Or How to Take a Dump and Live to Talk About It
I wasn't even gonna talk about my Thursday ride, but now I have to. Just have to. Why? Well, read on, my friends.
I headed out early, about 6 am. This was my first pre-dawn ride -- testing out my new headlight. Quickly, I found that the light was perfectly fine for others to see me. As far as me seeing anything, not gonna happen. Since I was in familiar territory, I pressed on as dawn was near and the ride was familiar.
One of my goals was to work on my out of the saddle riding and I'd have plenty of hills to work on that.
All was well. Traffic was getting heavier, but I was doing fine in and out of the saddle, feeling more and more comfortable. About 2/3 into the 20 miler, I decided to climb Homewood Road. Homewood is known as one of the steeper climbs around. I've hit 40 mph heading down Homewood.
As I headed up, I dropped down to my big gears to work up the short but steep section of the road. It didn't take long for me to run out of power and I was stuck. I knew I'd run out of power in my legs and I was pretty sure I shouldn't downshift while standing. As I slowed to a crawl, there was no way to get my feet out of the clips to keep myself from falling. So, I did. I took a big old dump on a big old hill.
I got up quickly. Just a little blood, not too bad. As for the bike, a different story. My front wheel was locked up. Musta done something to the brakes. I was able to pry them apart, but decided against continuing up Homewood and headed out a bit longer, but flatter route. Every couple of miles I stopped to pull the brakes apart, but made it home safely.
The front wheel was clearly out of alignment, plus I had had the brake issue. I knew one of my neighbors had the tool to be able to align the wheel.
Today, George came over and aligned my wheel. No biggie. He asked me what the abrasion on the fork of the bike was. Looks like just scratch in the paint covering the fork. Hmm, seems to go all the way around the fork. Not sure how a scratch could go all the way around. George suggested I take it to the bike shop to have it checked out. Sure. As I was leaning on the wheel less bike, suddenly, the bottom of the right fork bent. I'm pretty sure carbon isn't supposed to bend like that. Seems it's not EXACTLY a scratch.
SHIT! I've been forked!
Off to the bike shop. . . again!
L'Chaim!
8 comments:
Jeff, if I may point out the obvious. Why are you waiting until it is too late to clip out? Us guys can be so stubborn.
Exercise is supposed to make you live longer eh! Not at the rate you are going!
biking is dangerous business. take care of your self.
Jeff, WOW- hope the bike is going to be ok. Hope you are going to be ok.
Ahhhh... the life of an athlete.....
You just give me way too much material.
But I'm saving it all for April.
Whoa!
Get that bike into the shop! Depending on how long ago you got it, it may still be covered or the fork could be part of a recall.
Raise some heck on this one. One fall or two at slow speeds should not kill a Carbon fork.
Oh, that's just awful. Sorry to hear that your bike is broken. Sorrier to hear about another fall. Be careful before you break something! (I'm talking about bones, not forks.)
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