If you missed parts one and two, here are the links:

Part 1: http://keyofgf.com/deja-vu/part-one-56-seconds/

Part 2: http://keyofgf.com/deja-vu/part-two-the-call/

2015

Yes, again. You may have read my blog posts from 2015 when Miles was hit by a car while cycling. If not, click on the link at the end of this part to read the entire story.  The short version is this: In May 2015, in a car vs. cyclist collision, Miles suffered a serious concussion, bad bruises and ten stitches in the chin. The impact was so hard, his aluminum frame bike snapped in two, and I never found all the pieces of his shattered sunglasses. His goal of landing a spot on the Queens tri team looked pretty bleak.

After almost a month off to recover, Miles returned to training with a vengeance, and on a borrowed bike won his first triathlon at the 2015 Tom Hoskins Sprint Tri in Columbia.  Two weeks later, he closed out the 2015 summer with a victory in Charleston for the season ending race five at the CSTS. That November, he signed with Queens to compete at the collegiate level.

Good News/Bad News

I took the phone from Angie. Miles was on the other end. I could immediately tell this was different than 2015. He was coherent and wasn’t repeating himself over and over as in 2015. Good news. Maybe we were concussion-free this time. He told me where he was, and we left to find him. He was less than four miles from the house, but the short ride seemed to take forever.

Once, there, we found an angry son, bleeding from several parts of his body- shoulder, hip, elbow. His cycling jersey looked like it had been through a shredder. We quickly learned no one had called the highway patrol, so we called. While waiting, we also learned what happened – a driver of a pickup truck pulling a camper trailer went to pass Miles and came over too soon, hitting Miles with the camper and knocking him down.

The driver had pulled over and was waiting, too. Good news. Fortunately, a different truck and its passengers were following and saw the whole thing and stopped to help. Even better news. Miles’ helmet did its job, but this time his road rash (scrapes) was much worse than 2015. Bad news. The bike was in better shape this time, still in one piece but some damage that would require a stint in the repair shop.

The highway patrol and local fire department first responders soon arrived. HP interviewed the driver of the truck, and the first responders tended to Miles’ wounds. Shortly thereafter, the ambulance arrived. In another eerie similarity to 2015, one of the first responders had worked Miles’ other crash in 2015, while assigned to another fire station. We declined an ambulance ride to the hospital, and hung around to finalize things with the HP officer and she told us the driver had been charged. Soon, the adrenaline was all gone and Miles was in severe pain, especially his hip, which took the brunt of the fall to the pavement.

We drove Miles to the hospital. Fortunately, this particular Sunday night at Palmetto Richland was pretty slow, and they saw Miles quickly.  There doctors were very concerned about the hip after an X-ray, so they did an additional CT Scan.  We waited, knowing a cracked hip would be the end of the summer season and a major set back for fall collegiate competition.

Fortunately, just like 2015, when we thought Miles might have broken his collar bone, the hip scan came back clear. Good news. Miles left the hospital bandaged up and hobbling on crutches. Unfortunately, the road rash would keep Miles out of the pool for weeks, and the severely bruised hip would take almost that long to heal. That was certainly bad news, but it could have been much worse.

Ain’t No (Fast) Cure

So here we were, in a similar situation to 2015. No concussion this time was a huge blessing, but Miles’ body still needed to heal, which meant resting and waiting. His plan for entering fall collegiate season in top shape had taken a huge set back. Race three of the CSTS, two weeks away, was definitely out.  Races four and five, scheduled for July 30th and August 13th were now huge question marks. A chance at the series championship looked all but impossible. The only thing to do was rest and wait. So Miles rested.

And waited. And waited some more. Talk about summertime blues. For an athlete who trains almost everyday, this was brutal.

After about four weeks, Miles’ wounds were finally healed enough for swimming. Despite lingering hip soreness, he’d been back running and cycling a bit (on a stationary trainer in the garage!) and was itching to compete again. He came to me and said, “Dad, if this week’s workouts go OK, I may want to do the Hoskins.”

Click here for part four: http://keyofgf.com/deja-vu/part-four-shaka/

Also, here’s the link to 2015’s story: http://keyofgf.com/tragedy-triumph/