By Wednesday night September 6th, a cool front had finally reached South Central Texas for the first time since probably April or so, lowering temps from near 100 to the upper 80s. I ride after work even if it's 105, but I was positively giddy to see the nicer temps.
So I headed out to Manor, Texas after work to meet up with a group that rides from there. Met up with them there, at the Eternal Faith Baptist Church. We headed out about 6:10 pm. I stopped to fix my non-functional speeometer, falling back from the pack. But I was feeling so great that I sucked them up within a couple of miles, hammering along at 25-28 mph. Which, are pretty heady speeds by my standards.
Eventually I got in the back of the line that was going 21 or so. Decided that just wasn't fast enough so I sprinted out to the front of the line. They all followed me, so I kicked it up to 25-27. After about 2 or 3 miles the line split and it was just me and Jay. We were feeling and doing so great that when it came time to take a right and head back towards town, we took a left and kept going!
Explored some great new roads: Monkey Rd, FM1307, Balch Rd, Hog Eye Rd. Balch especially had some really fun and steep rollers! Good times!
Did start getting a little tired about 4 miles from the end, but after a long downhill felt better. I got back up on my pace and was pushing along at 23 mph right to the end. I then came up to the last corner, and being a person that loves to take sharp turns at high rates of speed, I threw myself into it with reckless abandon. I was taking a sharp right hand turn at approximately 20 mph, with quite a good deal of lean put into it.
Then it happened. In the apex of the corner, my wheels slipped out. I am not sure whether I hit the paint on the center line, or if the unusually smooth pavement caused the slide. Regardless, I was going over. I was on the ground sliding before I could even think about it.
Slid over the pavement to an eventual halt, then the pain. I rolled over into the grass. But sensing I wasn't seriously hurt, I popped up and tried to walk it off. The walking off of the pain wasn't happening but at least I could walk ok. I mounted my bike and rode the 400 yards or so back to the parking lot. I was glad the bike was still functional.
Oddly enough, I did not rip my brand new $140 Pearl Izumi Microsensor shorts that I was wearing. They look undamaged. But I do have a welt the size of a baseball on my outer thigh about 3 inches below my hip socket. And my arm has a big strawberry on it on the back side where your tricep is. Walking is possible, but a bit uncomfortable.
I think I was pretty lucky in this crash for the most part. I am sure the smooth pavement helped limit the extent of my injuries. Thankfully there were no cars around also. I had a friend who went down on chip seal a few weeks ago under similar circumstances and he was a mess. Also, I banked on the turn so sharply that I really didn't have far to fall.
As for the bike, the right hand brifter (a handlebar mounted device that both shifs the gears and brakes) has a nice s****e and is bent in about 2" from normal. The brifter is still functional, however. Thankfully, because the Shimano brifters are very expensive to replace. A set of Ultegra class brifters run about $250. The handlebars do not appear to be bent, but the bar tape will need to be replaced, which I can do myself for $15. The seat has a nice s****e on the side, and the rear derailleur got a bit of road rash. No wheels bent. Frame/fork were not s****ed.
Trying to keep it all in perspective though, it was really a fantastic ride other than that. Did 28.7 miles at an average of 20.3 mph. Weather was absolutely gorgeous, mid 80s to start, falling to around 80 by the finish. Found some fun new roads.
Now, it's time for a couple of days off...maybe
We'll see how I feel.
