First Epic Bike Race....DNF

Seriously. It was epic. We will NEVER forget it.

James and I registered to participate in the Boys and Girls Club 7th annual bike ride. We joined my friend's daughter's team and have been jazzed to participate in our first bike race for weeks! This ride has a 50 mile route, 30 mile route and 10 mile route. It is supposed to be a really fun ride and at the end, we get to celebrate with the UW band, Culvers ice cream, brats and beer. Fun!

We, of course, signed on for the 10 mile route. I had heard the course had one big uphill in the beginning, but the rest was mostly flat. Perfect.

So this morning, John, me and the boys headed out for a morning of fun. Only James and I were riding, but John and Jake thought it would be fun to watch and take it all in. On the way, traffic was all stopped because a car had completely flipped over in the middle of a side street. Crazy. Scary. Unfortunately, it was something of an omen of things to come for the day.

We got parked, registered, got our cool new team jerseys and met up with our fun team members. It was a lovely, cool morning and we were very excited. We lined up for the start and James smiled at me and said he was a little nervous. I smiled back and said, "aw, don't be, we are going to have a great time!" Little did I know....

We got started and the huge pack of riders freaked James out a little. At first he was flustered because we were going so slow. I tried to pick it up for him, but then he was worried. There were so many people and it made him very uncomfortable. We turned a corner and started heading up a big hill. James was going incredibly slow because he was worried about all the riders around him (it was still very congested). By the top of the hill, I had to completely stop to catch him. We started down and he was slamming on his brakes and barely moving. I told him it was okay to speed up a little - it would be okay. Boy do I deeply regret those words.

He let go of his brakes right at the steepest part of the downhill and started speeding up. I think then he just got flustered and did not know what to do as he just started FLYING down the hill. Keep in mind there were hundreds of riders around. I was watching him try to navigate between the curb and riders riding very close to the curb. He was focusing on not crashing, rather than on applying his brakes. (He later told me he was afraid of applying his brakes because he thought he would go over the handle bars). I think I yelled, "BRAKES!" about 100 times but maybe it was just in my mind. He was out of control and going at least 35 mph yelling "MMMMOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!"

And there was not a damn thing I could do.

Near the bottom of the hill, the course took a relatively sharp left. I was relieved to see he did not try to make the corner at that speed. He went straight into the zoo area entrance. Suddenly, I saw him hit the curb and go flying off his bike. Then I saw the bike flying right at him. And my heart stopped completely. It was honestly the most horrifying thing I have ever seen. I flew down there, jumped off my bike and instinctively picked him up and hugged him.

Within 30 seconds, a man was telling me to put him down and be careful of his neck - he could be severely hurt. Turns out that man was a pediatric critical care physician. His wife was there too - she was also a pediatrician. At first lots of people were crowding around, but soon it dispersed to just a handful. Should we call an ambulance? Does he need x-rays? After a few minutes, the doctor determined his neck appeared okay. James was shell shocked to say the least. But he was conscious. His right hip/abdomen hurt badly. He had bruises all over. He had thankfully landed in a small grassy area - about 20-25 feet from the curb he hit. I called John and he and Jake ran over. Thank goodness they came with us this morning. After 15-20 minutes, we walked our bikes back to the car. The doctor had told us he looked okay, but to observe him for the next couple hours and if anything got worse, go to the doctor. We opted to go anyway.

We went to our after hours clinic and they worked us right in. Up to this point, I had been very calm and collected. But after describing everything to the nurse, she looked at James and said, "thank goodness your guardian angel was there to catch your fall." I just started to cry.

The doctors then came in and checked him out. At first they were worried he may have a broken arm, but he was perfectly fine. Again, I went through what happened and they said he was so very, very lucky.

We decided to go to Red Robin for lunch since we missed our planned festivities. James and I laughed that our "Plan A-Fun" turned into "Plan B - Emergency Room." When we got there, I just kept thinking how I had just told him to speed up before this happened. Again, I started to cry. James hugged me and said, "Its not your fault Mommy. Its more my fault. And its not really my fault because it was just a big accident." Aw. It was a big accident. And we both made mistakes. But everything was okay.

With that said, the whole thing has gone through my head a million times since. It was so scary. And we were so lucky there were no cars coming, he did not hit a tree (or any other inanimate object) and he landed in grass. He could have been killed, paralyzed, etc. Fatalistic to think that? Maybe. But a mom can't see her child uncontrollably speeding down a hill then crashing without engaging in "what ifs." Thank God he is ok.

The good news is he wants to plan another bike ride (just not that one). His bike is pretty trashed. We will take it in tomorrow for repair. The take aways - riding with a big group is VERY different from riding with just a couple of people. I had no idea how much that would throw him off. Next time, we go to the very back. He has no problem running in big groups, but running is so very different. And the runner in me only considered the "uphill" in the big hill - not the downhill. James has never had problems with hills before, but probably hasn't navigated one quite that steep before either. Next time, review course better. Duh.

In the meantime, hugs for him (he is also still quite traumatized, but taking it in good stride) and many many thanks in my heart for the way the cards fell today.