Well......now that Dutch has gone and had a serious prang, he has stolen my
thunder but here goes anyway.......
Was riding to work this morning on the mtb (27 spd, not SS) and was riding
along the Yarra Trail. I was only a couple of k's from home and I was
getting hot (was warmer than I expected this morning) and so I stopped to
take off my lycra leg warmers. As I was putting them in my bag, a guy went
past (he was wearing a jersey with a cactus on the back) so of course once I
was back on the bike I gave chase.
He was moving pretty well but I was gaining on him and as I came up to a
left hand bend in the track (opposite the ovals at Heidelberg near where
they are filming Charlotte's Web) I was doing just above 30 km/h and all of
a sudden there was a female pedestrian about 10m or so before the corner. I
had to change my line and moved into the centre of the track where all the
loose gravel is. Of course I didn't slow down any (remember, I was chasing
this guy) and then the front wheel started sliding. I almost managed to
regain it but next thing I knew I was in the grass about 3m away from the
path on the outside of the corner.
This is when I said what Dutchy said "f$%#&*" a number of times. I had a
pretty bad graze on my left knee, my right hip was sore, and my left elbow
was grazed too. After the obligatory walking around in circles really
quickly and rubbing the affected areas (don't know why I do it but I do it
every time??) I checked on the bike (hoping like hell that my relatively new
LX hydro discs were OK) and discovered that apart from a scuff on left end
of the handlebar and a scratch on the top tube (where bars hit it),
everything was OK......wooot.
I got back on the bike and rode the remaining 19km or so to work and didn't
feel too bad. Had a shower to wash off all the blood that had gone from my
knee down to my socks (luckily I had the black ones on!!) then went to the
medical centre and insisted that they scrub the grazes with one of those
betadine scrubbing brushes (I aint no sooky la la!!). I once again quoted
Dutchy a couple of times (very stingy) and then got bandaged up for the day
at work. Started getting pretty sore towards the end of the day but after
riding home, showering, and replacing the dressings, they were a bit better.
Although the one on my knee is the deepest (there is a bit of a hole in the
middle of it), the one on my hip hurts the most. I had on a pair of fairly
heavy weight, canvas like bike shorts (Oakley) and somehow they weren't
ripped, but my skin underneath was???
I have been looking on the positive side of things though......
1. Skin grows back,
2. Bike is OK,
3. I took the almost new UNO leg warmers off just before the stack and so
they are not ruined and I don't have to fork out $$ for new ones (see point
1).
4. I am in better shape than Dutchy.
5. Oakley shorts don't have a hole in them.
But seriously.....hope you heal fast Dutch and make the most of the
narcotics while you can. I will dedicate the first 10km of tomorrow's
commute to ya!!
Ride On,
Gags