Day 34 - Not a good day when it involves a call to 911.

Day 34
Crawfordsville IN to Indianapolis IN
50 Miles and same old crappy wind.

Today started out with hope for a short day of riding and to get a little recovery for the week ahead.
Things don't always go as planned. At about the 8 mile mark we had a accident that sent Tracy and her bike flying into a ditch. I was in a 3 person group about 50 feet ahead of the main group when I heard the crash. Tracy clipped a back tire in the paceline and it sent her and the bike flying. She was fortunate that the hill and ditch she landed in was tall grass but even that wasn't enough to cushion the entire blow. We dialed 911 and the paramedics were there in less than 5 minutes. We waited around for another 10 minutes and were asked to continue riding. Vinny, Tracys' husband, waited with her and offered comfort and they decided to continue riding.

At the rest stop at 32 miles I was very surprised to see Vinny & Tracy (above) ride in. Tracy was in obvious pain but she is a tough cookie and decided to ride it out to the end. She had nothing to prove to anyone, Tracy has done Ironman 26 times and I'm sure that "quit" isn't in her vocabulary.

So, after riding to the hotel, Tracy went and had an xray and sure enough...fractured clavicle.

Vinny had a great quote " Tracy isn't Tyler Hamilton and this ain't no Tour de France".

Tracy & Vinny will be flying home tomorrow. They were and great part of this group that has become a family. We started together over 5 weeks ago and we have been together every day and almost every meal since. I can't express how saddened I am by this unfortunate event but I'm happy to know that Stephanie and I will ride with the Dairy King and Drama Queen in the future.

There was other stuff that happened today but quite honestly, I don't care.

Today we lost part of the ride family and nothing else is important.

Tomorrow starts a 5 day stretch of 465 miles and a good deal of climbing.

Whoopee.

Dream BIG, Jeff