Second event, first injury

Completed my second event of the year, the Gorrick XC race at Yateley. Apparently the course was going to be quick, flowing, interesting and fun. Then it rained for 24 hours. As if by magic the course was slick, boggy, sticky, gloopy and not fun. About half way round my first lap (of three) I remembered how much I hate short XC races - riding at pretty much threshold for a couple of hours doesn't really feel good to me - especially when I fell off (three times). This was OK as the surface was so wet it was a soft landing... or so I thought.

I finished the race (33rd out of 59! Yay!), and after a bit of a chat with some friends (one of whom dislocated her shoulder and broke a bone at the same time, a few months ago) I went back to Darren's car to get out of my very muddy gear. My second fall had been due to misjudging the depth and sloppiness of a section, so I'd come off at reasonable speed, dunking myself in two foot of grit, mud and water. As you can imagine, I wasn't clean. Anyway, taking my leggings off I noticed a bit of a gash on my left knee - probably caused by a flint, or bit of glass - full of crap and gaping open, fair bit of blood around too. Hmm... it was cold out so I felt no pain, it was one of those "how the hell did I get that?" moments. As a highly trained first aider I squirted water on it to remove the worst of the grit, but soon ran out. Ah well, off to the medical tent (actually an ambulance!).

The first aid people were the same ones I'd done my first aid at work course with, so I had a pleasant chat with the paramedic-ess as she cleaned up my knee. The wound was a bit awkward, but not too serious and she reckoned that A&E may not even bother gluing it, so she put some steri-strips on it and advised me to give it a good soak in a hot bath.

So, after getting home, I followed the advice then went out to get some steri-strips all of my own (driven by Darren). Then while Darren, Chrisie and Elaine went out for a bracing walk I had a doze on the the sofa. Oddly, when I got up a bit later, the back of my right knee had really, really stiffened up - so now I was limping with both legs, in different ways. Cool. I couldn't bend the left leg due to the cut, and I couldn't straighten the right leg because of the spasm. Try walking with those and not looking like a freak.

So that was the Gorrick. Oh, Darren came 8th. Fit bastard.