My wife is Awesome!!

Life is full of compromises and there always needs to be a balance between the time spent training for the MTB season and family/extended family. The great thing is that my wife is every bit as obsessed (maybe too strong a word, or maybe not) about XC racing as I am. She has taken the sport as her own and absolutely loves it. Words can't describe how determined she is.

For example, the year before last (2005) she made the decision to give XC racing a try. I/we had made the decision that I was going to race 6 races in the 2005 race season. The first race was the Afton Avalanche at Afton Alps ski resort. Andrea did the majority of the pre-race preparations, not only for the entire family (4 kids), but for me as well. She made sure I had the right clothes, food, etc and I was in charge of bikes, spare parts, tools, etc. All we had to do was double check to make sure nothing was missing. While I was out racing in the sport class, my wife overheard the awards announcements for the citizen class. There were only 2 people in her age class and she realized that even if she would have finished last she still would have received a third place award. I am not sure when she mentioned it to me (probably early the next week), but she was interested in racing in the next race (Mt. Du Lac, Duluth). Trying to conceal my enthusiasm I made some much needed upgrades to her bike in preparation for the race. By Thursday evening Andrea had everything packed and ready to go for the race, including all of her stuff. I tried my best to keep my emotions in check; I was excited, but somewhat scared. I knew how much I love the sport and how exciting it is for me, but for someone new to the sport it can be a little scary. The courses in the MNSCS series are not easy; long lung busting climbs, steep descents, tight sections through trees, rocks, etc. Andrea definitely wanted to pre-ride the course before the race so we drove from my parents cabin to Mt. Du lac on Saturday. Before she went out, I carefully gave her some pointers and told her to be careful (I had to watch the kids, so I wasn't able to ride with her). After about 1 hour a friend came down the hill and told me that Andrea had gone down on a steep downhill section and her shoulder was bleeding. My worst fears went through my mind. I was concerned that this fall would be the end of her racing and enthusiasm for the sport. When she got back, I could see there was a really good scrape on her shoulder and I carefully asked what had happened. I don't remember the details, but what I do remember is her willingness to understand what had happened so it wouldn't happen again. I thought I might still have some hope; she might try this again some time in the future. Later in the evening after driving back to the cabin, I cautiously asked if she was thinking about racing on Sunday. She said with a smirk on her face, "We'll see how I feel in the morning, but probably". I knew at that moment that she had every intention of racing. She never lost that enthusiasm and determination and the first season was a great learning experience for both of us.

Before the start of the second season we were both ready to go. We had put in some more training earlier in the season and Andrea was able to ride on the trails a few times before the first race. Things did not go as we would had hoped, however. During the first race at Harmon Park (Erik's Spring Cup) Andrea "blacked" out and went down hard, shortly after the first lap. Her head must have been a little fuzzy because she could not understand why the nice course worker would not let her continue the race. One look at the bike should have told her, not to mention her helmet was smashed and cracked in two pieces. So maybe it wasn't a good idea to race a couple of days after recovering from strep throat.

Andrea wrote it up to a bad day and an unfortunate set of circumstances and eagerly awaited the next race at Steeple Chase. As an added benefit the second race coincided with the start of our MTB vacation in Missouri. We would be staying in a hotel in Rochester for the race then driving down to Kansas City to drop off the kids at Andreas sister's house. The plan was then to drive west and hit a few of the cool MTB trails in Missouri. The warm-ups went well and the day was going as usual. The race starts with a relatively short prologue lap before entering into the standard lap (a downhill section that ends with a sharp right turn into the wooded single track). I remember telling Andrea to "let the bike go" on the downhill sections to keep her speed up; a comment I would later regret. Andrea had a good start and was pushing hard on the prologue lap. Just as she passed the Start/Finish line and started heading down the hill the "crash" happened and Andrea went straight over the bars landing hard on her left shoulder. She had broken the second helmet in as many races and worse yet could not move her left shoulder. We later found out that she had a severe break in her left clavicle (collar bone).

My worst fear was about to be realized; I was sure this would be the last MTB race she would ever ride. Not to mention that this was the beginning of a 10 day MTB vacation for the two of us. Oh, by the way after waiting in the ER for 4 hours we hit a deer part way into Iowa and were stranded in the small town of Hampton for 3 days. Good thing the pain medication was doing its job. We made the best of our trip considering the situation. Andrea and I had to make a decision on whether she should have surgery to fix the break. She was very eager to know how long it was going to take to heal, because she wanted to know if it would be possible to race the last couple of races in the series. All I can say is that my wife has a great deal of heart and determination. The doctors at the Mayo clinic were less than helpful and were very willing to let it heal on its own despite the fact that there was a 50% change of a non-union (bones never growing back together). Luckily we have one of the best Orthopedic clinics and surgeon in the Midwest here in Hutchinson. Dr. Walker informed us that 95% of all broken clavicles are left to heal on their own. This break, however, would be a good surgical candidate. Later that week Andrea had a 4" long titanium pin inserted in the center of the bone with a nut that pulled the two broken pieces back together to heal. With the surgery performed Andrea was very eager to find out the recovery period. 4-5 weeks without any weight and she was to use the sling as often as she felt comfortable. I do remember that after a couple of weeks she was riding carefully on the indoor trainer. The bone healed very quickly and at a doctors visit in late July Dr. Walker informed us that everything heaing perfectly and she could do anything except weight training. (The pin needed to stay in for 6-8 more weeks.) Andrea quietly left without asking many questions. Later she commented that he did not say she could not race. My wife was able to race the last 4 races of the season. I could tell she was tentative at first, but by the last race she was pushing much harder than ever before. She has told me many times that because of the accident she is actually less fearful of falling. It might have something to do with the new bike (Fisher Super Caliber FS) I bought her shortly after the crash. She figures that if she can make it through a very serious accident like that, a minor fall should cause no problems.

Since last season we have trained harder and smarter than ever before. Andrea has put forth every bit as much effort in preparation for this season as anyone I know. I could not be more proud of my wife and her passion for the sport.