At long last. You probably thought, what happened to Team
Luca? “I haven’t heard from them since the big Bike MS event. It’s like they
fell of the face of the earth.” That’ll happen when you head off for a European
vacation with a sprained ankle the week after the ride.
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| We love your orange tutus Team Luca! |
Here are the highlights of our debut:
We rose out of bed before 6AM, to beat the crowds, only to
find bad weather (read bad for San Diego. It was just a light drizzle). “Uh-oh,”
we thought. “This is going to be a wet ride!”
It was chilly too (again, read chilly for San Diego. It
dipped to the mid to low 60’s). As we waited for the ride to start, we tried to
find ways to warm up, including huddling around the massive BBQ. They must have
had a dozen grills going (and how strange that they were cooking meat at 7AM). As
I, Christie, Captain of Team Luca, walked over to the BBQ to warm up…
…I hit the deck. And sprained my ankle. Ow! All this moments
before the start of the ride! I kid you not. The slippery mossy sidewalks
proved to be no match and I was near tears! My dreams of getting my very first
medal ever were slowly disappearing. As I hobbled around, ignoring the EMTs
recommendation of wrapping my foot, icing it and blah, blah, blah, I slowly
began to panic. This after recovering from the pretty stars that sparked all
around me. I thought, “What if I took my bike shoe off to wrap ‘My Right Foot’
like those guys say and cannot get my shoe back on due to severe ankle swelling
tucked in a bandage blanket? And what? I should ice My Right Foot now? The race is about to start people,
like in five minutes!”
My sister, sensing that I was about to lose it, looked right
at me, directly in my eyes and began talking me off the ledge. “Swiss*,”
she said calmly. “It’s ok. Your mind is stronger than the pain you feel. Use it
to lessen the pain in your ankle. You can do it.” Sister Power! I thought, “I
battle the pain of MS every single day. I can do this.” “I’m riding today,” I
told everyone. “Well, it’s your foot,”
replied one snarky EMT attendant.
And away I went. For 30 miles.
I only fell once.
At some strange part of the route the path ended at a
stepped curb and my brain didn’t have time to catch up to tell me to slow down
from my high velocity speeds, start breaking and clip out of the peddles to stop.
It didn’t hurt that much as it was a soft fall. The bike was not moving. I
tipped over like a domino. But still! The humiliation was damaging enough. You
see, My (sprained) Right Foot remained clipped in the pedal the whole time so I
was strapped to my bike as I lay, sprawled on the ground. Helpless. Team Luca helped
me by unstrapping the straps of my bike shoe and sliding out My Right Foot. It
hurt. My ego that is. And I call myself a cyclist!
Moving on…
Every so often we’d hear shouts of “we love your orange
tutus!” We have a feeling we will be seeing a lot of these next year!
Along the route many folks patted me on the back, giving me encouragement
to keep on riding. Not because of the sprained ankle. Because of living with
MS! No one could see the golf ball growing on my ankle. We passed several
riders who witnessed the BBQ Fall and asked, “You’re still riding?! You are officially
a badass.” I’ve never been called this before. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
I vote a good thing!
At one point during the ride I wasn’t sure what hurt more. My
ankle or my bones rattling as my bike and body slammed along some rough roads
under construction. Good grief. Major fail by the route planners. “And,” I asked myself, “Just how do the pros
manage to ride on cobblestones for hours upon hours?!” I learned later that one
Team Luca member used the sidewalk for some relief. Why didn’t I think of that?
We finished our last mile in the rain, which was exciting and
nerve wracking all at the same time. Exciting because it was cyclists against
the elements. Nerve wracking because all I could think of was that big turn at
the finish line and a sudden image flashed before me of me sliding into finish
like a baseball player would home plate. “Oh the road rash,” I thought. “I’ve
never had road rash. Wouldn’t that be something? Sprained ankle + road rash +
MS?” I ignored this image of doom and pedaled on, carefully. Visibility was
tough for those of us wearing sunglasses and Team Luca powered through it!
Crossing over the finish line was a lot like finishing the
Tour de France. Fans screamed, waved at the cyclists and rang cowbells. Well,
this is mostly true. Substitute 2,000 miles over 21 days with 30 miles in an
hour and a half. And we didn’t hear any bells, especially me since I wasn’t
wearing my hearing aids. And, a big shout out to Sandy J who we spotted in the
crowd with a huge smile on her face. She waited in the rain to cheer on Team
Luca! Yay!
Once finally finished, I felt like I could use those damn
paramedics! They didn’t wait around for me (gasp!) but we did manage to find a
couple of other EMT’s willing to help us. After I got my cold pack and some
weird mummy wrap (they had no Ace bandages in-stock. I don’t even know how this
is even possible), I managed to hobble over to the beer garden just as they
closed; I stole sips from Nicole’s drink while our friend Julie re-wrapped up
my ankle. She’s a professional. Thanks Julie!
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| Mummy Wrapped Ankle |
And then it was RICEW for the rest of the day. Rest (check).
Ice (check). Compress (check). Elevate (check). Wine (check).
P.S. I finally did get my medal!
P.P.S. Lastly and certainly not least, I want to give a
shout out to the members of Team Luca for their tenacity and patience during
our first and definitely not our last MS Bike Ride!
- Zole: thanks for coming out to sunny SD. You are an amazing sister!
- Jorge: thanks for joining our Team! You are a great rider and were we glad to have ‘ya.
- Anna: you are my hero and my force. Without you, none of this would have been possible.
* Swiss. Childhood nickname still used today between two
sisters. The other sister’s name? Zole. This is a long story for another time…unless
you have time now?
