A Sunday bike ride interrupted by a stupid tree...

On Sunday morning I had plans to meet with Glenda for a 20ish mile ride down the American River Bike Trail -Since we came from different sides of the river we both parked and then met at the Guy West Bridge - Such a great bridge that is on the California State University Sacramento Campus! Glenda snapped this pic as I was coming across the bridge to meet her! We started our ride and I was feeling pretty good - I was testing out a new water backpack since bending down and getting the water bottle is not my strong suit and everything was perfect. The weather was still cool (we met at 7AM) it was quiet on the trail and I had the best company - Glenda is amazing to me and so inspirational to me - she is always able to get me out of a funk!

We were about two miles in when we heard this loud cracking noise that seemed to have lasted forever - at first I wasn't sure what it was - but then I realized it was a tree going down and Glenda was peddling fast and yelling "Pedal Sabrina, Pedal!" I never got sight of the tree but I could tell it was big and coming down close to me, but had no idea which direction so I peddled and then I could hear it behind me - I tried to look back to see if I could see where it was going or if it was going to hit me and that is when I lost control of the bike. I ended up off the trail into the loose stuff and my bike stopped and I didn't. Over the handlebars I went and luckily I was far enough off the trail that I landed up underbrush and loose stuff and not on the trail itself or the hard edge of the trail.
A picture of my crash site - Glenda still kicks herself that she didn't get a pic of me laying in the bushes with my bike on top of me but she was too concerned making sure I was OK! I'm thankful for the soft stuff there or I would have been hurt much worse.


Here is a pic of the tree that came down, is was huge and thankfully it didn't come across the trail and landed where nobody really would have been since it was off the trail (but of course since I never caught sight of it - I didn't know it wasn't going to hit me...)


So I get up, evaluate myself and other than a little soreness I think - hey I'm OK! The adrenaline was pumping and I was so wired I don't think much would have stopped me at that point. Glenda even said - OK lets go back and I told her that we had only done two miles and that I was fine to go on! I did stop at a park about 5 miles later and let her continue on for a bit and I brushed myself off some more and ate something and called a friend. But when I was done I continued on and met her part of the way back. With about 4 miles to go to the car I started feeling like something wasn't right - I was having trouble taking deep breaths and I was winded more than I should have been. I was also having trouble keeping up with Glenda and she had to keep slowing down for me. She rode with me back to my car and all told I did a little under 19 miles (16 of that after the crash!).

After I got home tightness and soreness set in and I had a hard time taking a deep breath without pain in my upper back on the right side. I called Kaiser and I had a phone appointment set up and the doctor I talked to said I probably had bruised ribs and to take Ibuprofen and alternate ice and heat but to call back if anything got worse. The next morning I made an appointment with my regular doctor and he did X-rays and such and diagnosed me with a separated shoulder and a cracked rib underneath my shoulder blade. I consider myself lucky - things could have been so much worse. I was lucky to fall where I did, I was lucky that tree didn't fall on the trail (or on me or anyone else) and I'm lucky that I wasn't by myself.

I talked to a friend after I came home from the doctors and she told me that this was just a speed bump in my road - it may be enough to slow me down a little, but once I'm on the other side of it I will take off again full speed! I have an amazing support system and I'm so thankful for everyone of them that keeps me going when I'm down!