So there we were. The end of the 2002 track season, all ready to train hard for the big wins we were planning this year. The Austral, the Metro's and State Champs, you name it, we had the goals. But then our numbers ran out. Dear old gran ran over Luke Dougherty's leg, some one drove through your's truly at 60km/h and Stevie Martin got himself a free helicopter ride courtesy of a driver who decided to answer the mobile phone while driving up the mountain at 80km/h. Now wasn't this enough? Between the three of us we had umpteen miles of lacerations, three compressed disks, a broken vertebrate, a re shaped ear, whiplash all round and some very, very damaged bikes, not to mention the physio bills and sore backs and some very worried friends and family. Not bad for being cyclists doing the right thing on the road, training for the year ahead.
Then the track season kicked in. After watching the Chrissy carnivals and some Vodafone events, I saw more damage to riders than I ever wanted to see. But no, that wasn't enough. Now I don't know who or what makes this world tick, but have a look at the Blackburn injury list as it stands now. Trav Parker was involved in the infamous club racing stack which saw him spend a few day in hospital with a punctured lung and broken ribs. Dave Gannon and Pat Dougherty (ahh... at last a link... family!) came out of that one with one broken collarbone each. I think Emily has managed to untangle herself from the fence by now.
Then to top it off, you add in the myriad of 'racing' injuries, fence scrapes and the like. There. That's a bad season. Now you tell me that Sally Robins has broken her ankle and collarbone after a bad crash at Leongatha? That count comes to eight in my books.
So whoever you are out there, have some pity on us Blackburn riders. We're not a bad bunch. Come to think of it, we're pretty sociable too, and sensible on the track. So stop crashing into us. We don't like it. And whoever's up top, keep a look out too, eh? We are fragile and we want to enjoy our racing the way we intend. Upright and crossing the finish line first. Not on our behinds in the middle of the track because some other clown in front of us doesn't know how to ride track. Nope. Nip. Nil. Fineto. Zip. That's it. No more. You've upset us now, and the payback is us winning every damn event we can. All agegroups, all races, all events. So you had your sights set on Bendigo? Well bad Luck, cause thats ours. Same with every other race you plan on winning - ours. That's what happens in payback. We win, you loose.
So we at Blackburn are going to deft you all, ride safely and keep on winning. Take your crashes and go home. We hereby refuse to partake in crashes nine, ten and eleven through one-hundred. After that we can re-negotiate, but I dont like your chances.
Now where's my bike, I've got a comeback to make ....
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