ARGH!!!
So heres the context. I got my bike about a month ago - first one I'd ridden in about 14 years. I rode it for 6 days before being cut off by a car, screwing up my breaking, and going over the handlebars, ripping my leg to bits and sustaining a very minor quadriceps tear.
Three weeks off the bike - and if nothing else, that 3 weeks gave me no option but to be patient, and actually get the safety gear (high viz jersey, lights etc) that I shouldve had before riding at dusk (which is when the accident was).
I can't ride very far yet - as my username suggests, I'm huge. Actually, I discredit myself - I'm 40kgs lighter than I was in September, but only half way to where I need to be, and only 40% into where I would love to be. Despite that weightloss, and a lot of swimming/gym work and dietary changes to get me there, I'm still not very fit.
So yesterday was my first ride back. It was only 5km, but I felt good! (I felt even better for the fact that I timed it with part 2 of the Armstrong interview that I was too angry to watch after part 1!)
I'm 8km into a ride - and I can already feel the difference that quitting smoking and doing a lot of pool work over the last month while unable to ride has made. I'm flying down a hill - Strava segment (why else?!) - I see a guy with his 2 kids right at the T-Junction at the bottom of the hill. I ring my bell from a good 75m away and start to slow down (booooo!) - he grabs his kids, moves them off the path... then when I'm 20 metres away, one of the kids comes back onto the path... RIGHT in front of me. Hit the rear brakes (learned my lesson!) managed to go round the kid... but didn't quite pull up and ended up hitting the railing on the other side of the t-junction at very, very low speed. I flipped over the rail, but I was going so slow I pretty much landed on my feet.
So, no injury, no damage to the bike... but ruined my ride. And dad? He admonished the kid for not being careful - and did not even turn around to see what had happened to me, much less ask me whether I was ok.
Ruined my ride... I got up, dusted myself off, told old mate that he best remove his kids from both lanes of the bike path (or slightly less polite words to that effect...) and just had a very slow, easy ride home. I was bummed out... I rode 16km, which is a good effort for me. But I really felt like I couldve gone twice that far. I felt great, I was breathing well, I had that really enjoyable pain in my legs from a couple of little climbs. On top of all of that, the barometer of how I'm going - my water bottle - had only been accessed once, and I wouldn't have drunk 20% of it.
So frustrating! I crash on roads because cars can't see me - I crash on bike paths because stupid, ignorant pedestrians dont care that its a BIKE path, not a teach-your-stupid-kids-to-ride-a-tricycle-and-block-the-whole-thing path.
The good news is, I think by the time I can afford to order a clamp rack and a bag next weekend, and by the time it gets here, all I should really have to deal with are other cyclists on the ride to work, because if nothing else, tonights ride was enough to tell me that I'm close to being able to ride to work, even if its only every second day to begin with. (I do need to work on steering in a straight line though, lest I become the dumb cyclist. I also need to work on speed, but I know that'll come with fitness/stamina)