Greetings from Hamburg, Germany. It’s been a very long several days since my crash at Stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia on Friday. I was taken via ambulance to the hospital in Milan. For almost two days I didn’t know whether my treatment would be in Milan, or at the team’s home base in Hamburg. Thankfully, things worked out so I flew to Hamburg on Sunday.

I was in traction up until the surgery. The pain was terrible. Imagine someone sticking a pin through your tibia and attaching weights to it. I had the first surgery Monday. The doctors put a nail through the two fractures and it’s very straight and rotation is correct. There was significant bleeding in my leg, though, which resulted in a lot of post-op pain. Because of this, I had to have another surgery.

Sometime during all of this, Courtney made it here from Greenville. Between having her here and the fantastic attention paid to me by the doctors and nurses, it’s been the best of a bad situation. The care here has been pretty remarkable. The physical therapist has been training Courtney to help with the recovery once we get back to the US.

Once things get sorted out with my leg, they’ll begin taking a look at my shoulder, which apparently has some nerve damage that limits its movement. The doctors suspect it’s just a pinched nerve, which should be relatively easy to overcome.

The doctors are bringing me Chinese food tonight so I can get a break from the hospital food. Yes, I’m counting my blessings, wherever I can get them.

Thanks to everyone who’s sent the prayers and wishes to me. Courtney and I appreciate all of the good karma. And thanks to the team for being there for me right after the crash, and for being here for me in Hamburg. I’m familiar with the road to recovery and I know I will prevail again. The good news is that the doctors have already made it clear that I can expect a 100% recovery. Their confidence in that fact has kept my motivation pegged to make it through these first steps of healing up.

The Giro is going very well so far.  I might be minutes down on the general classification, but I am safe and healthy!  Crashes have been the norm for the first few days.  Crazy courses, with turns every hundred meters and traffic islands as far as the eye can see.  With so many Italians racing here, and their lack of experience with races in the north of Europe, the races have been very nervous and dangerous.

Now we are in Italy!  Tomorrow will see each team trying to be the best against the clock in the team time trial.  The course is dead straight and about as flat as possible.  Speeds will never drop below the 50kph (30mph) mark, and that should make for a fast and exciting stage.  Here are some pictures of the course, which we previewed this morning.