Carrie vs. The Sand God...

You may remember that there are gods of cycling. (One of them being the Sun God, which possesses male cyclists with the urge to unclothe.) Well, apparently my relative success in the sand pits at Ore to Shore and confidence riding in sand seems to have angered the Sand God.

That's right, the Sand God. Yeah, I didn't know about him either, not until yesterday.

It was my first time riding Island Lake, and I was hauling ass through the first three miles (or at least, I think that's about where I went down). I'm just riding along by this beautiful lake, and all of a sudden I hit a deep patch of sand. I wavered for a couple seconds through it, thinking I had it cleaned, and then BAM, I go flying over the handlebars.

About thirty seconds or so behind me was a man named Bob, who shall henceforth be known as Guardian Angel Bob, at least in mind. I got up and thought I was okay, and told him to keep riding. Instead he stopped and said he'd wait, which I'm so thankful for.

A minute later my vision started to get really bright and fuzzy, and it reached a point where I couldn't see my bike, or him, or the trail in front of me. Bob helped me sit down to the side of the trail. It was all just white, and sort of sparkly. Kind of beautiful, but very scary. It felt like it took about ten minutes to get back to normal, at which point I became aware my ears were ringing. Really loudly. I was scared, and I didn't really care that my elbow and knee were bleeding and that my legs hurt like hell.

Once my vision and hearing were back on track, I decided to follow him back to the trailhead. Bob rode really slow with me through the remaining 6 miles of the blue loop. (I have a feeling our average speed was about 6-7mph, but I forgot to put my computer back on Sybil after the post-O2S hose-off, so I can't be sure. Still being dizzy and relatively out of it, that was all I could handle.) Bob kept me moving and showed me the best lines on some of the more tricky areas. I probably wouldn't have stayed upright for very long if I was on the trail by myself. Thank you Bob, for sticking with me. I appreciate it more than you know. I'm just sorry I slowed down your ride.

I later went to the doctor and found out I had a concussion, and I'm on orders to take it easy for a couple days. I've got scabs on my joints, bruises starting to form, and a healthy new respect for the Sand God. Island Lake seems like a trail I'd normally love, but I've got a bad taste in my mouth from it, and a bit of sand, too. I still don't remember quite how I landed, but there was sand everywhere: in my hair, gloves, bra, socks...I'm not sure I'll be coming back for seconds any time soon.