Houston, TX — The men’s point’s race was cancelled last night due to rain. They started the events 30 min early to get the points race in without setting our schedule back too much. I was setting up my stuff, when I looked up and saw a huge swam of bees. It looked like the swarms you see in the horror movies. I asked someone, “Are those bees?” When we all realized they were bees, we ran for the cover of the tunnel. Luckily the bees quickly disappeared, but that was bizarre.

I got in a good warm up. I rode a 50 x 15 (90 gear). I tried attacking several times but never stayed off. I got off once with Sarah Uhl, but they chased us down. It came down to the last lap. I went up the outside following Becky Conzelman. Becky Quinn saw her coming and quickly went up track and took out Becky Conzelman. Becky Conzelman crashed and slid down track. I tried to go down track to go around her, and I didn’t make it. I hit her bike and catapulted through the air; I flipped several times. I finally stopped, sitting on my butt. Butch (a volunteer at the Alkek Velodrome) got to me first and said, “Stay. Don’t move.” You know the crash is bad when that is the first thing they say to you. Dr. Mark Bing soon arrived to assess the situation. He commented that he ran so quickly to get to us, that he should be nominated to carry the Olympic torch. They asked me where I was, and I could answer the questions. Dr. Bing asked where I had pain; I said that my right shoulder area and my left hand hurt. Dr. Bing examined me and said my right clavicle was broken. When the reality of a broken clavicle set in, I lost it and started crying uncontrollably (something I regret now). I was in shock from the trauma of the accident, then the realization of all the work I put into training and having it be destroyed by a single crash was more than I could take at the time. The people at the track were amazing. They got ice for my shoulder and gave me some ibuprofen for the pain.

Becky Conzelman was also being treated for her road rash. She apologized to me for the crash. Then she informed everyone in ear shot that Becky Quinn had taken her out intentionally. Becky Conzelman said that they had the incident on tape. That made me even more frustrated. Someone had purposely caused this crash. Becky Quinn has dangerously come into me three times previous to this in other events. I called Uhl to tell him I broke my clavicle. That started the crying again. Uhl was very good at bringing me back to earth and grounding me on the important things in life. He said, “Heather, we are married. We have each other. The crash doesn’t change that. We will get through this.” The more I sat, the more my left thumb hurt. I had them take off my glove, and I discovered that something was really wrong with my thumb. Dr. Bing squirted Lidocane onto my back. I had quite a bit of road rash on my back, and my skinsuit was torn so badly that he could access my back through the holes in the skinsuit. Dr. Bing then told me he was sorry I got hurt at the event. He also told me he hoped that wouldn’t be the memory I had of the Houston velodrome. I was so impressed with the outpouring of concern and support. Erin Mirabella came over to see how I was doing. She gave my mom her cell phone number and volunteered to help pack my bikes that night. Becky Conzelman told me she would pray for me recovery. Annette Hanson came by to let me know that I could be on my trainer in no time. I was very impressed by Sarah Uhl. We don’t know each other very well. She took the time to come over and talk to me for quite a while. She said that she was sorry that I became the victim of the track garbage. She said that she hoped I would keep coming and racing at the track. She said that I was the only one who made the scratch race a race. She said that track racing can be fun, and she hoped I would stick with it. Sarah had a friend there who also talked to me about not getting discouraged and that I could come back from the accident. Carl and Matt (a junior rider) helped carry my stuff to the car.

We went to the emergency room. They gave me a pediatric dose of Demerol, which knocked me out for the rest of the afternoon. They took tons of x-rays. The x-rays showed my neck and pelvis had no damage. Three doctors told me it was a miracle that I hadn’t damaged my neck in the crash. It was a miracle that I walked away from that accident. The x-rays showed a broken right clavicle and a broken and dislocated left thumb. They put a neck brace on me because I had to have neck strain from the injury. They also put a figure-8 on my collarbone, which made it feel better. They tried to reduce my thumb and put it back into joint. They put a brace on my hand, but the thumb slipped back out of joint. They scrubbed and dressed my wounds. They sent me home in two hospital gowns, because I couldn’t get back into the skinsuit.

Erin came and packed my bikes; she was a lifesaver. My mom had to help me do everything, because I couldn’t use either hand very well. Getting on the plane I looked horrid. I had the neck brace, hand brace (which they swabbed for explosives in security), and I didn’t move right due to the road rash and figure-8 on my collarbone. Walking onto the plane, everyone looked at me like, “Please don’t let this freak be sitting next to me.”