Firstly, August saw my 2nd anniversary of my "bicycle rediscovery". Yay! Two years ago I would never have thought I would still be riding a bike, but here I am today; fitter than I have been in years and considerably smaller than I was this time in 2009.
Secondly, there was the horrid coach incidence, where I ploughed into the side of a large coach which pulled out in front of me on a roundabout.
Then there was Mikeys birthday... hehehe, as always birthdays are super! Not much riding was done but it was great fun nonetheless.
Unfortunately, then there was another accident! I can't believe that after two years pretty much without any, I have two significant ones within a few weeks of each other. I fell off my bike.... my first fall EVER! So what happened? I'll give you two clues... new cleats and new pedals!
It was my first ride on Ted for a while. He had new pedals at Christmas and hasn't been ridden much since, so the pedals are still tight. It wasn't so much of a problem with my old Spesh Tahoes as the cleats were well worn in. Unfortunately, the new cleats in my shiney new Shimano shoes made a lethal combination.Thankfully Augusts rollercoaster, finished on a high note, as we had fellow blogger Trio25 and Ali come to stay, which was brilliant and very fun-filled (post to follow).
I hadn't really noticed any difference for the first 5miles as I rarely had to unclip. So when I had to come to an abrupt hault - which is a long story that involves a tractor, a car and a transit van on a tight country lane all coming from different directions and trying unsuccessfully to get past each other at the tiniest T Junction - I wasn't prepared for what happened.
I couldn't unclip! The road I was trying to stop on was a slight downhill and I needed to take a tight left turn onto a narrow uphill lane. I was desperately trying to unclip, brake and turn, but instead I just started falling (leftwards). Eek! There were large rocks I needed to avoid landing on and more importantly rocks that I needed to stop Ted hitting!
As I hit the ground I was mortified. The driver and passenger in the car were looking. The tractor driver was watching. (They were all still at a standstill - a stalemate as no one was prepared to move.) I tried to force a smile to let them know I was OK, but found they were laughing. Mikey, who was in front had now turned to look at me (he'd heard my loud cursing and stopped to check I was OK). He was looking at me in amazement -obvioulsy impressed at how gracefully I'd fallen. He thought I had managed to save myself from injury but soon realised from my eyes that I was in pain.
My arm was in agony. My left wrist had taken all my weight on landing and had twisted in the process, leaving my whole arm in excruciating pain. I wanted to cry but instead I tried hopping back on the bike. Ouch! My left wrist hurt and couldn't take any weight on the bars. We were about 5 miles from home and there was no simple way back. I wasn't sure I could ride it, but on these tight narrow country lanes it wouldn't have been safe to walk either. I had to grin and bear it. I rode the last 5 miles home unclipped from my pedals (as I was too petrified to clip back in) and only able to steer with my right arm and unable to use my back brake. It was a tad scary but somehow I made it!
I guess that it was inevitable that one-day I would have a SPD related accident... I'm just grateful that its taken nearly a year before I had mine otherwise I may have been put off them. ;-)
AUGUST STATS:
Longest ride 27.2miles (On Paddy the road bike)
Shortest ride 3.3miles (To the Chippy on Basil my trusty shopper)
Bike Totals;
Cyclocross: 11.6miles
Road: 225.6miles (of which 26.3miles, I wish I'd been on my Cross Bike)
Hybrid/Shopper: 3.3miles
Mountain Bike: 0miles :(
Total Mileage: 240.5miles.
2 comments:
I wonder whose fault the 26miles you wished you were on a road bike were ;-)
Hehehe... My own obviously. Can't blame anyone but myself for my bad decision. ;)
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