There are two types of cyclists: those who have crashed and those who are going to crash. -Old Saying
Yesterday I finally became the first type of cyclist. I was at the bottom of Little Tujunga during yesterday's ride and there is a part of the road that water sometimes flows over. I don't know why they don't route the water under the road but there you go. I approached it slowly, probably no more than 10 mph, no turning while I'm in the water, and bam! I went down. No time to get a foot out of the pedals. No rolling. Heck, I didn't even know what was going on until I was almost on the ground. Plus, if you've ever seen a part of the road that has had water flowing over it when it was dry, you know that the road is not smooth. Oh no, it has been worn down so it's nice and rough. Must have hit a patch of algae. I hopped up (don't know how my feet got unclipped) and walked around going "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow." I soon realized that I needed to get my bike and whatnot out of the road, so I did that. Noticed that my handlebars were now at a 45° angle to my front wheel. Then kept walking around going "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow." Nothing broken, clothes not ripped, leg a tiny bit scratched up, arm a bit ground up. Eww. Grabbed a water bottle and sprayed (sugar) water on my scraped up bits. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.
After walking the ouchies off, I took grabbed my multi-tool (you do take a multi-tool with you on your rides, don't you?) and straightened out my handlebars (brake handles, too). As I was putting the tool away, I heard "beep, thunk". I turned around and a motorcycle had done the same thing as me in the same place. Made me feel less stupid. He was okay because he had a leather jacket on, so he picked himself up and went on his merry way. After a few more minutes, I went on my merry way, too (where "merry" meant thirteen miles and way too much climbing).
Lessons learned:
- Glad I always ride with a multi-tool.
- Glad I put my iPhone in a metal case on rides. It got a little scratched up.
- Wearing gloves to protect your hands in a crash is a good idea. My left glove got scraped up good but not my left hand.
- If I have time to think in the future, try to rotate a bit so I go down on my back and not my arm. I always wear a base layer under my jersey for just that reason.
- Walk around going "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow" after getting my bike out of the road. Good thing that isn't a heavily travelled spot.
- Maybe I should take a gauze pad or two and some bandage with me. Good thing I wasn't dripping blood.
Life goes on. Today I did my planned nine mile run at my planned pace (under 10:00/mi). I am ready for Fresno in two weeks.
