Sunday, May 1, 2016

Jack Fall Down and Go Boom



As an alternative to the Spring Fling group rides I decided to start getting my hill legs back with a ride along the Delaware. I got Laura, Ed, and Jack to join me at Bulls Island at 9am and we headed off across the river to the Pennsylvania. Fleecy Dale Rd which has been closed for a couple of years is almost open. There is just a small section of dirt you need to ride through that hopefully will be finished soon. It was cloudy and cool in the mid 50s but after the climb up Wismer we were all warmed up.

I ended up doing this route which is from my Best Bike Ride Philadelphia book. Its the covered bridges ride that goes through 3 covered bridges and has about 3000 feet of climbing. Except for the hill on Wismer nothing is very steep but there isn't a lot of flat spots so it is a good way to ease into building up some hill muscles.

With any hill ride I try to included and even end on a nice down hill and today we ended by going down Federal Twist. It is a steep and straight downhill where you can really let it go if you have the nerve. I have hit 50 mph on my Feather and I know a few people who have gone even faster.

Jack and Ed were ahead of me and quickly sprinted ahead even though I didn't touch the brakes. Ed loves downhills and now that he has disc brakes he is even more fearless. I lost sigh of both of them as I was concentrating on holding it together as I pasted 30 mph then 40 mph. My GPS says I maxed out at just over 45 mph which is good for the Synapse as it doesn't feel stable over 30 mph.

I meet Ed at the bottom and Laura was about a minute behind me. We figured Jack had gone ahead since Bulls Island was just a half mile up the road. When Jack wasn't at the parking lot we figured he stopped at the bathroom. As we got ready to leave a biker came by and told Laura that some one named Jack on a Trek on Federal Twist was asking for her to come help him. We though he was wrong since we knew Jack was ahead of all of us and didn't see him on our way down but after a few minutes we assumed that Jack must have gone off the road and we all missed him somehow.

I drove up to see and found a police car 3/4 of the way up the hill talking to Jack. He was standing next to his bike talking to the officer. At least he was awake and alive. Besides a scrape on his ankle and a broke left handle bar (on the bike) he looked OK. It turned out his bike starting shimming on the way down the hill and he lost control and crashed into the rocky ditch on the side of the road. He had pain in his back and left shoulder and a cracked helmet.

I brought him and the bike back to the parking lot where Ed and Laura were waiting. Jack was sore but in good enough shape to drive himself home. We all felt bad that we past him lying in a ditch and didn't notice him or stop to help.

Biking is very safe if you practice some common sense and keep your equipment in shape so  it is scary to think that a bike can go into a sudden uncontrolled wobble that runes an otherwise good ride. I did some searching and found that this is a real problem called "Speed Wobble". There are a couple of links here and here that explain it in some detail and give a few ideas on what to do in case it happens to you.

Jack sent us an email later Saturday that said he had been to the emergency room to get checked out. He definitely hurt a few body parts but is optimistic that he will be back riding next week which is good news after such a bad crash. 


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