1. Bike crash
Last Wednesday I rode to work in the morning for the first time in two weeks. As I had been trying to get over some sort of cold or flu that kept coming back after a few weeks of feeling better. The difference now was that I had some new Michelin “all Terrain” tyres. Whereas before I had road tyres, that didn’t give much grip off road. The one thing that I was amazed by was how much better suspension the tyres gave me because of their bigger thickness.
So come the afternoon ride home, I am quite eager to get a good ride in and try and get back into form. Trevor and I decide to ride into town and then head down a road that takes us out to the old highway, which comes back into town. There is a lot of climbing and off road going this way. As we ride home we get to a climb on the Highlands highway which lasts for around 1-2 km’s. As we ride up we pass four PMV’s, over taking the fourth one off road. Briefly saying hello as I ride pass them. I love over taking slower vehicles, especially flying downhill, it is quite funny.
2. New tyres from Aus, cheap cheap
As we get to the top of the climb, it starts raining quite heavily. It is quite cold rain and being cold and heavy hurts a little. It is hard to see, so we decide to ride the short way home through town. As I ride past the market I am doing about 25km/h. I start to back off a little for warming down. The road is really wet, with water building up around the road. As I approach the second last corner, almost home, I realise I am going a little too quick for the corner. As I think about braking, I worry that I could lose the back end (which would of been a better option). So I decide to cut the corner sharply and run wide, which I have done plenty of times. But not in the wet. As I start to enter the turn, a Land cruiser is approaching. So I have to take the turn even more sharply. As I lean and turn into the corner, my front wheel skids and slips from underneath me. Before I know it, I am down on the road. It all happened so quickly, all I remember is putting out my hand. Before evening realising what had happened I jumped back up off the road. Realising what had happened I looked behind me and grab my bike which is 2m behind me. So I went over the handle bars. And I quickly got off the road. There were quite a few witnesses around despite the rain, to their amazement. I don’t think they have ever seen a white man fall off a bike before, let alone someone.
The pain and stiffness really starts to hit me and what has happened. I had totally forgotten that I had lost handling on tarmac surfaces with these new tyres. The tarmac is not your nice smooth little graze friction burn stuff. It is the jaggered asphalt that you don’t want to fall on to. I try and get back on my bike, but I can’t raise my leg high enough. In the end I get back on and roll the bike home. As soon as I get home, I have a shower and clean myself up. My ankle, leg, knee, elbow and hand are quite sore (I thought I had a high pain threshold), grazed and start to swell up. Since then some grazes which were deep have become infected, but since been taking antibiotics and has cleaned up the infections. Seems that even in the tropics, treating yourself properly, it will still get infected.
3. The Michelin Man, I wonder if his tyres grip as well as mine
Since then I have still been working, I am still a bit swollen, still sore and bruises are starting to come up. I don’t bruise easily, must be all the fat on my body. But hopefully will mend quickly. over the next week. It is my first stack in thirteen years, last time was when I was thirteen and a Dog hit me (I didnt hit the stupid dog, it ran out in front of me) and I went over the handle bars. I have had a few close calls with the back end and considering how much riding I have done, I have had a good run. I am really grateful that I didn’t injury myself more than what I have and that no cars were involved. I am really thankful for God’s protection. So hopefully will get back on the bike soon and eventually go off road.
