Down Goes Frazier!

First bike ride of the year today. What a beautiful day--it's up to 75 degrees already. Not bad for April 1. We've had spring break week at my high school, so I've been off all week. Although we still had track practice in the mornings. However, it's much easier to get up knowing all you have to do is conduct practice and then not have to worry about teaching for the rest of the day.

So Ben, Beth, and I set out on our 2+ hour ride. Both of them have ridden outside a couple of times already, but I figured I'd tag along anyway and hope to keep up.....easier said than done with those two. Our route had a handful of stoplights which played in to my favor as they would be stopped at a light and I'd be able to catch up. Plus, if they got through and I didn't, they would be nice enough to wait for me.

As we're coming home on Freeport Road through Aspinwall, I get my bottle and drink a little bit of Gatorade. Next thing I know, the stoplight turns red ahead of us and I've got the bottle in my right hand. I try to balance myself while holding the bottle, but need to slow down at the same time. I squeeze the left brake (front wheel) and forgot (again first time out on the roads since October) that it's a *little* more sensitive than the back brake. Next thing I know, I'm going up and over the handlebars and down. (Cue the audio clip- "Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!)

My first 'wreck' unless you count my tipping over at lights and stop signs my first few times out because I couldn't unclip in a timely manner. Fortunately, I was coasting to a stop and probably only going about 10mph at the time. Definitely could have been A LOT worse. As evidenced below, the left forearm and right knee took the brunt of the impact. Just brush burns and a little bump on the knee. I told Beth I felt like I just finished a softball game and did some sliding on the basepaths. Nothing worse than that.

Actually, the bike probably ended up with the worst of it. As you can see, the left gearshift paddle snapped off. Beth saw it laying on the side of the road and we picked it up, so I'm going to see if superglue and some engineering and support can provide a temporary solution. Fortunately, it's the front gears by the pedals instead of the back gears, so I don't use it as often during the ride (especially on flatter rides). I was able to still use it and shift, but it's tougher to shift that little nub--the whole Torque = Force x Moment Arm physics stuff. The handlebars got a little knocked out of place, too. Nothing a little hex wrench couldn't adjust to get me home.

Finally, as I was 'documenting' my bumps and bruises, Roxy felt like she needed to get some attention and posed for a picture. Silly dog.

Off to get cleaned up and some other stuff done today. Have a great Easter weekend!