Long story short... I decided to have some fun with the nickname and morph the name into my new blog name "the peanut gallery", along with a fitting photo.
I wasn't planning on keeping the blog going after we returned from Worlds, but once I realized how many hits we got on the blog (in excess of 3000!) and the great feedback we received from all of you, I've decided to keep it going.... unless of course, I get bombarded with spam hate emails... then I'm turning the damned thing off in a second! My momma didn't raise no fool.
So here's how it will work... Each week I, or perhaps a secret guest (maybe even Big Pit) will post an entry.
My goal is to accomplish a few simple things:
* Keep you updated on anything interesting that may be going on here at the Shop, or with either the Blue Steel Tri or Cross Teams.
* Make the topics relevant to our world of cycling.... I may weave around a bit before getting to the cycling related topic, but I will eventually get there... so have faith.
* Some of the topics may be "dry" and in today's case a bit serious.... So in my own goof ball way, I will try to entertain you... my ultimate goal is for you to get a message a "something", out of every blog... or not... Your choice.
* I want you to come back every week to visit our humble little blog ... so the hope is never to offend, turn you off by sounding overly opinionated, offensive, etc. If I do... Let me apologize in advance. It is by no means intentional.
* I am no expert on any subject and never will be, so I will ask you forgiveness now. With that said, I'll do my best to provide you with as much factual info as I can (along with my sources)... and if I'm totally winging it... I'll let you know. Read the blogs, roll with them and have some fun with me... I admit, I have a not so normal sense of humor... my mother has gotten use to it and still loves me. In time you might get use to it as well and hopefully... you may also find, that like my mom... you love me too. :).
* If there is a cycling related topic you would like me to explore and write about... send me a email at info@bluesteelcyclery.com, be sure to put Peanut Gallery in the Subject Line, and I would be happy to check it out and do a blog on it.
So... on to the subject of today's blog... but first, comes the weaving around part:
As as rider and racer, if it in fact becomes a part of our life... we must accept the risk that accompanies the sport of riding a bike.
I can't speak for you guys... so I'll only speak for myself on this point. The risk I accept as a rider and a racer is simple. I understand that when I race (and ride), it's much like running with scissors... it's only a matter of time before someone falls and gets hurt.
The same goes for group training rides... the larger the group, the greater the risk. I try to find the steadiest wheel in the group and when I'm on the wheel of a rider who's squiggling around, it's all I can do not to break out into a string of obscenities... I have various names for erratic riders... squirrels, rabbits, brake checkers, those are the names suitable for printing... I have a million that can't go into print. I make a point to avoid the rider with any of these traits and avoid them like the proverbial plague in a group ride.
It goes without saying, that I also know that there's a risk of getting hit by that random UPS truck, the car that blows the light, someone texting... etc. I have accepted all of this... this is part of the risk pool that becomes part of my world every time I roll out the door on my bike... this is part of what I have willingly signed up for. I am not happy about it... but I understand it and accept it.
I also keep in mind I am made of flesh and bone and the car is made of steel... Although I know I have the right to be on the road, I am not the person who insists on getting my fair share of the lane at the expense of trading in my life for my right. With regards to the road, I take only what I need... Aside from a few tiny flair ups, the traffic and I have been doing pretty well together.
So... now that I've covered off some of generic bike accident categories, now I'm going to move into the topic of today's blog which is the freak accident... which is a totally different ball of wax.
The freak accident is similar but different... the resulting damage can be the same....but I think that's where the two start to separate... because in many cases the cause of the freak accident is somewhat unexplainable (at times)... it often feels really random in some really weird way, and it also does something very different to your "phyche".... what it does to you mentally (I have found) is just as damaging as the accident itself...
Wikipedia defines a freak accident as
"An accident or mishap is an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance, often with lack of intention or necessity. It implies a generally negative outcome which may have been avoided or prevented had circumstances leading up to the accident been recognized, and acted upon, prior to its occurrence"
Before I get into what happened to me a week ago... I'm going to tell you a non bike related freak accident (true story), that happened to me several years ago... just purely for entertainment purposes.
I swear you can't make this stuff up... real life serves up better stuff to write about than you could possible make up!
So, here's the story.
It was about 25 years ago, I had just moved to New England...I wasn't earning much money and it was the dead of winter (actually the week before Christmas), I decided to buy a used 4x4 Jeep. A 10 year old 4door Jeep that I spotted in the paper for $3500. that I decided to take to a 2bit garage and have checked out, so I didn't get ripped off. $150 bucks later, they told me it was fine, (in hindsight, that was probably my first mistake). So... I went ahead and bought it.
Fast forward to Christmas Eve... Eddie (my Jack Russel Terrier) was snoozing on the passenger seat of my newly acquired, old jeep while I am heading down a snow covered Mass Pike, driving to my parents house for the holiday weekend.
About a hour into the ride I could hear a weird sound coming from the back of the SUV... so I slow down a bit and the sound seems to go away.... so I speed up and the sound comes back, so I slow down and it goes away... so I roll down the window (no power windows) and the noise is more pronounced... hmmmm..... All the while I'm sitting in the middle lane of the Pike. Up goes the window... the brain is a wonderful thing but sometimes I find, it simply fails to connect the dots!
All of a sudden, the noise comes back and now it's louder... and then the weirdest thing happens... I'm sitting there driving and guess what goes whipping by the drivers door???? A wheel!!!! Nope, not a hub cap, not a tire, a entire wheel!!! I'm sitting in the Jeep watching this wheel pass right by the driver's window! And the more ridiculous thing is that I'm thinking.... WOW, some poor sucker just lost their wheel!!!!!
Then... after a pregnant pause... it occurred to me.... HOLY CRAP THAT'S MY WHEEL!!!
At that moment, the jeep... MY JEEP, which was balancing on 3 wheels, dropped onto the rear axle and starts to skid, Eddie.. erupted from the passenger seat in a panic and wrapped herself around my face... just like in the movie Alien. So not only was the Jeep skidding sideways on 3 wheels, I was blinded by my alien dog who has turned into a furry little facemask.
This is not Eddie... but this is how she was wrapped around my head. Tough to see when your dog is attached to your face in this fashion!
Once I disengaged Eddie, my alien dog from my face I realized that unless I wanted to die along with my furry little frightened alien like pet, I better come up with a plan that involved getting this bucket of bolts stopped, pronto and I decided my only option was to put the jeep into the first snow bank I could find, so that's exactly what I did.
How I avoided hitting any other cars, flipping the car, or hitting a bridge abutment I have no clue... but after the accident, even though the Jeep was fine (minus the missing wheel). I sold it for $3600 (yup, I made $100 bulks). I never wanted to see it again. I decided it was jinxed. Plus, Eddie refused to get near it.
So... on to the real purpose of today's blog.... Finally!!!
Last Saturday I rolled out the door planning on a 2 hour training ride. A month after Worlds and I was ready to start training again. Nothing serious, just ready to start getting some base miles in place.
The temps were hovering in the mid 30s so I was wearing your typical winter gear...
Base Layer
Tights
Booties
Vest
Jacket
Skull Cap
Gloves
The road I do lots of base miles often starts on RT 114... it is a 50 mph 2 lane road, that people typically drive at 60 mph. The reason I pick this road to train on is for several reasons... the sun shines on it most of the day, so the chance of ice is minimal, it has a wide shoulder, lots of riders train on it and the locals have gotten use to seeing many of us train on these roads, so unless it's a tourist, people are use to riders.
I have to admit, my personal radar was off... I was just rolling down the road, zoning out.... Watching my HR monitor, thinking about nothing... thinking about everything... that's when it happened...
I didn't realize what happened at the time, it actually took the entire day for me to piece together what took place that day. The brain is like a computer, it collects and remembers everything but at the time of a crisis it seems to shut down and only allows what it taking place to override everything. So I will play back how it happened and then explain what happened.
The first indication that something was going wrong was I felt my right foot started to clip out of the pedal, I looked down and saw that it was partially unclipped but something was stopping it from releasing. Before I could figure out what was going on with the pedal... The bike gave a jerk to the left and at the same time, whatever was going on with the pedal was now causing may ankle to roll off the pedals and under the crank... As my ankle is rolling all I can feel is blinding pain... I no longer focused on steering the bike, all I know is the the ankle is now completely pinned under the crank and the force of the torque of traveling at 20mph had without my knowledge taken me from the break down lane to the center of RT114. I was a sitting duck if a car came... By the grace of God I hadn't been hit yet.
I found myself straddling the bike in the middle of RT114 unable to move for about 20 seconds. All I could do was will myself not to puke. I wasn't sure the ankle wasn't broken... I knew it was damaged... I just wasn't sure how bad...
This was taken after I got home
This was taken a week later
So, after piecing everything together... here's what happened. Somehow, the bootie I was wearing got pierced by the chainring. Once that happened, the shoe released from the pedal but it couldn't fully disengage and the foot continue to rotate with the crank, rolled under the pedal and then with the leverage of my body weight started to serve as torque on the bike... as the bike started to go down, I started to counter steer to fight the crash. That could have cost me my life if a car was coming by... fighting the bike actually bucked the bike from the bike lane into the active lane of traffic.
I am very, very lucky. Had a car been coming by when I veered into traffic, there would have been no way for them to have avoided me and it wouldn't have been their fault.
I went and saw the doc and got very good news, the foot is in remarkably good shape. The damage was limited to small tears and I'm already back on the bike doing some easy rides and as the ankle heals I will slowly add miles and effort.
In dissecting what I could have done to avoid the freak accident... the only think I could conclude is perhaps the booties were too big. I do know I will toss the booties and buy a new pair. Even though they are in good shape, I will not risk a repeat performance. As I mentioned earlier... My momma didn't raise a fool. Plus... I will admit, I had the hell scared out of me.
So... what is my message to you?
Learn from my mistake. Next time you jump on your bike, check your winter riding gear in respect to your bike and make sure everything is where it should be and things aren't making contact where they shouldn't and if things look a bit close... stop and make the adjustment, before the adjustment is made for you.
Winter riding is a good thing. But when we gear up for cold weather rides, by adding layers of cloths, that translates into tighter tolerances and clearances on our bike. Be aware of flapping clothing. Keep in mind when you stuff your gloves in your pockets, make sure they are in all the way... a dangling sleeve that flips into a rear wheel can make for a ugly freak accident.
Safe riding!!
Talk to ya soon!
