CRASH! Today's report

[sandra]

We were going along for our nice Saturday ride on the rails to trails when we had to stop at an intersection for cars. Across on the other side were two guys, serious cyclists, waiting to cross coming in our direction. Standing off to the right and working on a bike were a mom, dad and child.

After the traffic cleared, I put my feet on the pedals to pedal across and suddenly....WHAM!!! The bike was falling and I HAD to protect it. I crashed right in the path of the two guys. How embarrassing!!! They had to stop until I could jump up and get out of their way.

I'm not sure what happened. I think I had it in too high of a gear and when I went to pedal, it just didn't go and I somehow lost my balance. I could feel it happening, but as I pulled to get my feet out of my Power Grips, I couldn't get them out fast enough and I just pulled the bike further. I look like a 5 year old with a horrible skinned knee. It also knocked my brakes over to the inside, but I got them adjusted back.

DH almost had a wipe out himself on the say back. He was looking down fooling with something on his bike and rode off the shoulder and pulled it back pretty fast. I thought he was going to come over and take me out with him, but he managed to recover.

It was an exciting day of riding, and we are home and feeling refreshed now!

[SouthernBelle]

Sandra, I had to laugh. Most of us have something quite similar at least once. Me, more than once. It's funny as long as our medals aren't too bad.

[Mr. Bloom]

Yep... my first slow speed crash was in a new subdivision in front of a bunch of construction workers in line at a port-a-john... Not cool for a guy

[Bad JuJu]

Yikes--glad to hear you're both OK, well relatively anyway.

I once wasn't paying attention and the bike ran off the pavement--I couldn't get my feet out of the toeclips fast enough and ended up falling over in slow motion (like the tricycle guy in "Laugh-in" for those of you old enough to remember that LOL)--with many many witnesses, of course.

BUT, I had a great ride today! I had been having major back pain on my rides, had the shortest possible stem extension on my bike so couldn't do anything else there. I was at the end of my rope and considered trying a recumbent bike. I took one last pass at my LBS, and the guy suggested that I push the saddle forward, but be careful I don't end up messing up my KOP position. Long story short--it worked! Today I did 40 miles and ended up with no pain and energy to spare. My knees aren't complaining, so I guess I'm OK there. Little twinges in my shoulders but I think that's just getting accustomed to the new position. Ya-hoo!

[SouthernBelle]

Guess this is the ride report thread for today.

Headed out on my long Sat ride. Decided after the big evil hill last week, I would take on Microwave Hill, so named because it's the spot where radio & TV stations put their towers. I knew it is a longer hill, but overall not as steep. Did fine. Stopped after the steepest part to catch my breath, but that was my only stop. Nifty things on that road. The green, green grass of home; or rather the house that song bought. Three zebras in with some donkeys. The local castle.

Rode through the Glade and talked to 2 riders coming out of the General Store as I was going in. Ran into 2 more guys as I came out and rode with them for a while. Saw a car upside down in the road. Then the guys went straight as they were going to the Superspeedway and I was going left to Norene.

At the Norene turnoff, there is a garden at the corner with a big tree, a bench and some big rock. I took a chance that the owners wouldn't mind me stopping and having a snack in the shade. The lady drove up just as I was finishing up my clifbar. She stopped and it turned out that her son is a cyclist so I can stop there whenever I want.

Turned Left and headed to Statesville. Thru Statesville toward Watertown. Did walk a bit here as the hill was big and my feet and legs were getting unhappy.

Stopped in Watertown and got ice and water. Umm. Water good. Ice good.

Then wound around on the back roads towards home, including favorite descent, straight, steep and fast. Could be longer. I wanted to set a new PB there. As I topped off the climb, started shifting madly. As I hit speed, my bad hands crept to the brake levers for a sec. "No, bad hands!" Did slow me down though. Slid my butt back, used my knees to clamp on the top tube when I wasn't pedaling. Couldn't wait to download the ride to see what I did there.

42.7 mph. If I'd kept off the brakes, woulda been more. Bad, evil hands.

61.53 miles.

[stacie]

yesterday, a huge mastiff stuck his head out the window and gave the loudest WWWWOOOOOOFFFF as he passed. I almost wrecked into the curb. He was huge and really loud. I was really zoning out at the time so he completely caught me off guard. I realized that I was heading for the curb just in time. whew.

[Tuckervill]

I went to the beginner's ride at one of the LBS's. I'd last done this ride 3 weeks ago, and I've been putting on some miles since then, so I was ready to go faster and longer than I ever had.

They're all preparing for the Tour de Cure at the end of the month, so they decided to do the part of the route that was nearby--for 25 miles. Previously we'd only done about 20-22 miles, but I was up for it.

For some reason, about a mile out, I found myself out front, because I can coast really fast. I'm not about to slow down to stay in the back when I know coasting will get me up that hill yonder! So, I zoomed by everyone, knowing they'd catch me eventually. Well, this time, only one guy did! I stayed out front for abut 6 miles with him, keeping about a 14 mph pace, which is fast for me. Eventually we got to a long slight ascent and it ended up spitting me out the back, but that's okay. The scenery was gorgeous.

The ride leader (Max) hung back with me as we went on (I think he's GREAT). We were going up and down some rollers and mostly flattish. At about 12 miles I checked my average and it was 13 mph. Five miles later it was 13.5! Then we went down a long hill in the dappled shade on smooth pavement, and in the middle of the road there was a bump that I couldn't see. It was ramp shaped, going long down the hill. I caught AIR with both wheels! Holy cow it scared the bejeebers out of me! But, I didn't fall!

I don't know if the hard landing did something, but later in the ride I stopped being able to use the cogs at the top and bottom of the set. Each time I used the higher cogs on the middle ring the chain would try to jump around. :P Those were the gears I needed to keep up the pace! Max tried to fix it and it worked for a while, but then I ended up walking a hill because I couldn't shift. Then when I got off the bike to walk, my left ham started to cramp. Max worked on the bike again, and while we tried to catch up a little he let me draft off him and we were doing 22 mph! He kept leaving me behind, although we did catch up to the group.

But, for the last 5 miles I had but 3 gears--big, middle, small on the front rings. Everyone left me except the leader and another guy who always hangs in the back. At 2 miles to home he gave us a choice to go one way or another--it was known hills vs. unknown hills (Max knew them), so I had to ride a big hill with only 3 gears, two of which wouldn't have done me any good, lol. But, I did make it up without having to walk again.

Total miles for the day, 28--my longest ride in one sitting (I did 30 on the Katy Trail, but over 8 hours). Avg mph 13.5. I think it was a great day and a lot of the people were full of compliments on my improvement. It's nice when someone else notices, because I'm usually the only one who can tell.

I dropped off the bike at the new LBS for a total tune-up, so I hope that fixes it right up.

Karen

[sandra]

took one last pass at my LBS, and the guy suggested that I push the saddle forward, but be careful I don't end up messing up my KOP position.

What is KOP?

[Aquila]

I think it's Knee Over Pedal?

[Aggie_Ama]

What is KOP?

Knee over pedal? Most bike fitters measure this angle. Not all, but it is a popular method.

We did 50.23 miles today on a route we made up out of several we do all the time. Funny how combining roads differently makes them feel new again! I went to hard up a killer climb (headwind kept me from realizing how much my core temp was rising) and spent a several minutes on the ground pouring water on myself. There were two guys working on a fence looking at DH and me like a bunch of fools. I seriously thought my heart was trying to go through my throat!! My eyes starting tunneling (much like my occular migraines) and my hearing sounded like I was under water. It was scary!! I got my temp down and everything got back to normal. Needless to say I didn't have as much energy as I would have liked for the back 40 miles.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Sandra,
As you know, I use Powergrip straps too. My tip for you in this instance is this- From a stop at an intersection, when I am ready to go, I put ONE foot in my strap and push off on that foot and I just put my other foot any old way on the other pedal and get going. Once I am PAST the intersection and UP TO SPEED, I then flip the other pedal over and put my second foot in the strap. I don't put my second foot in the straps until I am cruising along with no more interference.
Also. I don't take both feet out of the straps when I stop. I take out the foot that's going to step down on the ground and I then lift off the saddle and forward onto that foot that's planting on the ground, while braking, all in one motion. That way, there is no way I am caught still in the saddle and able to tip over when I am stopped. By the time I am stopping I am already forward off the saddle with my foot coming down onto the ground.

[invsblwmn]

Yesterday when I was riding through a construction zone cattle shoot in a 25mph zone, going 26mph, a lady in a car zoomed up next to me, slowed and shouted "YOU'RE RIDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD!" I had to respond, "YOU'RE SPEEDING IN A CONSTRUCTION ZONE!" She had to stop at a red light, rolled up her window and in my ignorant mood I passed her and pulled in front of her and waited for the light to change.
When it turned green, I took off in the middle of the lane and was right behind a big truck going 25mph. The lady was right on my butt, I deserved it.

Well, I hit a bad crack in the road, I heard a LOUD BANG and my back tire was wobbling like crazy and locked up. I pulled to a median, looked at my tires, and they were both fine. BUT my salad and granola that WERE bungeed to my rack were missing along with the bungee.

The bungee was wrapped in the chain and drive train of my bike. The salad and granola were being windshield wipered off the lady's windshield who had been riding on my tail. I cut the bungee out of my chain and laughed the rest of the way to work. Lucky day, maybe anger management is a good idea?