On occasion I will add raisins or dish soap, maybe even bagels for the boys to the grocery list on the refrigerator. Sometimes, I will even write down the air filter size on the Home Depot list so that I don't forget to pick one up on a quick trip to grab garden dirt. But one list the Berg family has to stop adding items to is the injury list. I am not talking hang nails, sore hamstrings or IT band; all of those can be quite painful I'm sure. Specifically, I am talking about are the injuries that put us into the ER for sutures and X-rays. When the hell will we slow down a little or maybe wear some protective gear? Not sure that is happening soon, but hold the phone, can we yield any good from these injuries?
Yes. I believe we have finished and even excelled in the event of injury and severe pain. For me, the dig deep, learning experience happened in one of the most beautiful places in the world. I had the amazing opportunity to race the 2008 TransAlps Mountain Bike race. The race began in the castle city of Fussen, Germany with the finish in the amazing lake side village of Riva del Garda, Italy. It was Day 8, and after 400 plus miles and 71,000 feet of elevation gain, I think we were quite excited to see our ladies at the finish line that day and cap off our fantastic adventure.
The downhill gods had other plans for me that day. After smoking by so many other racers on the first section of extremely technical downhill, I emerged from the single track onto an oddly grooved European road (rough concrete with large V-ed grooves on either side and another deep groove down the middle). Feeling great and clipping along at 30 mph, my front wheel caught the center groove and twisted my handlebars. Flying through the air, I was Superman for a fleeting moment only to be slammed back to reality on the same concrete. Luckily for me, not so much for them, but a spectating family saw the entire incident.
When I peeled my face from the ground and saw the horrified look in the little girls eyes, I knew something was amiss. The father and son rushed to my side, cleared my bike and random gear from the path and helped me to my feet. Thanking them profusely, "Grazi, Grazi", I stood on my own, then collapsed. My body folded in half. Bent at the waste I could not stand up. The pain of an iron railroad tie in my side was excruciating and would not allow me to straighten. When my race partner Kevin flew by on his bike, assuming I had been waiting for him to clear that section and would hop on my bike like I had done all week, I screamed out. Nothing, not a sound. Probably just the wind knocked out of me and a light scrape. In all of my infinite wisdom, I got on my bike and rode off. At first the pain was bad, but once I got to another section of technical single track, the pain was INSANE.
I muscled through and caught up with Kevin out of the woods as he waited aside the road for me, he could tell I was in rough shape. I filled him in and he said, "alright, let's get you checked out, we're done racing". "No way, we are grinding this out for the Finisher Jersey", I told him. Those 20 miles of riding were not fun, I was losing blood and did not have much rotation of my left leg. I fought through the pain and was determined to make my mark. We crossed the finish line and estimated we only lost 15 minutes on the days race. (if you look close at my left hip, you can see the ripped jersey and shorts, seeping blood and open wound)
After a couple ambulance rides with my wife, I was stitched up by an Italian Orthopedic who showed me the X-ray of my fractured pelvis and ordered me to cancel my flight and lay in the hospital room with four other injured Italians for 40 days. Cackling him off, we had other plans. Nicole and Kevin procured some crutches and broke me out of the hospital the following morning with Kevin's now wife, Marti keeping the engine warm on the Volkswagen getaway car. Thankfully I was able to buck up and salvage the remaining week of our amazing vacation in Italy with my wife.
Now, I will utilize the strength storage and mental toughness I have achieved for tackling unknown factors in all future competitions. Maintaining the balance of high performance, fun and success. All without breaking anymore bones.
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