Fine Like Red Wine

For the many people who have emailed inquiries after my health, and dropped a line here... thanks, I'm doing just fine. I can't believe how many people went to the trouble of caring to ask after me. Thanks, that's very generous of y'all.

In retrospect, that was a pretty spectacular crash yesterday but it hurt more in the present moment, and with fewer lingering aches than my fairly epic 35 MPH wipeout at the Baker Park Crit 18 months ago. That one left me tenderized like a cheap steak, skinned a couple fingers to the bone, and left blood blisters all over my body, and overall soreness for a month. This one... it was a little slower and I'm on the mend.

Status check on specifics?

• Ear/cheek - swelling gone, already scabbed up and healing nicely. Smaller cuts than expected.
• Upper back, right shoulder & trapezius are quite stiff, not badly hurting, feels like just bruised / pulled muscles. No collarbone / shoulder separation problems.
  
• Right leg near knee is skinned, basically mildly or un-bruised.
• Left leg is just a bit bruised, seriously skinned below the knee, but comfortably swathed in a thick coat of Brave Soldier and the big swollen ball is gone. There is also a quarter-sized black mark on my inner thigh where the handlebar end apparently tried to take a core sample but that's minor enough I didn't notice it yesterday.
• Right hand - the right hand took the worst of it. I badly bruised the outside edge of my palm, probably sprained, pain radiating up through back of hand and outside of bottom portion of wrist joint (wrist / hand is actually the worst of the lot). Grip strength is okay so probably nothing broken, hurts enough to stay off the bike and to skip Family Bikes' paintball match today.
• Melon - fully functional. (I was a little shocky and slower-witted than usual yesterday, that's why I sounded like a moron on the phone last night, Jon... I'm fine today though.)

So all in all, it's pretty minor, just a lot of muscle bruising. There are times when it is profitable to be fat and also carrying probably 30 pounds more of upper body muscle mass than the typical cyclist. I suppose one reason contact sports coaches always advise guys to bulk up until their game suffers - it's because muscle mass does a good job of absorbing trauma and holding the joints together - big hits could be a lot more destructive without that extra padding.

Again, thanks for your concern, all. I'll be back with your Regularly Scheduled Hilarity tomorrow.