Thursday, September 26, 2013

Oops



Well…….I wrecked.

How did that happen?

Well, see, there’s this really busy road that I ride on-

Wait, wait, wait, the wreck didn’t happen on that road.

Okay, so there are several not very busy roads that I ride on-

Nope.  Not there either.  What does that leave?

*Sigh*

Okay, so it happened in the driveway.

Why did I wreck?  It was a culmination of bad decisions and general clumsiness.

So, I’m on the bike ready to go, and I look left and see a truck coming.  I know that truck.  The guy lives to the left of me, so he’ll never get to my driveway, and I’m going right, anyway, so I go.  Clearly, I am an idiot for making that assumption.  As it turned out, the guy was going past my house to the first house on the right of me to use their driveway to turn around and go back to his house.

Add to that the fact that, because my computer doesn’t work, I am holding a stopwatch in my left hand.  When I get going, I’ll start the watch and put it in my pocket, but, because it’s in my hand at the moment, I can’t use that hand for braking.

There is also that fact that, after being mostly off the bike for a couple of years, I haven’t had the bike tuned up yet.  Also, I didn’t lube the pivot points after riding in the rain a few days ago.

Where does that leave me?

I start to pedal.  I realize the truck isn’t stopping at his house, so I use my right hand to brake, but that brake lever sticks, and I’m not stopping, so, with my left hand full, I grab what I can of that brake lever, which isn’t much, and my bike slows and wobbles, and I unclip with the left foot, but my bike leans to the right and my right foot won’t unclip…and down I go.  As soon as I smack into the driveway, my right foot unclips beautifully, and I am sitting on the grass next to the driveway trying to look like I meant to do that as I watch the guy in the truck do his turning around maneuver.  I have blood on my knee and a patch of road rash (oh, alright, driveway rash) on my leg the size of my hand. 

Then I notice that the saddle has been knocked out of line.  First aid for the bike – fix the saddle, but don’t bother about first aid for the leg because it isn’t bad and I want to get going, so I get, carefully looking both ways and making sure that no other vehicles are coming.

So, I finally make it out of the driveway (hooray!) and am on my way.  I’m only doing 11 miles today, but I had decided to really push the pace, and, somehow, I actually do.  The only thing my computer will tell me is speed.  Time and distance do not exist for me, hence the stopwatch that contributed to my downfall.  After a couple of miles I realize that I am holding a speed that is definitely less slow than I was last week.  

Nice.  If I keep this up, I might actually get to try out that other chain ring on my bike.   

Well, let’s not get carried away.

At one point I am digging in an cruising down the road, and I see a pick-up truck poised at the end of its driveway waiting to pull out.  I slow up, because I have the feeling that this truck is going to pull out whether I slow up or not, and I've had enough pick-up related adventures for one day, thank you very much.
The truck does, indeed, pull out right in front me, as if he wants me to draft off him.

Mind you, there's no way I would draft off of a strange car.  It's tough enough when you and the driver both know what's going on.  Jan Ullrich, anyone?

Anyway, it was a really satisfying ride.  I did it in the time I had hoped and with a higher average speed than any ride since I got back in the saddle all of a week and a half ago. 

I think I'll get my bike tuned up now. 

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