The reason I didn't win stage 5

Saturday night I found myself crashing on Tom’s southside couch waiting for my phone to ring at 6:30am so I could layer on the clothing for another Tour da Chicago stage. Tom is a generous host and also a wise and motivated homeowner – he is currently painting his living room (fron-troom in Chicagospeak). This places the entire condo in a state of disarray but it is easy to see the forest and not get hung up on the trees. It’s a free, warm place to crash and in a week or so will certainly look much nicer and hipper. At 5 am I became aware that I needed to use the facilities but bargained with my brain that since I will be getting up in an hour anyway, why not just keep sleeping. This is the same logic that results in sleeping through the snooze multiple times on weekdays. Once 5:45 had come all bargaining had ceased and I stumbled through the near dawn down a hallway to the washroom. The only problem (and reason anyone even needs to read this) is that there is a 2X4 along the wall. I slammed my pinky toe into it about as hard as one could. I kept quiet, finished in the bathroom, and went back to bed. After waking at 6:30 I looked down at the wool sock covering my right foot, didn’t see blood stains, and proceeded to cover the sock with an additional wool sock for the race. The toe was in a great deal of pain but I was tired and since there was no bleeding what could I really do? Driving to Chicago to race in the Tour to simply pull out due to pinky toe pain is not very hardcore, and since I live hardcore (particularly at the time of the rent) I had to gut it out. When arriving back in Madison around 5 and jumping in the shower I discovered that my pinky toe is completely dark purple – broken. As of today is a lighter-dark purple. Dr. Chris examined it and it moves and rests in the same angles as the good pinky toe so I’m saying that all will be well. So the reason I didn’t win the race was the bum toe. There can be no other logical explanation.