About 15 years ago I lived in Scottsdale, Arizona. I was training and wanting to make it as a roadie (I thought). I was on an intense week of training Monday through Thursday. My training program listed Friday as a definite rest day. I was in the house all day. It was unsettling and I was bored. I remember it was a nova hot summer day, but I was chillin hard in a cold house all day long. I couldn’t stand it anymore… I felt so good from the previous days that I thought that an easy spin couldn’t hurt. I geared up and rolled out. I had a route planned and promised myself I would only spin the legs. The first thing I remember about that Friday was the heat - simply intense, super dry heat - not hair dryer but center-of-the-oven type sensation. Still, I’m off. Typically, I warm up but no time for that today. I’m spinning and it’s all too easy. I spin faster which leads to tempo and eventually a sprint - flat back in the drops, I can’t be touched, faster than traffic - I’m flying. Good thing I missed the next light, but I was not happy about it...
Waiting impatiently for it to turn I notice a few things at the intersection. I look back to see the driver in the car behind me. He’s wearing black sunglasses and his face is crystal clear. He’s wearing RayBans. He’s also playing incredibly loud super f’ing annoying music in his car. The next thing I noticed was that I have serious sunburn on my left arm. The incredible burn made no sense as I had just started riding - then reality hit and I woke up… literally.
Turns out that just after that max sprint - I completely passed out and fell over in the street.
The driver’s face was so clear because he was out of his car and kneeling over me. The incredibly loud super f’ing annoying music was car horns and the ambulance coming for yours truly. The "apparent" sunburn was my arm actually burning on the street as I laid on it. To this day I still do not know what happened or how long I was out. EMS was cool then pissed at me because I declined any treatment. One of the EMT’s asked me “why can’t I ever respond to any good lookin’ women?" I honestly think he was serious. All traffic had stopped. I sat there for a while and eventually the intersection returned to normal. Then I spun back home - promise. Lesson learned - stick to the program.