thoughtnot

After over-enjoying a pizza buffet with Emily and the kids for lunch today, I wanted to make up for the lost workout. So when I got home tonight, I “suited up” and hit the road on the bike. Two minutes out the door, it started raining on me. It was steady enough to get me, the bike, and the road nice and wet, but I figured I’d stick it out.

Near the house, there are some railroad tracks that cross the road. About 15 minutes into my ride, I came to these tracks and proceeded to cross. The hard part is these particular tracks run diagonal to the road. Hearing a car not far behind me (it ended up turning off the road), I angled and tried to cross the tracks as straight across as I could. Unfortunately I didn’t get it square enough. The front tire slipped a bit, and the trench between the steel track and the pavement caught my front tire. At nearly 15mph, I was slammed to the pavement.

Fortunately, I’ve learned how to protect my bike over the years so that I’m usually the one that comes out worse for the wear. There are some heavy scratches/digs in the bar ends, and it loosened up the handle bars a bit, but the rest of the bike appears to have fared well. As far as I can tell, the front wheel is still round. So the crash shouldn’t cost me anything other than pride. Unfortunately, I received a nice case of road rash on the calf, knee, left thigh, and elbow. It’s funny how your clothes don’t rip sometimes, but you still end up looking like someone attacked you with a cheese grater. It took me a few minutes to scrape myself off the road, but an oncoming car inspired me to move a bit faster.

I didn’t let this little trial divert me from my mission, though. Instead of returning home, defeated, I rode another 7 miles out of spite. I realize it’s not the Tour de France, but I’m sure Lance Armstrong would’ve done the same thing. At least I was able to turn it into a “this is why we wear our helmets” lesson for the kids. =)