Brain's no good if it's on the road!

I found that quote in my title from Trek's website, which ironically was the maker of my cycling helmet. Oh how true it is!!



This helmet, cracked like an egg, could be my forehead and I am so grateful that it is not!! I was riding with 6 other members of the Paradigm Cycling Team on Saturday. I set off at 7AM with the intention of riding 50 miles. I was feeling a bit discouraged about 5 miles in when the rest of the group sped ahead and Lauren and I lagged behind. She is my faithful riding partner though so I was thankful to have someone to keep me motivated. We had just started chatting, I couldn't even tell you what we were discussing, when I noticed a Gigantic crack running parallel on the road.
By the time it registered that I had nowhere to go, I just closed my eyes and hoped that I came out of it in one piece. My front tire wedged down into the crack and I believe I was still clipped into the pedals when I went face first into the concrete at about 17mph. My helmet is dented and cracked and my bike is totaled. I am typing this blog 5 days later, so obviously I am in MUCH better shape than I should be.
Amazingly enough, I have zero broken bones, zero lost teeth and at this point, it seems that I still have all my brain cells too...
I am not quite ready to post pictures of my ugly mug, but it gets better everyday. They put 40 stitches in my face and mouth in the ER. I got about 1/2 of them taken out today and it looks pretty good. The plastic surgeon is pretty confident that I will heal well, although it will take several months. I better be back to normal by May 2009 though!!
I appreciate everyone's kind thoughts and prayers so much! I am so thankful as this could have been so much worse, but it still was difficult to see myself in the mirror those first few days. Somehow Ryan still managed to make me feel beautiful and I love him even more for that. He has taken such excellent care of me and it has been amazing to see this side of him. I know my parents wanted to be here, but they can feel confident that I had a good home-health nurse!
I will post pictures in the coming weeks, but in the meantime...Wear your helmet when cycling and especially on a motor cycle. If your child argues with you about wearing a helmet, scare some sense into them with stories like mine. Remember, Brain's no good if it's on the road!