Sunday, January 21, 2007

second time is not a charm...

Early Bird #3

So after my really bad fall at the Early Birds two weeks ago, I braved it up and went back out there. I definitely couldn't go back last week cause my face was a mess still, but I am looking better so thought it best to face my fears.

I didn't know if I would try the race or not, but figured I would do the mentoring at least. It went great, and I was surprised how good I felt. So, I figured I would do the race just for ease my mind that I can do this. It all started fine and I was surprised I could keep up with the group, considering I hadn't been on my bike in two weeks. I could tell, though, that I was a bit out of shape. Anyway, 2 laps to go and I was feeling really happy and thought: I'm safe. I thought too soon. On the back stretch of the course I crashed. I am not really sure what happened, it was a straight away and some woman just rammed me from the side and took me down. I definitely know this was not my fault because the mentor was kind of baffled and said so. But, if I was a stronger biker who can hold her own, I probably could have taken the ram. I need to learn defensive biking for sure and pushing back.

Long story short is I biked back to the start. My derailleur hanger needed bent back, but other than that the bike was okay. YEAH for steel! As for me, well, my wrist was really swollen, so probably sprained. Also, a bit of road rash, but I was wearing a long shirt and pants, so that was good. Taitt Sato came up to me and felt really bad that I fell on my second race as well as my first...but, hey, that is part of it I know. All in all, this crash wasn't too bad. It is good to know that all crashes aren't serious.

I think I'll come back to the 4th and 5th Early Bird, but just do the training session. I don't know if I can handle a third crash this month! For sure, I know my boss can't!

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