Sandy Scott's Holiday Ride Ends With a Crash

Our pal, Sandy Scott, the cyclist who overcame a broken neck three years ago to become a multiple record-holder in the state of Florida, is nursing some pretty wicked wounds.

Over the July 4th holiday, Sandy was on an organized ride in Melbourne, Florida, with a group of more than 125 riders. The planned route was for a 55-mile ride, but Sandy tells Growing Bolder than he planned to ride 75 miles that day -- 10 miles to the ride and then another 10 miles to get back to where he was staying on Melbourne Beach.

We'll let Sandy take over the story here:

"We were on our way back, and about 50 miles into the ride. I was with a faster group that had separated itself from the main group and we reached speeds as fast as 34 mph in our group. It contained some very accomplished racers. We were riding southerly on US 1, two abreast. As always with these fast groups, we draft very closely on each others' rear wheel, which can be safely done due to the experience of the riders. I, however, was riding slightly to the left on the rear wheel of the chap in front of me for an extra margin of safety.

Suddenly, someone must have slowed at the front because the guy in front of me suddenly slowed, but he also swung to his left and made contact with my front wheel. Unfortunately, when that happens on a bicycle, the guy whose front wheel gets hit, typically goes down -- there is no balance left to the bicycle with the wheel locked against the other wheel."

Sandy went down hard. His helmet cracked and he suffered a tremendous blow to the left side of his head and body. He was quickly attended to by former paramedic Gary Stern, a multiple Florida state cycling champion and co-owner of the bike shop that organized the event. 

Photo credit: Al Steiginga, Infinity Bike Shop

"What I remember about coming on that scene .5 seconds after the crash, more than the pain, I could tell Sandy was POed knowing he was hurt and not knowing how badly," Tom Downey, an All-American triathlete, describing the photo above. "I could see his mind was not on hurt but on his athletic agenda. You might say this is a lot to see not being in his head but this was so clear. The shot -- look, it captures what I'm saying, it's not hurt it's anger."

"The fists up. Angry. Notice the Livestrong wristband. His first words, I'm told, were, 'How's my bike?' Typical. Like all goal-driven athletes, injuries are an inconvenient annoyance on the path to the final objective," said Rob Downey, also an All-American triathlete.

Sandy admits he had other worries too, given his medical history.

"I was worried about my neck, because it hurt, but all I could think about was that I was going to miss some training. I also complained as I lay in the road that I was disappointed that I only got 50 miles in."

After spending a couple hours in a hospital, Sandy was sent home with extreme road rash on his left side, but fortunately, X-rays and CT scans showed there were no breaks or fractures in his hip or elbow -- just a lot of pain. However, Sandy was left with an enormous hematoma on his left hip.

"The medical people could not believe the size. I joked that it was like the scene from Alien where the creature emerged from the guy's stomach. It looked like some misshapened creature was trying to pop out, and was already half way out."

That huge bump is Sandy's new enemy -- his doctors say he can't exercise at all until it goes down because that could lead potentially lead to the need for surgery.

"At least with my broken neck I was able to ride my trainer and stay in shape. My only concern now is to get back on the road ASAP, in that I have some serious butt to kick this fall with plans to contest 9 more championships before the end of the year."

Sandy, with an attitude like that, we know you'll make up this lost training time in no time!