It was such a beautiful fall day today that I had to put aside the unpacking and everything else and go out for a bke ride. Today’s ride turned out to be quite a bit shorter than the average 60 miles a day that I did on The Dream Tour. In fact, about 59.9 miles shorter.

I had just left the house. I rounded the corner on the far side of the block that we live on, waved at Rob, our neighbor, who was outside in his front yard. I thought “What a great day to be alive and an even better one to be out riding a bicycle” as I adjusted the rear view mirror attached to my sunglasses. Next thing I recall was a loud and painful jolt and suddenly I was spread out on the road. I saw my bike in the middle of the road and I smelled orange gatorade. I was lying in a widening splash of the contents of my water bottle which had lost its cover in the crash.

As soon as I sat up, I knew exactly what had happened. As I was adjusting my rear view mirror, I failed to notice the manhole cover which was recessed about four inches below the level of the pavement. I must have hit it straight on and caused a spectacular “over-the-handlebars” crash that I almost wish I had been able to see.

People appeared from all directions. It seems like this kind of embarrassing mishap always happens with plenty of people around to witness it. They all asked either “Are you OK?” or “What happpened?” though I’m not sure whether the latter was directed at me. I tried to get up, thinking I didn’t want everybody to making fuss over me. I thought I’d just get up and walk home, take a short rest on the couch, maybe even a nap, before checking to see how the bike fared. Everytime I tried to get up, there was a new sharp burst of pain. So, I would sit down again, the pain would go away, and I’d try again. When I tried getting up with my right arm the second time, I realized there was a strong, steady pain from my right shoulder blade. At that point, I decided it might be better to stay sitting.

More people appeared, all talking and asking questions. I couldn’t seem to concentrate enough to answer any of them, but I did manage to say I thought I better sit for a while and that I only lived about a half a block away so I wouldn’t have to take anybody up the offer of a ride home.

Eventually, Rob, our neighbor, was able to coax out of me our home phone number. He diailed, and handed me the phone. “Hi Pat. I think I need a ride home.” I think I was still hoping to take a nap and feel much better.

As I waited for Pat, someone showed up with a jacket to keep me warm. I wasn’t cold, but it seemed like a good idea to accept as much assistance as was offered.

I was thirsty. I felt like I had a low blood sugar, but my blood sugar was 122 when I tested before leaving the house not 5 minutes earlier.

Pat showed up in the minivan. The good samaritans all helped to get my bicycle in the car and help me to my feet. Once standing, I suddenly felt faint and asked to sit down again. Fortunately, they helped me into the car, so there was some slow, small progress being made.

Pat headed for the University Health Care emergency room. It wasn’t the closest, but when I convinced her I was OK and reasonable comfortable in the front seat, she agreed.

Three hours, two LorTabs, and eleven x-rays later, we were headed home again. They discovered a broken rib high up on my right side, a broken bone in the ring finger of my left hand, and various abrasions. As much as my left forearm hurts right now, there’s apparently nothing broken. It’s probably just a very deep bruise.

So, what a day of ironies. First, that I was adjusting a piece of safety equipment (my rear view mirror) when this happened. Second, that this happened now, just after finishing The Dream Tour. How lucky is that? And, third, that one of the admitting nurses at the Emergency Room had heard me speak about The Dream Tour just three days before this happened. He said he wanted to come over and say hi and congratulations after I spoke, but never made it. Little did he know he’d get another chance so soon.

Last night, Bayer HealthCare threw a welcome home party for Pat and me. It was a wonderful event and the perfect final stop for The Dream Tour. Representatives from Bayer HealthCare and about 70 friends of ours from the Salt Lake City area joined us for dinner, drinks, dessert, and celebration of the completion of our 10,000 mile bicycle tour.

I’ve got a few photos from the event:

Dream Tour welcome home party photos

I’m working on some video of the event, but for now it’s just photos. Enjoy!

I slept like a baby in my own bed last night! Though I did wake up once in the middle of the night wondering where in the world I was. When I didn’t hear the usual motel sounds — nearby traffic, fans running (either A/C or heaters, depending on the season), water running in nearby rooms — I remembered that we were at home.

I checked the traffic on my web site when I got up this morning. So far today, I’ve had about 2700 page views and that’s nearly three times as many as yesterday and over 10 times as many as any typical day during the tour. Pretty cool!

That kind of spike doesn’t happen on it’s own, so I went looking for the reason why. The Deseret Morning News has a story on the cover of the Utah section. Here’s a link to it:

9,700 miles traveled — on a bicycle

The Daily Utah Chronicle, University of Utah student newspaper, also had a story:

Around the country in 217 days

We made it! We’re at home finally.

Friends of ours came out to ride with me on this last day of The Dream Tour. Paul, Mike, and Marty joined me in Lehi. Paul (my neighbor) joined us in Draper. We made such good time headed for Draper City Park that we had time to stop at a coffee shop in Draper. From there, we headed north to Wheeler Historic Farm where my friends Jeff and Marsha joined us for the rest of the ride. We headed north from there to Sugarhouse Park where our friend Denise walked over from her nearby house to say hi. Our friend Chris joined the peleton there, making a total of seven riders helping me get to the final finish line.

The final finsih line was at the Utah Diabetes Center which is exactly where I started from seven months and one day ago. People from University Health Care orgnaized a perfect homecoming event. I would estimate about a hundred people — friends, co-workers, media — came out for my arrival there. It was a great ending to a fantastic adventure.

I’ll probably post some final thoughts about The Dream Tour in the coming days, but for now let me just share some photos and say thank you to everybody. To the entire team at Bayer Health Care’s Diabetes Care Division for their Bayer Dream Fund and for making my dream come true. To my wife Pat who graciously suffered through the past seven months while her husband achieved this life-long dream. To all of the visitors to my web site who sent emails, made comments, or simply enjoyed my web site. All of these people are part of a dream come true!

Here’s a collection (fairly unorganized) of photos from the ride today and the homecoming event at the Utah Diabetes Center:

October 19: Home at last! photos

Total distance:	41.96 miles
Time:	5:12:28
Average speed:	8.1 mph
Maximum speed:	29.5 mph
Total calories:	2901
Average heart rate:	96 bpm
Maximum heart rate:	148 bpm
Total ascent:	1821 feet
Total descent:	1561 feet
Ride profile:	(click on image to view a larger version)
Ride comments: A delightful day. Cold in Lehi when I started, but there was a tailwind and the excitement of the final day and returning home to keep me warm. Friends came out to ride with me and we finished at the Utah Diabetes Center which is exactly where I started from. People from University Health Care orgnaized a very nice homecoming event and I would estimate about a hundred people came out for my arrival there. It was a great ending to a fantastic adventure.

Here are the latest details on the final ride of The Dream Tour.

* The actual return will be at the Utah Diabetes Center, but we can’t be inside the building so we don’t interfere with normal daytime activities at the clinic.