Raced the Fall Fling road race today. We started out with about 10 in the women's masters category -- mixed 40+, 50+, 60+ and 70+. I was feeling good and had no problem following the moves. By the second turn of our last lap, we were down to 5 -- and none of us were going to drop any of the others. It would come down to who could sprint the best after all the attacking on the hills after turn 3.

But before we got that far, the two women ahead of me touched wheels, one went down and took me out in the process. Which, c'mon! -there were only 5 of us! It shouldn't happen. But a moment of inattention, a bit of nerves . . . and there you are.

My first thought was to jump up and chase. Then I saw that the racer on the ground next to me -- Jean -- was hurt. Really hurt. She was making the same kind of moaning noise that Stocky was making right after his crash at camp. All thought of racing gone, I tried to help her best I could.

Then the men's cat 4 field crested the hill behind us -- we were in the middle of the road and not going anywhere. The guys on the front started shouting surprised warnings and the moto guy helped wave them around us. Poor Jean was in a lot of pain, was having trouble breathing and was panicking a bit. The first aid guy and I did out best to comfort her and keep her still. Finally the ambulance got there. I spent a couple hours at the hospital with Jean and her husband. She'd landed hard and broken her collar bone in 4 places, broken [and overlapped] a couple ribs and had a concussion. She'll heal, but she has a couple weeks of pain ahead of her.

Driving myself home, I started to feel my bruises. Happily, they're minor -- I don't even have any road rash. Jean took me down, but also broke my fall. I'm disappointed that we didn't get to finish the race. And I'm sick of crashing! But I'm very lucky I wasn't hurt. My bike seems to have survived intact as well.

So, there's my road racing season.