After a punishing race last weekend called Hell Of The North, I was really looking forward to a smaller yet still challenging race called Paris to Ancaster. For most competitors, this is a must do race each season as it’s very challenging and is a great amount of fun.
The race itself (now in it’s 17th year) consists of two separate distances – as with the last few years, I opted to race the smaller version of the event called St. George to Ancaster which is the 35km distance as opposed to the 60km Paris to Ancaster one.
A minute before the 11:45am start, the race announcer thanked all of the sponsors and told us to have a safe race before he sounded the horn for the start.
Off we went.
Once out of the gate, we made a hard left hand turn onto highway 5 and headed east. Approximately 2 kilometers down highway 5, a racer crossed the centerline of the highway in an attempt to pass me and clipped my front wheel on his way back in (to avoid an oncoming car). What happened next is a bit blurry; I remember my front wheel turning from the impact, I also remember it catching the road and violently causing me to flip in a hammer like motion over the handlebars slamming head first into the ground at about 45km/hr. When the dust settled, I quickly got up and knew something wasn’t right – I shuffled out of the way grabbing my now warped cross-bike and made it to the shoulder of the road.
Dazed and confused, I quickly assessed everything. I thought for sure my head had been mangled from the impact – but the only thing that was “off” was my shoulder. It was broken.
The ambulance came fairly quickly, and off they rushed me to the Brantford General Hospital. Although I felt alright, I was going through some light headed spells and was feeling sick to my stomach. My shoulder didn’t hurt too much, but I knew it was screwed just by how it felt. The medics didn’t pay too much attention to my shoulder as they (rightfully) were more concerned about my head. They kept talking to me and asking me simple questions (likely to monitor my speech) while they kept studying my bicycle helmet… which leads me into the true purpose of this report.
Earlier this year I thought it was time to renew my bike helmet, and in speaking with my friends at the bike shop I deal with (Pedal Performance in Woodbridge) – I opted to go with a helmet that was a bit on the expensive side, but had a heap of technology integrated into it. I purchased the Specialized S-Works helmet. Naturally, as with 98% of the people who read this report, I was more concerned with the racing specific features such as weight, number of vents it had and most importantly – the colour of course! Little did I focus on the Kevlar webbing system or the Dual Density Polystyrene system applied to the impact zones… basically what I’m really trying to say is, little did I focus on the actual things that saved my life yesterday.
In the end I only ended up with a minor concussion, but my collarbone is shattered on my right side. Because of the severity of the break, I have to undergo surgery tomorrow afternoon to ensure it repairs in the proper manner.
There are two things I know for sure about yesterday’s event. Firstly, I know I hit head first and then came down on my shoulder. Secondly, I know that if my Clavicle (Collarbone… now in three pieces) is that mangled from the impact, I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for my helmet – how would my head have looked without it? Athletes (some I know personally) spend hundreds of dollars on the right pair of running shoes, and then settle for a $40 helmet. Your head is one of, if not the most crucial parts of your body… so spend the money and protect it properly.
The helmet I referenced is only one of many good helmets out there. For more information about the technology that keeps you safe, click here:
http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCTechPopup.jsp?pid=Helmet_SW_KeyTech10
I don’t mean to be a downer, I really don’t. All I can say to anyone reading this is that you can’t always control these things that happen during the races we do, and the accidents can happen to absolutely anyone. Unfortunately my 2010 season of racing is… well… halted I guess you could say. I will be back hopefully later on in the year but I intend to change things up a bit and re-assess the types of competitions I partake in.
See you at the races.
Markus.
Scary stuff Mark.
Will miss you at the Du races.
Get Well Soon.
Wow! That was quite the accident! Thank goodness you are okay, except for your collarbone. You are very lucky! Did your helmet crack at all? That would have been quite the force on it. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery!
Thanks Angus and Karen. The helmet did crack in a few places where the impact was.
Surgery is today at 3pm… kinda nervous.
Keep in touch… hopefully see you at the kickoff.
Mark
wow, that’s quite a brush. Thinking about you. Surgery is always a bit nerve-wracking before you go in. Thanks for the article, and goodl luck!
Hey Mark,
I am sure that all will go well today, but I have to say, I really think this was a bit of an extreme way to get out of set up for this weekend’s first 5Peaks race… you could have just told us you had other plans : )
Enjoy some recovery ice cream for me!!
jen
Mark,
That is horrible news. The more I read about roadie races (i know this was more of a cross race…), the more I fear them and am thankful for the rules in triathlon that keep us a little safer. Seems like there are too many reckless racers out there who don’t respect the other riders. I spoke to a gentleman that did the Good Friday race and witnessed one of the bad crashes. I also read Karsten Madsen’s accident report on his blog from that same race. All I can say is dominos. It only takes one error and everyone is in danger, and usually at high speeds. Pretty scary for a guy my age with family responsibilities.
Rest up and hope you are back soon and better than ever.
Larry
Wow dude! Just caught this now.
Glad you are ok (head wise — some might argue otherwise though), I hope surgery went well yesterday.
Enjoy the rest (you need to look at this in this way) but not too much – you and me do have a big date in September.
Take some drugs, or a few beers, and hop on the trainer to stay in shape. No excuses.
Anyway, I’ll drop you an email too in case you don’t catch this.
All the best buddy.
Roger
Markus ..wow… you are the Iron man indeed… get better soon
Wow!! i didn’t know about this, Steven tolds us at breakfast. Sorry to hear you got hurt. Now that you have a family to consider, I’d be looking at options for racing. I enjoy my rides along the lake in Ajax with a helmet on). My wife and daughter sometimes join me. It’s accidents like these you’re never really prepared for.
Good luck with your recovery Mark.
Mark, omg…I was wondering about you & P2A and finally just getting to read this now…thank god for helmets. Im glad youre “ok” and it was just the collarbone – apparently you will be even stronger once it heals. (at least thats what they told me when Hayden at 2 broke his..) You’re colourful race reports this season will be missed – have a speedy recovery so you can show the trail & bike gods who’s boss 😉
Kel