Conquer the Hill

Another big series in Virginia is the VORS series, or the Virginia Off Road Series. These races are nearly every weekend and open to anyone. There were more than a hundred riders at the race that I went to, Conquer the Hill. The categories accepted anyone from Juniors to 75 year olds and anyone from beginners to pros. While there were lots of beginners, there were actually a good amount of pros too. The absolutely insane part about this race is that it's four hours and everyone starts at once. I was positioned towards the back since I didn't care too much about that race and when we started I settled into a nice tempo. I moved my way up the field and got into a good position towards the middle and stayed there for my first lap. After my first lap, an hour in, a disaster struck. I was flying down a hill and suddenly my back wheel hit a rock at a weird angle. The angle launched my back wheel into the air and me onto the ground. I fell on a large pile of rocks and everything hurt. I eventually got the strength to hike back up to the start finish area and I got some medical attention. They cleaned up some of my cuts and I was planning on continuing riding but as soon as my left hand touched my handlebars my hand was in lots of pain. I thought that the hand was broken or fractured, but luckily it was only a bad bruise. I was super disappointed to only get to ride for a short hour.