So..........last race of the year (for me at least) @ Grattan last night. We had a great turn-out and the peloton was fairly shining w/ VCC jerseys - A-ron, Greg, Ross, Bull, Aaron and I were all flyin' the colors along side our MCC Brothas M2, C-Rad, Bob, Tom and Tator. It was a beatiful night and I was having a ball.
That's where today's lesson comes in. (Alas)
There was a new guy in the field............he was kinda squirrely, like first time riders tento be. I figure that's part of the deal and if I wanna avoid new riders I need to man up, ride faster and race in the "A" class, y'know? You see a guy like that, you make a "note to self" about keeping your distance and you deal w/ it.
But.............w/ 3 laps to go I notice that his handlebars were so loose in his stem that he was movin' his bars up nd down and back and forth as we blasted around the track at speeds of up to 30 mph.
"Sub-optimal" as my friends @ Seven Cycles might say.
So..........did I say anything to our errant hero? Did I put my "Elder Statesman" hat on over my helmet and politely-yet-firmly convince him to retire before he killed himself (or worse yet...me!)?
I did not.
I pussed out. I didn't want to be "that guy", y'know? I thought that we only had 2 laps to go, I was having fun, he was having fun...what the hell, right?
Wrong. WAY wrong. Custer was this wrong. The captain of the Titanic was this wrong. 'Cuz w/ one lap to go and the whole damn pack thundering down the mainstraight w/ a tailwind and the bit between our teeth Mr Loose Bars crashed his brains out and started the biggest pile-up I've seen for awhile. I thought I was gonna get out of it for a sec......I was on the brakes big time and was a-l-m-o-s-t stopped @ the edge of the carnage when 2-3 dudes piled into me from behind. When the dust settled I was all tangled up w/ Tom and his arm was pretty much crammed into and through my front wheel. (There's blood and chunks of his arm on the spokes.......it's cool and gross.)
Final tally - at least 3 ruined front wheels, including mine, The instigator's bike is totaled and the local med guys used a lotta gauze and tape. Coulda been worse............way worse. No one went to the E-room and bike parts can be replaced.
Still................next time it occurs to me to be "that guy"........you can bet that I will be!
Oh well.............now it's 'cross season! Can't wait!
Off to MT this tuesday for JDRF Ride #3 . I shipped my fixxie out there so I can ride in the mornings so I don't loose the fine-tuned edge that I have oh-so-carefully honed my fitness into. (We'll pause here for all my riding buddies to recover from their laughing fits. Okay now? All right then.)
Hard to believe that summer's almost gone. KW and I were talkin' about that very thing on the ride this morning. The older we get the faster time goes by. Is that gonna always be the case? Hell...at this rate 10 years from now a whole damn year will slip by while I'm shaving my legs!
That can't be good.
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