They've gone and built a new velodrome for the Pan Am games, and it's no more than a half hour drive from my house. So, of course, I had to go give track riding a try.
They require a two stage training course before one is allowed to participate, and Wednesday was my first training session.
It was going pretty good, I was able to execute all the exercises OK, although I was finding I was running out of gas by the end of it.
That may have played into what happened as we were beginning the final exercise, which was exchanges. If you don't know, that's where the lead rider goes up the boards and the line passes on the left, and the rider falls back in at the back of the line.
I was the lead rider heading out. We did one lap on the cote, and then we were to move up over the black line for a lap, and then begin the exchanges.
I guess I didn't have enough speed up when I went to cross the black line, and my pedal struck the boards. I heard a bang, and my first thought as I went down hard and fast was blowout. But of course, it wasn't.
Here is the mark I left.
Fortunately, the following riders were all able to avoid running over me, but I was immediately aware of intense pain in my left shoulder and chest. I was able to get to my feet by the time the coach came running asking if I was OK.
All I could say was, I'm not sure.
I stood leaning over the rail, and passed out momentarily. I awoke from a dream and it took a bit to gather my thoughts to remember where I was, and what had just happened.
However, through it all, I remained on my feet, so it was likely only a split second that I was out.
One of my classmates was kind enough to drive me to the ER where X rays determined nothing was broken or dislocated.
It's slowly getting better, although I won't be able to do any heavy lifting with my left arm for a while.