Thursday, October 30, 2008

crash!

(by steve a.)

So I meant to write something up about Fridays ride or really crash.
The ride was fantastic up to that point, 16 riders from Ritual and
another 3 from Martha's.  I think another rider got picked up along
the road.  Anyhow it was an amazing day with the sun rising once we
were on the road tho I am sad to say the fixed gear ridership was very
under represented.

Anyhow the carnage all happened on the final right turn on Haven Ave.
in Menlo Park, just before the Bayfront Expressway/Marsh Rd.
intersection.  Andrew was in front, I was second and Yuko was third
around the corner.  Andrew was probably 1-2 bike lengths ahead of me,
I think Yuko was right behind me and according to my GPS we were doing
something like 19-20MPH.  I had just grabbed my water out of the cage
thinking it was my last chance to hydrate before the inevitable sprint
on the bike path ahead.  Right as I got the bottle to my lips I saw
Andrew slide out.  I tried to maneuver to the left around Andrew,
unfortunately being a little bit off balance with the raised bottle
and 1 hand on the bars I couldn't really do much.  Andy's sliding bike
and my wheel intersected and next thing I knew I felt my helmet slam
the ground and I remember sliding to a stop.  Then sometime in there
was some more commotion and Yuko joined our mess.  I think Michael and
Eric rolled up right after that.

Everyone pulled over to the side of the road to assess injuries and
Yuko pretty quickly figured out she was in bad shape.

Gallery of my gruesome parts here:  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067114&l=0ed96&id=11612915
you probably don't want to click that.

End result is hopefully just sitting out a few days of riding, new
helmet, new brake lever, new leg warmers, possibly a new seat and new
rear wheel.  BTW:  if you have a Giro helmet crash replacements are
available at a 30% discount from the manufacturer, I think they prefer
it be less than a year old.  I'll find out for sure tomorrow when I
call.

ride safe!

-s

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