing before and they were not going to let me get back on the bike... I puked a second time on my way to the medical tent... I could hardly walk, they had to half carry, half walk me to the tent.

They wanted to take me to the hospital, but I fast talked my way out of a trip in the ambulance by telling them Tom Stevens (my coach) was my husband and he would keep an eye on me... (Kathi, his real wife would have been thrilled)... My greatest fear was being taken to a foreign hospital and not speaking the language.  

There was no doubt I was suffering a concussion... the million dollar question... was if there was any bleeding in the brain???  Tom's wife was a sports Doc at the time... so we spent several long distance calls consulting with her during the night... confirming that we did't need to go to the hospital... but it was still a bit of a tricky situation. 

Fast forward to today...

I dodged a major bullet that day... It turned out, I suffered a fairly significant concussion from that accident...

I did race that following weekend (against better judgement)... and won my second Master's World Title... but at a cost... 

To this day, as a result of the crash... I now suffer from migraines, and  will be on medication for the rest of my life to manage them.  I have never had a migraine before the injury...never understood them... but I have total respect for them now!

For anyone who suffers from migraines... they'll totally get it when I say... when a full blown migraine hits... I sometimes consider, driving a nail through my hand... just to take my mind off of the pain.   So...

What do you do if you get your bell rung??? And... what can you do to minimize any potential long term injury.

First...

#1. Any crash that results in you smacking your melon on the ground... is serious.  SERIOUSLY!!!


#2.  If  you make contact hard enough with your head... to lose track of time... even for a few seconds...


That means you might have blacked out, and that is serious... not something to mess with...



DO NOT...  get back on your bike!!!  Call it a day.  Pack it in Skippy.  End of story. 


If you have someone with you, have them drive you home.  You might consider calling someone to come get you.  This is no time to play hero.  So... Don't be a boob!


Not to be an alarmist or anything... but according to the 

The all seeing eye aka GOOGLE...  states:

If the following happens...  



If you suffer from nausea, dizziness, loss of memory of the event (smacking your melon), vomit more than once (guess they allow you to vomit free the first time before you are penalized... hmmm... who knew),  restlessness or agitation, increasing pressure in your head, disorientation, or if you are getting a headache that is getting worse over time... Then...

BUT GET YOUR BUTT TO A DOCTOR ASAP!!! 

 

#1.  You are not allowed to do any activity until you are at least a full 24 hours head ache free... Then... 

Sooo... What did I do wrong???  


2 major things....


1.  After the accident the head aches were so significant... once I got back home, I should have gone to see a doctor, end of story.  I thought I could address the headache with regular over the counter stuff... but in reality, the headaches became immune to them and just became stronger and they turned into migraines... after 6 months I finally broke down and went to a doctor... it was too late, they had already set a pattern. 


Learn from my mistake... if you ring your bell badly enough... go see a doctor right a way. 


2.  I blew rule #1... I raced Worlds with with a screaming head ache... I wanted that title so bad I could taste it.  


Would I do it again????  Yes, I would... It was a calculated risk and I accepted the consequences but If I could change history, I would have gone to see a doctor as soon as I got back.  I'm not saying it was the right decision...  because I clearly broke the rule :)... so I'm clearly still a boob.



It goes without saying...  If you smack your head... and ring you bell... your helmet is toast.  Even if it looks fine, the basic structure is fractured and you need to replace it.  The helmet did it's job... it protected your head.  Now do yourself a favor and get a new one.  Many helmet companies will give you a crash replacement rebate if you return the helmet with your story.

Have fun out there, Ride Safe

I'll Talk with you all soon

The Peanut Gallery