That was the most fantastic Tour de Cure this rider has ever participated in, with one exception...Left Lane down in the right lane! Man, that was awful. Dana and I were on the nose about 2-300 meters back from Left Lane and Gianni when we saw the launched Left Lane. (LLL or Triple L...hmmm, maybe the beginning of a new nickname) There he lay, motionless in the right lane on Hwy 98. I quickly yelled for everyone to get over into the right lane so the Cagers, (uh...that's a new nickname for motorists. I figure that's what makes most of them hate us...they're riding down the road in a cage...and we're not!) wouldn't run the helpless Left Lane over. In fact, it must have worked, because they moved over into the, uh...left lane away from the (our) Left Lane and actually stopped! The Lord is good! Can I get an Amen?!
Several riders in our group jumped off the machines and immediately starting attending to Left Lane while Crusher and myself got the Cagers moving again...we kept them in the left lane as they passed Left Lane who was lying in the right lane. We even got them to move into the left turn lane even further away from Left Lane, (Did I make that clear? Confused?), who was now sitting up thanks to the care and attention given by several of our own including Trish "The Kat" Kuhnell. The Sheriff arrived shortly followed by the EMTs. I love those guys!
The good news is that Left Lane has nothing broken...a minor miracle considering how he launched himself. Mark "Subway" Calvert expressed it would have been a perfect score of "10" if it were not for the landing, explaining that Left Lane didn't "peg the landing" which is essential for the perfect score. Apparently, the evidence of his road rash showed he slid a few feet and thus did not "peg" the landing.
We all wish you a speedy recovery Left Lane! Sorry you missed the rest of the Hammerfest that was the Tour de Cure 2011...we averaged over 20mph for the 100k!!!
The following is the Left Lane version of the story...written by his own hands:
Well, after feeling grateful a month or so ago that my only bike wreck after riding around 20,000 miles over the past few year was falling down the steps of my porch with my bike and injuring some ribs, the bike gods got back at me Saturday in the Tour De Cure ride. Actually, although I got busted up pretty good it could of been a lot worse. And although I do not generally believe in fate, maybe my wreck as I trailed Johnny (Bugno) Dukes with no one else behind kept a larger wreck with the peloton from happening. Johnny and I had cracked off the main peloton we were riding with and taking the shorter route straight down 98 as the peloton was doing the ins and outs through the neighborhoods off the highway. We figured we would get down to the rest stop before the Navarre Bridge at about the same time as the peloton at our slower pace where we would rejoin for the ride home down the beach ride.
Several riders in our group jumped off the machines and immediately starting attending to Left Lane while Crusher and myself got the Cagers moving again...we kept them in the left lane as they passed Left Lane who was lying in the right lane. We even got them to move into the left turn lane even further away from Left Lane, (Did I make that clear? Confused?), who was now sitting up thanks to the care and attention given by several of our own including Trish "The Kat" Kuhnell. The Sheriff arrived shortly followed by the EMTs. I love those guys!
The good news is that Left Lane has nothing broken...a minor miracle considering how he launched himself. Mark "Subway" Calvert expressed it would have been a perfect score of "10" if it were not for the landing, explaining that Left Lane didn't "peg the landing" which is essential for the perfect score. Apparently, the evidence of his road rash showed he slid a few feet and thus did not "peg" the landing.
We all wish you a speedy recovery Left Lane! Sorry you missed the rest of the Hammerfest that was the Tour de Cure 2011...we averaged over 20mph for the 100k!!!
The following is the Left Lane version of the story...written by his own hands:
Well, after feeling grateful a month or so ago that my only bike wreck after riding around 20,000 miles over the past few year was falling down the steps of my porch with my bike and injuring some ribs, the bike gods got back at me Saturday in the Tour De Cure ride. Actually, although I got busted up pretty good it could of been a lot worse. And although I do not generally believe in fate, maybe my wreck as I trailed Johnny (Bugno) Dukes with no one else behind kept a larger wreck with the peloton from happening. Johnny and I had cracked off the main peloton we were riding with and taking the shorter route straight down 98 as the peloton was doing the ins and outs through the neighborhoods off the highway. We figured we would get down to the rest stop before the Navarre Bridge at about the same time as the peloton at our slower pace where we would rejoin for the ride home down the beach ride.
I believe we were only a couple of miles from Navarre cruising at around 20mph when Johnny noticed a problem with the road surface and warned me but it was too late as I looked down and had ended up to the right of the freshly paved road surface with the bike path not being repaved. As I looked down it did not seem like a problem, the fresh road surface had the new white line painted just to the edge and at first glance down, my bifocaled old self did not see the approximately 2 inch elevation gap in the two surfaces. Whereas I was probably less than 6 inches to the right of the ridge it was all over as soon as I made the slightest turn to the left. As soon as I did this, I realized the ridge was there and it was all over....I think I did a 2 and 1/2 gainer with a twist or something like that (sure would like to see this one on video!!!). I drove my left shoulder into the pavement ending up on my back and although I did not black out I knew I was pretty badly hurt. Here is where I feel very lucky. Ending up in the middle of the right lane of 98, if any traffic would have been there I would have been toast. Just as I fell, the Peloton came up from behind and circled around me to block any oncoming traffic. The EMTs arrived shortly and loaded me up and carted me off to Gulf Breeze hospital. These guys cut off my new jersey with a pair of scissors...jersey has a full length zipper...whats up with that?? Maybe they will let me deduct it from the ambulance bill!!!
Injury report: Hard to believe but no broken bones. The clavicle bone is somewhat separated from where it connects to the chest bone under the neck but the X-rays and Cat Scan said no breaks. All around the shoulder front and back is bruised and very painful and I have a little bit of road rash on the back shoulder and on my hand but that is about it. Doc put on a canvas type X brace to pull my shoulders back to help the healing process and scheduled me to see an orthopedist this coming week. Amazingly my bike looks pretty good except for the left brake handle has been knocked over to the center of the handle bars. Oh yeah, the Gulf Breeze Hospital was great. If they are ever hauling you off and they ask where you want to go, pick GB Hospital.
Thanks to all of you who looked after me on the road and who came by to visit in the hospital.
Kind of funny, as Subway Mark (The Big Hoagie) and I road out together to ride that morning, I kept asking him why we do this stuff to ourselves (ride at breakneck speeds in large groups inviting serious injury) and coming to the conclusion that "We're Crazy!!"
Hope to see you guys back on the road soon.
Crazy Left Lane and the Scourge of the Langley Maygarden Loop
Richard
We hope to see you soon as well Left Lane! Until then, I'll...
See you out on the road,
Bob
We hope to see you soon as well Left Lane! Until then, I'll...
See you out on the road,
Bob
Glad to hear you survived with minimal damage, Richard! When I hit that same spot, I was alone....and praying that I didn't either fall or flat........the gods were smiling on me!
ReplyDeleteHope you feel better very soon!