Scenic Route

A day off the bike works wonders for how I feel when I get back on. Especially after last week which began with a 68-miler. I rode all seven days last week, something I seldom do.

This Sunday we had the first rainy day in weeks and I stayed in. Monday started rainy as well, but cleared up nicely in time for the Monday Night Small Ring Ride out of Full Moon Vista Bike and Sport.

I hit the street and in the first couple of cranks knew it was going to be a glorious ride. Everything just clicked. In the next block, where I usually peak around 18 or 19, I was cranking along at 24 without even breathing hard.

I barely slowed to turn right onto East Ave. I could have gone wide before starting the turn, I wasn’t holding up traffic and I wouldn’t have needed almost three lanes of East to complete the turn. Or I could have slowed down, but why?

That’s what I was thinking as I passed the apex of the turn. Had I been paying more attention, I would have realized I was leaned way over and needed a few more feet—half a second, no more—to straighten and level out before stomping on the pedals.

The right pedal hit the pavement. This lifted the bike off the ground. Centrifugal force took over and flipped me off the left side of the bike, into an oncoming lane. I went down. Hard.

There was no traffic coming, the light behind me was still red, and a helpful pedestrian appeared from nowhere to drag me and Yellow Bike out of the street.

I was amazed that all I seemed to have done was get a bit of road rash on my left elbow. Not a scratch anywhere else I could see. I put the batteries back in my taillight, screwed on the cap, hopped back into the street and went to the start of the ride.

Arriving at Full Moon Vista, I took the bike inside because I was early and wanted to buy some stuff. I sort of stopped the clock or something. The shop was busy and everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me.

Scott asked if I was okay, I said, I thought so. Steve ran over with a wrench to straighten Yellow Bike’s brifters. Kyle took me into the office where he made me use the sink to clean up, and Shana kept worrying over me.

Then, since I’d forgotten what I was going to buy, I went back outside to wait for the ride to start.

Six of us started the ride. Kyle and Shana kept an eye on me, as did this kid Chris, who also does the ride every week. I’ve gotten to really like him, and if he wasn’t such a nice kid, and didn’t seem to look up to me (or look out for me) like he does, I’d hit it.

I made it five or six miles into the ride. We were out along the canal and decided I’d like to stop and take pictures of the rowing teams, and I had concerns over how I’d feel after another 20 miles, especially because of how my arm was feeling over the bumps. I took pictures and came home.

Peeling back the clothing at home revealed four more large abrasions. Funny how my clothes looked just fine, but inside, huge abrasions. I got out the med kit and went to work.

Sleeping was an interesting affair Monday night. I like to sleep on my side, and favor the left. That was completely out of the question. Plus, my left wrist and elbow were swollen and tender. This not only limited range of movement, and sort of movement was accompanied by a yelp or two.

I did better after I went back to bed at 7:30 yesterday morning. Well, that was sleeping on the couch, but since I do that many nights anyway, I seldom make the distinction.

I rearranged my schedule for the week yesterday so I could stay home—which I did, except for going to the library to pick up my new helmet.

New helmet

See, I’d decided to get myself a new helmet for my birthday later this month. I wanted to try something with better ventilation (read: less sweaty) than my current (or rather, ex) helmet. Plus, I’d recently learned that Specialized’s helmets are Snell rated in addition to meeting the CPSC standards. Thirty-five years ago when I rode motocross, I learned firsthand the value of a Snell approved helmet.

Specialized’s Decibel helmet is their top-of-the-line. It’s the one the give to all the pro racers. It’s vents are huge. And in colors I liked, it was on sale for $75 off. Sunday night, I ordered one, and had it FedEx’ed to the library so I’d be sure to have it for this weekend.

After Monday’s crash, I needed a new helmet, and one was already on the way.

The ride to the library and back took a lot out of me. It was cold, with gales from the west and every bump along the way hurt my left wrist and elbow. This, despite the fact that I took it easy.

But I wore my new helmet home, and boy! Is it ever ventilated. I can tell you right now I’ll need one with ventilation similar to my old one for the winter. Maybe even for the autumn.

The second 24 hours

I slept a little easier last night, although my neck had started to ache and as a result, I slept funny which gave me a headache it’s taken all day to get rid of.

I was very pleasantly surprised this morning to find the swelling in my elbow was considerably reduced and its range of motion back to 70% of normal. I’m not able to put my hair in a ponytail yet, but I think I’ll be able to tomorrow.

My wrist is taking a little more time, possibly because it took the brunt of the bumps on yesterday’s ride. Even so, I can mouse with it comfortably today and I can lift things too. Nothing more than really, really, light, but it’s no longer a useless appendage.

The only part of the road rash that bothers me today is on my hip. That’s the largest area and I can’t completely cover it.

Meanwhile, I discovered today that my rear tire took some damage. The Ultra GatorSkin tires have a sidewall protective layer applied to the outside of the tire. It’s damaged in two areas. In one, it’s ripped open for about a foot and in the other, it’s just severely scuffed. I doubt there’s any permanent damage to the tire. It seems largely cosmetic and possibly less sidewall puncture resistance at those points.

Still, since I have an extra tire in the basement, I’ll change it before the weekend’s event.

New wheels?

Tomorrow will tell for sure if I have new wheels for the event this weekend. It’s been an anxiety-inducing wait for the new wheels I ordered a couple of weeks ago.

Communications from the builder are less than satisfactory. When I ordered I’d said I needed them today at the very latest. I even paid for overnight freight to be double sure. I was assured the delivery date would be met. No wheels today, no answer on their phone, no returned messages, no returned email.

I was ready to just cancel the order when, at 4:45 this afternoon, I got the invoice and shipping notice by email. Drat. Now I’m not sure whether to be upset or pleased.

As a practical matter, it throws my entire day tomorrow right out of kilter since I’ll have to make a special trip to the library to get them (if they actually did ship) then take time to mount the tires on them, replace the brake pads (I won’t use nasty old brake pads on a brand new hand built wheelset) and take a test ride.

This along with work, laundry, packing, cooking and washing the dishes. Gee, thanks.

BJRU07 at the GFLBT

I won’t know until I get there if I’ll be up to all the rides I’d planned this weekend at the BikeJournal ReUnion 2007 at the Great Finger Lakes Bicycle Tour in Watkins Glen.

Monday night, I decided I’d still go, and still take Yellow Bike, even if it seemed like all I’d be able to do is sit around while other people rode—maybe snag a ride on the SAG wagon (Supplies And Gear truck, supporting the riders during the rides.)

Beyond the injuries, I’m losing a lot of training. As I write this, I’m supposed to be at the Wednesday night RBC ride out of Mendon Ponds Park for some final hill work. I know from experience that losing a few days of riding means my endurance especially goes right out the window.

Fortunately, on Saturday there are three shorter rides than the 70–80 miler I’d planned, and on Sunday one ride shorter than the 45 miler I’d planned. The Friday rides—one with the BikeJournal folks and another with the whole GFLBT group—I could skip without feeling too bad.

For now, I’m not getting my hopes too high, just so I’m not disappointed when I get there.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 at 5:36 pm EST and is filed under Bike, Project: Yellow Bike. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.