However, my fortunes shifted in the afternoon when after getting my hair trimmed and styled I began the return trip to the office by hopping on my egg-beater-equipped Rampar and heading out of the parking lot. Coming to a stop just behind an SUV that was leaving the parking lot, I realized that I had stopped without disengaging from the pedals. A second or two later I was writhing on the ground with a freshly scraped elbow.
One bright spot was that a concerned man behind me came and gave me a hand up. The kindness was really appreciated.
Thinking one good, painful spill was going to be enough to enact a Pavlovian caution response, you can imagine my surprise when not 30 minutes later I crashed again!
Perhaps I shouldn't blame Pavlov, since the basis of my second crash was arguably an excess of misplaced caution.
See, I decided for the short trip from building 1 to building 3, that I didn't even need to engage the pedals (elbow still throbbing a bit), which I didn't.
But my mind was a little distracted with smugness as I quickly caught and then passed others that were going to the same meeting I was heading for. And, as I shifted my weight to dismount, and my bike started tipping left, my cleat suddenly engaged in the pedal and Whomp! My second crash in about 30 minutes' time.
I was able to look up in time to see my coworker looking down on me looking smug that he wasn't foolhardy enough to ride a bike to meetings.
I got back on the horse, but not without wondering how many times I could get on that particular horse before I should begin questioning my sanity.
8 comments :
The bigger they are, the harder they fall, hee hee. Watch out!
So I've noticed. Luckily all the biking I've been doing has helped me drop a few pounds. Whew!
Your new coif was donned by a helmet, no?
Sorry to hear of the spills, I often wonder what non-intuitive thinker clips a person to anything, evidently it's all about commitment!
I plead the fifth.
Protection that would have been useful in these incidents includes elbow and knee-pads.
I did everything in my power to get you here safely please do everything in your power to insure your continued safety.
But of course.
I took one full on spill and one half spill (kind of caught myself in a really awkward slow motion, half-crouched way) when I first started using my eggbeaters. It becomes second nature after a while - the pedals, not the crashing :-)
I also found a very noticeable improvement in efficiency with my eggbeaters. I particular notice it when climbing and descending hills for speed. On the flats I really don't notice it, but I also don't sprint on the flats which I think would change things.
Tom.
You've got three more crashes to go before you catch up to me.
I did my first three crashes in private, before going out into public. Maybe I needed the public embarassment to learn effectively.
Long, neoprene biking pants helped to cushion one fall. I didn't even scrape my knee that time.
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