I wondered how long it would take

Throughout this whole 'cross escapade, the one thing that's been living in the back of my mind is the health of my back. Would it hold up to all of that? Is it capable of taking a fall or hit or something else?

After weeks of hard efforts and running and remounting and sliding out, I had a pretty solid answer: yes, it will hold up and be fine. Little aches and pains, yes, but everybody has those after a 'cross race (or workout, even).

Of course, until last night there was one thing that hadn't been tested — a direct impact exactly like the one that broke my back to begin with. So I went ahead and took care of that.

As we staged for the A race at the Flatwater Twilight Criterium, I looked around in the corral. There were a lot of bikes in there and the course was pretty tight. It would be a challenge. But once we got going, I felt surprisingly good. I'm never going to contend for a victory, but I was closing gaps and pulling myself toward a top-15(ish) finish.

About four laps into the 12-lap race, I had finally closed the gap on a group I'd been chasing, while also slightly distancing the group behind me. I planned on sitting in for a lap and then making a move and trying to get past and up to the next group.

In the tight, swervy part of the course, I was right where I wanted to be, and then ... I was on the ground. What the hell?

I hopped back up and felt a bolt of electricity blasting from my tailbone to my neck. Yep, I somehow landed exactly how I did 2.5 years ago (though without the same force, thankfully). I got up, fixed my shifter — it was pointing decidedly inward — and got going again. A minute or two later, I noticed my hands and fingers were tingling.

And when it was time to turn on the power in the one or two open spots, I had none. Getting off and running the barriers was awful, and it was all I could do to keep turning the cranks.

That was enough for me to pull the plug. Even before I got back to the van, my back was killing me. I got changed and felt it stiffen even more as the cold descended upon the park. A trip to Yia Yia's with the boys (Mark, Lucas, Paul, Rafal and Jordan, along with a ton of Lincoln folks), and the ride home pretty much finished it off. Ouch.

I slept surprisingly well, considering, and I'll probably take an easy spin on the road bike today to see if it'll loosen up. It sucks to have a sore back, but I'm honestly pretty used to that. It's not a big deal. The worst part is that I actually felt pretty solid, and I may well have been able to claw my way back toward the front half of the race.

But that happens sometimes. I'll be nice to my back for the next few days, and then try to get it rolling again. If it works, it works. If not, oh well.