A Slip Of The Blade

Sliced right through the side of his thumb. Nearly nicked the bone. Great, Aaron thinks. Instead of  a 40 mile ride as planned he's gonna end up sitting in emerg for hours waiting to get stitched up. Awesome. He spontaneously decides to repair the torn screen door to the back landing and bam, right into the bone. Box cutter meet thumb. Should've clipped Harley's nails last week and then he wouldn't have shredded the screen. Love that cat but man, right now little kitty mittens for the bugger sound like a great idea. Aaron is bleeding all over the place, his BMC kit now streaked with red brown blotches slowly leaking through the spandex. Great, now he has to get stains out of his jersey- probably not what he should be focusing on at the moment but he's partial to his man, Cadel. That's an image: fully kitted out and off to hospital. Knee high argyle compression socks and all. At least he'll stand out in triage. This sucks. Aaron can not believe how lousy his timing is. A week out from the Red Hook Crit and he'll be riding with a sewn up hand. He's been psyched about racing Justin and Mike all season. Could be worse, he could have gone off the bike. Not that that would stop him. He's ridden taped up ankle to hip, broken collar bone, shredded  meniscus. Saddle sores. Now that's rough. All about the chamois cream. Oh. It's really starting to gush. Aaron can clearly see the bone. Shiny. Damn, better call a cab. Aaron jams his pockets with bars, a banana and grabs his headphones. Should wrap this up, apply pressure. He runs it under the tap, freezing cold water. Dries it off with paper towel then binds it with another strip. Right in the crook of his hand, reaching into his palm and across the top of his thumb. Hoods and drops are out of the question for a few days. Gonna have to ride the tops. Aaron lets out a long, low sigh. Of all the things, a freak slip of a blade derails 5 months of training. Going to have to have a chat with that crazy cat.

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