Epic Crash Report

There are no words really to describe the emotions I’ve been through in the last 48hrs. If I ever said that the Cape Epic is an emotional roller coaster ride, then this year is by far the ‘grandest’ roller coaster of them all.
We were hoping to make this our year. We had everything in place, the best support crew,the best equipment, the best sponsors, and some of the best form all of which is needed to be successful in winning this race. And in the blink of an eye, all dreams and aspirations were shattered.

To clear up any confusion around the crash, here it is from me:
It was simply a problem with the disc pads that we changed the night before the stage. On the steep descends, the aluminium rotors were overheating and causing the brakes to ‘fade’ and loose power. On the steepest descend on the stage, 25km into the race, I had too much speed to slow down and knew I was heading for a crash. All things considering, I think I was fairly lucky, as I crashed in a very hectic corner. Helmet completely smashed and I could have been so much worse!
Immediately I knew that I had sustained a serious injury as I felt my shoulder and could feel the bone was broken. I got back on the bike and rode down to the next turn where there were two marshals. At this point Dave was ahead of me, and I quickly un-zipped my jersey and asked the marshal to have a look and confirm if it was broken. I felt like could go on, and didn’t want to stop the race, especially as the adrenalin was kicking and I had no initial pain. The marshal lifted my arm and we heard a crack, confirming the break. He called the ambulance who came to fetch me and take me away.
I shared some tears on Dave’s shoulder when he came back to see what had happened, the heart ache immense.
So much effort, time, commitment, everything just gone in a second.

I was taken back to Vincent Pallotti Hospital, where Dr. Solomon had put a plate and screws into my shoulder ten years ago. As he knew hat had been done previously, he knew what would ned to be done second time round. The old plate an screws removed, replaced by a new one with a few more screws.

I still believe everything happens for a reason, and although this is a major setback for me, I have so much to be grateful for, that I can only but smile:
I have sponsors that are again at my hospital bed one hundred percent behind me.
I have Dave as a team mate who is always supporting and remains focused and positive,
I have my family who love and support me through all the highs and lows.

No matter what you think, it can always be worse, so I’ll take it on the chin, heal up fast, and be back and strong, hungry as ever!

Thanks to everyone for your support, I’ll be back, again.