I’m really disappointed in myself right now. I was feeling amazing today. Just crushing it. Had a train of 3-4 guys behind me as we rolled into Long Beach. I was surprised to see that my average was north of 20 MPH.
After a recharge at Bogart’s, the legs were still with me and we were flying albeit solo this time. Hit the Pacific Electric Trail and the tailwind had me soaring, and that’s what did me in.
I approached the crossing at Archibald Ave with a green light for the crossing, and, not wanting to cut my momentum, I barreled through. After the cross I immediately said, “Oh shit” as I completely forgot the trail has only an opening for cyclists to pass through. To the right of that is a gate to prohibit vehicles from passing through. Yup you guessed it straight into it I went.
I unwrapped myself from the horizontal pole and nursed myself to the other side to assess the situation. Shadow and I are both pretty banged up. I took the handle bars to the tops of my quads maybe 6 inches above the knee. Have a couple scrapes and sore thumb on the left arm. Also have a nasty cut on the left ring finger as well. Right arm took the worst by smashing against the horizontal right at the elbow with bruises and scrapes to match.
Checked on Shadow and, surprisingly, no visible damage to steerer tube. Left shifter is completely toast as the front of it took a direct hit. Handle bars and fork got knocked out of alignment, but thankfully I had a hex wrench to get it straightened back up. Mounted up to roll out and the front end felt squishy. My thoughts immediately went to a damaged fork, but thankfully it was only a front flat. Probably a pinch flat when the tire went under the gate.
With field repairs done I got back in the saddle and limped the remainder of the way back to my in-laws. Shadow done good at getting me home safely, all things considered.
Let the in-laws and wife know the deal and decided to get checked out at an urgent care just in case. Thankfully nothing on the x-ray indicating a fracture. They’ll send the images to a radiologist for confirmation.
Fired a message over to Joseph to order me a replacement left shifter. I’ll also be taking Shadow into Swanny’s Urgent Care tomorrow to have him gone through to make sure he’s ok. One thing that sucks about personifying a bike is it hurts your heart to think about them being damaged. As I described it to my mother-in-law, “The way I feel about him (Shadow) is like a pet.”
So, here I sit writing this, sore as hell, and, honestly, pretty damn angry with myself. Everyone knows I’m one who doesn’t normally care about their average speed, but the idea of finishing the day with 125 miles while averaging 20 MPH was intoxicating.
Now I get to pay for it both figuratively and literally. Best case it’s only a bum shifter, worst case Shadow is a complete write off. I’ve also thrown into jeopardy an upcoming DC in Hemet and a few others to boot. That also includes finishing the California Triple Crown, earning endurance jerseys, and finishing the California Triple Crown Stage Race. I put all that on the line to nail a high average speed on a single ride. Fucking stupid and, hopefully, never again.
On a positive note, I found a dollar bill on the bikeway in Long Beach.
New bike fund: $57.35 (+$1.10)
207 vehicles @ 1.6 per mile, 0.5 per minute, Speeds: 34.2 mph (avg), 61.6 mph (max) — by MyBikeTraffic.com
Give your activities the names they deserve. — by Bandok.com
Clear-Sunny, 43°F-64°F, Feels like 44°F-74°F, Humidity 76%-28%, Wind NNE 2mph-SW 5mph — by Klimat.app
— myWindsock Report —
Weather Impact: 0.7%
Headwind: 21% @ 0.4-10mph
Longest Headwind: 01h 46m 21s
Air Speed: 19mph
Temp: 42.9-64.3°F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
— END —
Max elevation: 1600 ft
Min elevation: -16 ft
Total climbing: 3671 ft
Total descent: -3583 ft
Total time: 08:35:32
Be First to Comment