I almost chickened out this morning. The pavement was really wet, and I couldn't tell if it was condensation or rain. The air was foggy, bordering on mist but I couldn't actually feel water droplets when I was stopped. It's the kind of morning where your bike and your eyebrows accumulate moisture straight out of the air. I'm glad I opted to ride in, but the humidity was overbearing. I still think I may have been better off with flippers and a scuba tank than a bicycle and backpack.
John in Calgary, Jason, and Dave: You guys seriously rock! I've got most of my commuting essentials back, and The Twelve seems to be holding up well despite my attempt this morning to test it's resilience. That brings me to the headline:
I did go to the same-old coffee shop this morning, and I locked my bike (and Lorin's as well) to a place that's agreeable to security AND still in eyeshot. I suppose that's the best I can do for now. On my way to work, I took the shortcut through one of the two-level parking garages in town. This one has a 3-inch "lip" going into it, where the asphalt has sunken down but the concrete going into the garage has remained at its designed height. Usually, I take it really slow, pop the front wheel up, then pop the rear wheel up and I never even touch the lip. Today, I was going too slow or hopped too early. Whichever it was, the result was the same.
Ready to lift the rear wheel by tucking my legs and pulling up on the clipless pedals, my handlebars were loaded. The front tire hit the lip (at less than 2 miles per hour) and then the inevitable happened. My front wheel acted as a perfect fulcrum. My bike was the lever, and I was the load. It was such a slow endo that I got unclipped and caught myself on my hands. Chuckling, I got up and realized a few people saw me take the spill as they were smoking in their cars before trudging into work. I'm sure they'll have something to talk about in the office today. None of them were direct cow-orkers of mine, fortunately. No harm done to me nor The Twelve except for what I assume will be a bruise above my left knee where I hit the handlebar.
These mild days are the kind of thing I'd expect from Late September. I'm really hoping this isn't a harbinger of a really harsh winter.
Random Tunage:
Ecano - Run
Lisa Loeb - How
Thursday, August 21, 2008
An endo with an audience
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6 comments:
You're welcome, Noah. Glad I could help. :)
Too bad about the endo, but glad you're OK. I wonder the same thing about the weather... it's very mild and cool for this early in the year.
You never would have gone over if an audience wasn't present. Funny how that happens...
Yeah, it was embarrassing but kind of fun, actually. It was pretty much the exact same kind of endo I've become accustomed to on my mountain bike. You know... try to hop a root or get over some rocky section and the front wheel just lodges? It was exactly like that, but with witnesses smoking cigarettes.
Glad to hear you and the bike made it through unscathed.
Yeah, that's the kind of thing you expect when mountain biking but usually you can find a softer spot to land, in that case! I'm glad you're ok.
I should have wimped out that morning... new slick tires + wet asphalt = splat on the first right hand turn. Banged my shoulder up pretty good, now I'm out for a little while. Live and learn... glad things went well for you, and I'm glad to hear your new setup is working out. I keep scanning bike racks and craigslist for a red diamond back, though.
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