The amount of time it took for my back wheel to rise up directly behind me, causing me to reach vertical (upsidedown) first, and then come crashing back down over me when I landed on my shoulder I estimate to be about .7 seconds. My head crashed against the pavement a split second after and the crash was finished before I had a chance to realize what happened. A moment later I then clipped out of my pedals. I wasn't feeling to good either. I got up only to sit back down in some pain. My next thought was to call my wife, but I was only about a mile from home, and I figured I could ride home faster than she could find me. My next thought was my bike. OHMG!!!! Was my bike ok? . . . . A quick check and I saw no obvious damage. Phewwwwww! And then I thought, the damn car that I braked so freakin hard so as not to collide with it never even stopped. No one stopped. I did a complete 360 . . . well maybe a 270 with a degree of dificulty as high as the US Gymnastic team combined, and not a single person there to help me. With some pain and difficulty, I clipped back in and rode to the house and staggered in the door. Normally when I come home late, a little late,my wife gets upset. This time when I texted her from work telling her I was on my way, she simply said, "Ok. Be careful." So when I came through the door staggering, she thought I was playing. Then she realized I wasn't and she started to panic. "What happened?" "I crashed," I said. "Did you break anything?" "No, my bike is ok." (Wife frowns) "I mean you you idiot!" "Can you check my helmet? I hope I didn't crack it otherwise I will have to buy a new one."...Wife: "can you just think about yourself for a minute?" "I think I can swim one arm for awhile," I said. Wife gets up and walks to the kitchen."That's it!" she said. She cleaned me up, propped me up, iced me got me a sling, did everything, but she wasn't happy with me. All I could think about was whether or not I would be able to compete at age group nationals. I landed on the back of my right shoulder. There's pain and road rash, but I don't think I broke or dislocated it. I can't lift my arm above my head. I think it is all soft tissue damage. And here I was, finding my fire again. I just finished blogging to my EFRT teammates over the weekend. Sunday night I was interviewed by Bob Babbit and Paul Huddle on Competitor Radio and I was all set to put in an outstanding peak week before Burlington. Monday morning I did a really a good lactate threshold workout on the bike and after riding to work a ran a quick 5:55 mile just to get some quick brick work in. There's nothing like having something snatched from you, or almost snatched from you, to see how important it is.The thought of not even getting a chance to race at age group nationals really bummed me out. While my wife was on a totally different page, thinking about the big picture and what's really important, my mind immediately went into "no defeat" mode, thinking of every possible thing I could do to train and be ready to race, assuming my shoulder could heal and I could swim in 18 days. Paul Huddle emailed me today and told me he fractured his collar bone and was able to race in four weeks, so that boosted my hopes. Still, my wife wont let me seran-wrap my arm to my body and swim one-armed this week. I'm resolved to just put all my training into the bike which I can still ride with some discomfort, and maybe run, if I can. So tonight, it was back on the bike trainer with Rides Texas, gingerly resting my right arm on the aero bars. Tomorrow morning, I will ride on the trainer again, and my wife will DRIVE me to work. LOL