MS150 Recap

I know what you may be thinking; “he’s not doing the MS150 until May 6-7.” Well, you’re right. I did the big daddy MS150 this past weekend, subbing for a rider who dropped out last minute. I rode with the Wheels of Love team, mostly made up of GSD&M employees. Travis hooked me up.

I guess the best way to recap the weekend is chonologically:

So, back to the wreck. Kathy and I were behind Travis (Scoggins) who I’m told is a strong rider (he apparently did the whole ride on Saturday last year on his mountain bike, then returned to do the second day on a road bike). He was cruising along at a good 20mph clip among heavy bike traffic when, as he tells it, one of the riders beside him lost control and instinctively grabbed whatever was nearby. Unfortunately, the nearby items were his handlebars, and the opposite rider’s handlebars. They went down. Hard. Riders behind them swerved, but couldn’t fully clear the carnage, and wrecked too. If I remember correctly, six riders went down, two of them doing full endos (going head over the bars).

There is basically three types of wrecks you can have in road cycling. The first is when your front wheel gets taken out from under you, as would occur if someone grabs your bars or cuts you off and turns your wheel unexpectedly. This would pull you straight down into the asphault. Another is if your wheel is not turned or taken out, but stops suddenly because of some obstacle. This allows the rider to keep some downforce through his/her arms and would typically launch the rider over the handlebars. The third type of wreck is where the front or rear wheel slides out from under you. The rider would come down on his or her side and skid along the road. If you have your choice of wrecks, pick the third; not the second, and definitely not the first. Travis picked the first.

He crawled off the road quickly, later saying he was avoiding getting run over by other cyclists. I was off my bike in a heartbeat, and reached him just as he was clear of the road. I immediately told him to lie down. Someone handed me a bandana, and I held it over his right eye, which had a nice trickle of blood. I didn’t notice he had other cuts below his eye too until blood started gushing from those wounds. I kept holding until medical support arrived.

Considering the size of the wreckage, bicycle and vehicular traffic was stopped in both directions. The Allyn ambulance comes down the opposing lane to where many cyclists, several support vehicles, and one down rider were staged, and promptly drove past. Uhhhh, hello? How much more obvious could it be that some event occurred here that required medical personel? Team members yelled, and the idiots stopped. Todd rode with Travis to Katy Memorial. He had to tell six different people that Travis was allergic to penicillin, and had to take the map out of the driver’s hands so they didn’t end up in the ditch, which nearly happened. He also said Katy Memorial only staffed one emergency room doctor that day, which he found to be odd and frustrating considering the magnitude of the event.

Travis had no broken bones, though for a while we and the doctors thought he might have a broken collarbone (his shoulder hurt the worst, Travis said). He had to have 60 (yes, that’s a six followed by a zero) stitches around his right eye.

The other Travis and I rode nervous for about 15 miles.

I didn’t hear any sirens or see any evidence of any wrecks the whole second day. Our team didn’t even have any flats.

It was a great weekend! Travis, I hope you’re doing well and riding soon.

Two weeks and I do it all over again!