It Was a Good Day To be Alive Across the Top Tube.

There comes that time in every cyclist's life when more than rubber meets the road. It's a right of passage I suppose. Or, if you look at the Zen side of the experience, it's a clear pathway to inner enlightenment. Once again, Rick, you have beaten the odds my friend. And, the cat's nine lives are now down by three.

Such was my day yesterday when I tried to imitate a pro peloton racer fighting for position on the road, only to find myself eating pavement because of a front tire blowout at 28.6 miles per hour. In the elapsed time of only a few seconds I left a great deal of my DNA across two lanes of a busy roadway, destroyed my cycling shorts, and had the most surreal sensation that time was suspended as I moved through space across the ground.

So many different outcomes were possible and entered my mind as I was going down:

1. fractured pelvis
2. broken leg, ankle, arm, elbow, knee, ribs, or wrist
3. head trauma
4. shoulder separation
5. fractured collar bone
6. loss of teeth
7. being run over and killed by a passing car

Four hours in the ER and twenty-eight x-rays ruled out #1 through #6; and blind luck ruled out #7. 

Hadn't picked out the gravel yet.

That hurt! Thanks chip seal...NOT!!

What I did get was more road rash than is shown in these photos and a sobering realization that going to the well too often might lead to a dry bucket someday.

No one ever said life isn't full of risk.  It's about living....It's about riding the bike! LiveStrong, Ride Long