Well, that’s the story: Last night, I fell – Today, I fell.
I was on my way home from work last night, taking the route that the lil race is planning to take (Route). The route takes me on South Shore Rd which curves and runs over Lake Oswego. South Shore is a little two-lane road with no bike lane going west (up the hill) and a 6″ shoulder before big gravel on the side. I was just about to begin the climb up South Shore when the 6″ shoulder become a 2″ shoulder and my front tire slipped off a 5″ drop onto the gravel.
My bike flipped up into the air and I landed, half clipped-in, on my right side. I got some nice looking raspberries on my right elbow and right shoulder. A little side-of-the-road maintenance and I was up and running. I made it up the hill in ten minutes which seemed like very good timing. All was okay.
Today, on my way to work, I felt really good. I was zooming down McVey, almost hitting 40mph in a very very light drizzle. It was refreshing to ride in the mist, although fenders would be nice. I hung a left carefully on to Hwy 43 and climbed up to Wilbur St while staying above 16mph. I reached the top of the mini climb and felt good; I had a lot of legs left. I started the small descent, passing cars who had to stop behind other cars (always a good feeling).
Ahead of me about 6 cars was a huge cement truck so I slowed down and, thinking rationally, pulled off to the side because I didn’t want to have to try and squeeze along the side. I waiting for traffic to pass and continued on. There’s a set of train tracks that I have to cross. They cross Hwy 43 right before the big intersection w/ A Ave in Lake Oswego. The tracks intersect the road at a 60-degree angle which is what did me in today.
I rode into the street, looked behind me to see no cars within a quarter mile and merged into the left-most lane to hang a left onto A Ave. I started a light sprint and hit the tracks and slipped. I hit my shoulder and my left cheek. I stumbled up and the car was now alongside me asking if I was alright… I felt dizzy and low on breath. I hobbled onto the median and stood there until I got some of my bearing back.
Two days in a row and I remember how mortal I am. I am no Greek god, I am no angel, and I am not surrounded by some mystical forcefield. I am a human being and I can die if everything lines up that way. I’m lucky that all I have is a headache and some impressive bruise/road-rash combination battle wounds. Even tho my falls were nothing horrible, they could have been. I’m still alive and well. I can still ride my bicycle (although I think it needs a check-up now) and I have 3 days off from work and am well enough to go about life as usual.
I can heal but the bike (and my Peet’s Jersey, which got ripped) cannot… I cleaned up the bike, rotated the tires and gave the bike some general TLC tonight. I plan to ride around a bit tomorrow to make sure everything is alright with it… I hope so! The F600 will most likely get some saddle-time tomorrow as well as it has been damp and/or rainy. I bought SKS fenders for the Poprad but they may need some custom modifications to get them to work how I want them to.
Lastly, here are my stats from last month…
- 34:25’46″ moving along in the saddle (1:06’38″ per day)
- 500.79mi traveled (16.15mi per day)
- 14.91mph average speed
- 44.3mph max speed
- 24,820kcal burned (800 per day)
- 58,188ft of climbing (1,877ft per day)
Comparing June vs. July
- 9:30’32″ more saddle time in July
- 180.91mi more traveled
- 1.86mph faster average speed
- 6.7mph faster maximum speed
- 11,422 more calories burned
- 20,750ft more of climbing
