Ian and I decided to hit up the 4/5 race of the Soldier Field Cycling series last Wednesday evening. It had been raining all day, so there was a lot of standing water on the course when we got there (the biggest pools located just before what was already the sketchiest turn of circuit).
My race was going well for about thirty seconds, then my rear tire rolled off its rim. I went down pretty hard and thought about throwing in the towel, but was deeply disturbed by having paid $25 to race 1/3 of a lap. I hung on to the back of the lead group for a several laps, got tired, made a friend, got confused about who was on the same lap as me, remembered how to go around corners, realized that dark glasses were a poor choice, and eventually rolled across the finish line (mostly) intact.
By the way, if you find yourself with moderate road rash, you should check out a product called Tegaderm. It's magical. I know, $15 for a box of four 4"x4.75" clear plastic dressings seemed outrageous to me too, but bear in mind one will last for at least three days (longer once you've had some time to heal). Once you've cleaned the wound you just put one of these things on and you can mostly forget that you have road rash (I still wouldn't recommend sitting directly on the affected area). You can even shower with no apparent loss of stick (and complete invulnerability to the agony of shower-on-fresh road rash). The most recent thinking on abrasions suggests that you're supposed to keep them moist and "unscabby" for as long as possible, and Tegaderm seems to do a great job of this. It's not absorbent though, and you're going to "ooze" a lot in the first couple days, so if excessive fluid collects you might need to drain it. It's kind of gross, unless you're into that kind of thing.
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