Epic Day

OK, there are not cute photos of Sid here, but here's a good story for your reading pleasure.

Most days around here can be pretty much classified as “ho hum” days. Today, however, can only be described as epic. Today was the first mtn. bike race of the root 66 series and coincidentally, the only one of the series that is not held on Sunday. It was my one chance to shine at Root 66. The day started out well. It was supposed to rain all day, but turned out to be sunny and 70 degrees instead. In fact, Rowe and Sid didn’t make the trip down because of the forecast. That was a bummer. She always cheers hard. So, I made the trip down with one of the guys on the UMass team.

I got off to a pretty bad start and ended up having to chase back to a small group of about 4 riders in the front. They were setting a blistering pace! I yo yo’d on and off the back of this group and eventually decided that I probably couldn’t sustain a heart rate over 190 for 2 hours and I backed off a bit. I slowly slipped back and decided to just race at my tempo and hopefully be able to real them in as the race went on. Coming in to the second lap I started to feel some stomach cramps. Nothing too bad, but a little bit uncomfortable. Instead of doing the smart thing at that point and trying to take some fluids, I pushed on. As the race wore on the stomach cramps intensified and as a consequence I had a hard time drinking or eating anything. Determined to finish...I pushed on. I managed to hold on to my 5th place spot (not by much though) although when I crossed the finish line I felt terrible! My stomach felt like it was tied in a knot and I was incredibly nauseated. At that point I decided that I was a bit dehydrated and tried to force some fluids. My body reacted by promptly rejecting said fluids. Funny thing about dehydration is that you body rejects what it needs the most.

So, I spent the next couple of hours trying to sip sports drink and water with little success. I had Jeff drive home as I sipped liquids and tried to vomit out the window without getting the side of the car dirty. At 70 mph this is very difficult. On my return to Amherst I decided that it would be in my best interest to check in with health services and try to get an IV. Here’s how it went: I checked in, waited in the waiting room for 30 min., got called in, sat in an exam room for 15 min., had my blood pressure taken in every position imaginable, was told that I wasn’t dehydrated and was sent away with instructions to sip liquids. I was so mad that I sipped some liquid on the way out and vomited all over their entry way. That’ll teach them.

I drove home (which was really sketchy) and Rowe and I tried for several hours to get me to hold some fluids down to no avail. I then made the decision that we needed to go to the Greenfield hospital. This is where it gets good. As Rowe was getting Sid ready to go, she was walking down the stairs, slipped and fell down the stairs. She managed to not drop Sid, but by so doing, completely wrecked her tailbone and back. In the meantime, i’m sitting on the couch in a nauseated daze. I jump up to help her and am instantly overcome with the urge to vomit. I run over, get Sid, set him in his bumbo seat and proceed to vomit. Sid hears his mommy crying and his daddy making a dreadul wrenching noise and realizes that something is terribly wrong. So he screams. I can imagine that our neighbors are listening through the wall wondering what on earth is going on.

In the end, everybody was eventually able to rally together and get me to Greenfield. They saw my condition and quickly brought me in and started an IV. They pumped a couple liters of fluid into me and gave me some pain meds for my stomach and I was good as new.....well, almost. I at least was able to eat and drink a little without purging my gut. We left the hospital at about 1AM, drove home, ran up to bed and passed out.

I have to say that through all of this Rowe was amazing. She handled the situation so well. She unpacked and packed cars, made me food, kept Sid happy, and had a smile on her face through the whole thing. What a woman! I'm a lucky man