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Another fall? You gotta be kidding

11.14.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 12 Comments

Raced home after work this afternoon to get in a ride before dark.  We have a cold front coming through tonight, and this might be the last warm weather ride I’ll have for awhile.

Did the usual run to the Veloway.  It’s an easy way to get in a quick 15, or 18, or 21 miles, depending upon how much time is available.  I’ve been bad this week — haven’t ridden since last Saturday.  I was looking forward to a few brisk laps around the course.

The Veloway is mostly flat.  But on the back side, about halfway around, there’s a short, but steep hill.  I hit the bottom of the hill at about 20 mph, and did a quick downshift to spin up the grade.

hillThe camera always flattens hills.  This one is much steeper than it looks.  I crashed near the top, on the left.

I must have shifted down more than one gear.  The pedals started spinning fast and free.  My right foot unclipped from the pedal, which caused the bike to lean left.  I lost control.  The front wheel went off the left side of the track, onto a sloping gutter.  No way to recover.

The scrape on my shin stings, but that's about it.
I'll be nursing a large scrape on my shin.

The bike went over on its left side.  I managed to stay almost upright, except that my right leg scraped across the front derailleur, and my left hand scraped the rocks along the track.  Otherwise, no endo — no major bruises.

I got the bike up and pushed it across the track, out of the way of any other riders who might be behind me.  A quick damage assessment found the handlebars knocked askew, and my nice bar tape was scuffed down to the bare metal — but not where my hand contacts it.

Once I straightened the bars and checked myself over, it seemed things weren’t too bad.  I hopped back on and finished a 15-mile trip (The crash happened just over four miles into the ride).  The bike rode fine.

I still can’t believe I lost it on this easy hill.  I’ve ridden the thing hundreds of times — and that’s just this year.  It just shows to go ya — you can never take things for granted.

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Categories // crash Tags // crash, pedal, Veloway

Club Tombay

07.04.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 9 Comments

Regular readers of Bike Forums will know what I’m getting at here. I joined Club Tombay on my ride today — that is, I had a clipless fall.

Tomber is the French word for “to fall.” It is pronounced, of course, tohm-BAY. We Americans corrupt it into TOM-bay.

Anyhow, I was having a great Fourth of July ride. Pat and I started off together, but after one loop of the Veloway, she decided to head for home. I kept going, and figured I’d do about 25 miles or so.

I had just turned onto a street that leads through a residential area. It’s a hilly street, and although it’s a thorofare, it is lightly traveled. At the top of a challenging hill is a cross street with a stop sign. There were cars at the intersection, and I slowed to stop.

For some reason, I lost all my concentration. I usually disengage the pedal well before a stop, but this time I stayed clipped in while I downshifted one more time. I was slowed to a creep. The bike drifted toward the curb. I turned the front wheel slightly to the right, to maintain my balance. It hit the curb, and slid along it for a few feet while I felt the familiar, sinking feeling of going down and not being able to do anything about it.

No damage done, except to my pride and self-esteem. The driver of the car that had pulled up next to me at the stop sign looked at me like I was some kind of alien from another planet. The bar tape on the end of the right handlebar was scuffed, and the bar end button had come off. I picked it up to replace it, but dropped it, and it bounced around in the gutter before rolling into the middle of the street. Now, the remaining two cars in the intersection could watch me as I nearly fell over the bike in the other direction while grabbing at the plastic button. I finally got it, and pretended to be an expert bike mechanic while I replaced it in front of my small audience.

I got right back up on the horse, and bent it to my will as I finished my ride. Even did an extra mile and a half, just to show it who is its Lord and Master. I suppose there will be more of these, but I prefer them when they happen in my driveway, out of the glare of the public eye.

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Categories // Rides, Technique Tags // clipless fall, pedal, tombay

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