Well this was not exactly what I had in mind for Australia Day 2016.
I did the ATTA Hill Climb Championships up Canning Mills Rd. Tough event and I was really pleased to come 7th overall in the women's category - which included National and World level riders.
Coming back down the hill after the time trial I was riding with Annie and Sam Bolton. We soon lost sight of Annie as she was faster than Sam and I. I was riding my hill climbing road bike, which I hadn't been riding that much lately so I wasn't that confident with how it was handling. I was telling myself to relax and it would be fine. Then we came up to a corner that was sharper than we expected and as we got there, a car was coming in the opposite direction so we had no runoff room on the other side of the road.
Sam was in front of me and I could see her braking and struggling to stay on our side of the road, then her bike fish tailed and threw her off into the road. At the same I was trying to brake and avoid Sam and the car. The next thing I knew I was flying through the air then rolling many times across the road and ended up on the gravel on the far side of the road. I sat up and there was blood dripping from my face.
The car had stopped up the road and the two guys came and helped us until the ATTA first aid arrived. Then Janice took over with Jenny assisting. Big thanks to Janice, she got two ambulances on the way quickly and got us patched up and cleaned as best she could.
Then into the ambulance. I went to Armadale hospital as at this point it didn't seem as though I had any broken bones or major trauma.
Sam went to Royal Perth as her shoulder/collar bone was quite sore. Ended up being a dislocated shoulder.
At Armadale hospital I got x-rays and they realised that my scaphoid (bone in my wrist) was broken. Also I had quite a big laceration on my cheek/lip. So they transferred me to Royal Perth hospital to see a plastic surgeon and an orthopedic surgeon.
At RPH the first thing they wanted to do was give me a tetanus shot. Fair enough. But I'm not the biggest fan of needles and bear in mind by this time it was after 1pm and I'd not eaten since breakfast at 5am nor had anything to drink since before the time trial at 7am. They had me fasting in case I needed surgery. So my blood sugar was pretty low and I came close to passing out.
They got me onto a bed and a drip with some liquids. Then eventually I got my Tetanus shot. Eventually the plastic surgeon came and cleaned up my face and stitched it up. That was quite traumatic.
Then a bit more recovery before being moved to the observation ward. Then some soft foods - finally! Mousse and jelly never tasted so good. Then more waiting for a doctor to give the ok for me to leave. Meanwhile I'd been in a hospital gown with gauze underwear since I had a shower at Armadale hospital so I had to scavenge some clothes and underwear from RPH.
Finally we got the ok to leave at about 6:30pm. Headed to chemist on the way home to get supplies then home after 7:30pm.
So that was my Australia Day!
Summary of injuries: broken scaphoid, 4 chipped front teeth, stitches in my lip and big graze on my chin. Lots of grazes elsewhere - both shoulders, both elbows, and right hip are the worst, plus back, knees and hands a little grazed.
I want to say - make sure you wear protective gear when cycling! My gloves saved my hands from any more major damage - grazes on my hands even through my gloves so if I'd not had gloves on the grazes would be much worse. Also my helmet is cracked on the back all the way through, so that saved me from massive head trauma.
