Rose Long

I went and visited my good friend Rose Long this evening in the hospital. She was the unfortunate victim of a hit-and-run while riding her bike down Pearl St. in Burlington, VT. A car coming in the other lane of traffic took a left turn through her lane...and through her.

She's a 100% rock-star though and is already trucking down the road to recovery. She got pretty banged up and has been in the hospital for a couple days and has been, and is going through, some different surgeries. Its amazing though - she has had so many visitors, and the nurses and doctors think she's a hoot...which she is. When I was there visiting today after work, there were so many people coming and going, you would have thought there was some sort of cool party going on. She's hooked up to lots of Morphine....but she can still wrap a crowd around her finger.

I've been helping mentor/coach Rose this year as she's gotten into road bike racing. The one, set in stone, rule I set forth to her as we were getting started with training last January was that she was not aloud to crash. She is a very forward, energetic person and her bike handling and cornering skills reflect that (which led to me making that 1 rule). She can corner and descend a bike on par with the great Liz Harrison - but is still pretty green when it comes to doing it in a pack of other women (who maybe can't corner quite as fast). I was really impressed last Monday when she finished the Green Mountain Stage Race Crit - which concluded her first road season - and realized she'd made it through the whole season without crashing. Rose had an awesome season, winning the ECCC season overall, winning the UVM race, many regional top-5's, a 12th place in ther first NRC race, and some top-10 stages at GMSR.

(*authors note: I did crash when I first started racing - crashing and destroying myself and my brand new racing bike in only my 3rd Category 5 race*)

One week later - boom - the universe strikes - she doesn't crash...worse...she's hit by a Jeep. Oooohhhfff. Rose is going to be aok in the long run - but has some serious resting and healing-up to do for now. I will tell you this though...when Rose comes across the Finish Line at next years Burlington Criterium with a 5-bike length gap - you're going to be seeing a very emotional win. I wouldn't want to miss it! I had a pretty emotional release after finally winning in Burlington this year...with so many friends and family there - but I can only imagine what Rose is going to be feeling like.

Rose has got quite a team caring for her and thinking about her - her family, friends, UVM Cycling, the Burlington cycling community, everyone at the Skirack, and basically anyone who's ever met her for more than 5 seconds.

On a side note, Lance Armstrong - the attention hore that he is - is trying to steal Rose's "comeback" thunder and is apparently making a little comeback of his own. Whatever.