"On your marks!" the starter shouted into his megaphone. "Set!" He continued and glanced from side to side at all of the competitors. "GO!"
The large crowd of bikers slowly started moving forward to begin the long Holland Hundred bike ride. That year was the second time I'd participated ride, which could be completed in four different lengths. I had chosen the 100 mile route once again and looked forward to the long cruise through the country in the beautiful July weather.
I established a comfortable pace with a pack of other bikers who seemed to know each other. The first time I'd done the ride I was with four friends of mine, but that year I did it alone. I found the rides to be a great challenge even though I was not in any shape to compete with the people who would lead the way.
My legs felt good that day, and my bike, which was only a couple weeks old, provided a smooth and efficient ride. I smiled as I looked down to admire the shiny frame that I'd paid a pretty penny for.
The miles seemed to glide by quickly as I held onto a spot just behind the pack I'd started with. Once in a while a rider would slowly pedal past us, a determined look on their face. I was content to just keep riding and finish. I knew I could do it. That wasn't the problem. The bigger challenge would be enduring the heat once the sun was beating down from straight above. Luckily there were quite a few pit stops along the route where participants could rest, eat healthy snacks, and refill the water bottles on their bikes.
I hung with the pack until the third stop. I'd talked to a couple of them while we rode, and thanked them for letting me tag along as they continued down the road. After quickly eating a banana and sucking down a cup of energy drink I hopped on my bike and resumed my ride. There was a long way left to go, so I made a conscious effort not to push myself too hard.
A few miles after stopping, I headed into a long incline with my head down. Hills were the one thing I dreaded about these long rides, and the gradual ones like this seemed to disagree with my legs the most. I grunted as I pushed myself hard to keep a consistent speed up the hill. "Almost there," I muttered through my labored breaths. When I could see over the peak of the slope I squirted a mouthful of water from my bottle and put the container back before the final push. "Come on," I gasped.
The welcome sight of a long downhill ride greeted me as I hit the crest of the slope. As gravity started doing my work for me I reached for my water bottle again. The wire harness, which was new along with the bike, had a tight grip on the bottle. I leaned over more and spread my knees apart to gain a little more leverage. Finally the bottle came loose. I lifted it up and was about to squirt some water into my mouth when my steering hand was pulled from the handlebars. Suddenly the bike veered left over the shoulder of the road. In my peripheral vision I saw a massive log in my path, so I dropped the bottle and tried to regain control of the bike. My effort was too late however, and the bike went headlong into the log. The impact stopped my bike immediately but my momentum threw me off the bike in a heels over head flip that landed me on my back.
I felt sick as I coughed and then inhaled deeply. A wet feeling was on my mouth, but it was nothing compared to the pain that shot through my neck. I opened my eyes to find a woman's face near my own. She was wiping her lips and looking at me with concern.
"Thank goodness you're okay. You took quite a spill," she said and reached for the tandem bike that was leaning against the big log. "Here, have a drink." She held a bottle of water to my mouth and lifted my head up at the same time.
"Thanks," I said after gulping down the cold fluid. "What happened? Last thing I remember was taking a drink after I'd climbed the hill."
"You must have hit a rock or something. We saw you swerve into this grass and hit that log," the woman said. A second woman approached with a small pack and unzipped it.
I tried to sit up but a searing pain bolted from my skull to the lower part of my back.
"Take it easy, you came down partially on your head," the second woman said as she rummaged through the pack. "Hopefully you aren't hurt too bad."
"Wendy," the first woman said and held her hand out to me from her crouched position by my waist.
"Jack," I replied and gave her a weak handshake.
"Looks like your arm and hand are still working," she smiled. "This is Christy," she added.
"Hi," Christy said as she was looking over my neck. "Where do you hurt?"
"All over," I said, finally realizing that my whole body ached.
"That's a good sign," Christy replied. "Can you move your other arm?" I lifted it up and wiggled my fingers for her. "And your legs?" I lifted up my right leg and bent it slightly before laying it flat on the ground again. When I tried to lift my left leg I winced as I felt pain in my thigh.
"It looks like he's bleeding here Christy," Wendy said as she looked down at the wounded thigh.
"Alright," Christy answered and moved so she was crouched between my legs. "Can you move his leg up so I can get a look? Try not to bend it though. I'm concerned with that swelling of his knee."
Wendy knelt beside my leg and put one hand on the top just above my knee and her other hand on my heel. As she slowly lifted I grunted from the discomfort.
"Hang in there Jack, you're going to be fine," Christy said while leaning down and touching my thigh not far from my ass. "Here we go. It looks like a piece of glass."
As I started to regain my senses I noticed I had a view down Christy's black sports bra. Her breasts were big enough that they filled the tight covering and formed a decent amount of cleavage. The last thing I wanted was to have her working so close to my crotch and me getting an erection, so I looked off to the side.
"I'm going to have to cut your shorts away to get a better look," Christy said as she pulled a small jackknife from her pack. "Hold still for me." I heard the sound of cloth ripping and then her fingers on my skin. "Okay, I think I can pull the glass out now."
"Is it in deep?" I asked.
"I can't tell," she answered and put the knife down. A few seconds later I felt more pain as she gave a gentle tug on the glass. "Almost got it," she added. She pulled at it again and I felt the object exit my leg. She held it out for me to see.
"Damn," I said with a grimace.
"Wendy, give me your wrist band," Christy said.
Wendy moved so she could put my ankle on her shoulder. Then she slid her wrist band off and handed it to Christy.
"The bleeding isn't too bad, but it looks like it might have gotten close to your...well let's just say I need to look near your crotch, okay?"
"Fine, do whatever you have to do," I answered.
I watched as Christy picked up the knife again and cut up the side of my shorts along my hip. Then she cut them again between my legs before pulling the fabric aside. I suddenly felt awkward as she looked closely at my crotch which was covered only by my tight briefs.
"How's it looking?" Wendy asked.
"The cut got close, but it looks like everything is in one piece," Christy answered. "I'm going to make sure the bleeding stops though."
Once again my eyes locked onto Christy's chest. I couldn't help but get turned on by her tanned, freckled cleavage that glistened with sweat. Meanwhile she held the small wristband against my inner thigh, occasionally pulling it away to look at the wound.
