Moment of Inattention

I should have know it was going to be a strange ride when the birds were circling overhead before the went out for a ride. Neither Laura and I had listed a ride so I ended up going to Cranbury to do Tru's ride. Its good to do a different every now and then to check in with some I don't see on a regular basis.   

Riding is a very safe sport as long as you follow some basic common sense. One of the reasons I ride with the PFW is that it is safer to ride with a group and everybody in the club knows how to ride together. So it was usual when less than a mile into the ride somebody fell behind me. The person that fell was the last person I would have expected to lose control of the bike especially since it was a stupid fall. He ran into the mirror of a parked car. There was no traffic on the road and no problems with the road surface. It was just a moment of inattention that caused this person to drift into the car. It was a violent hit as he didn't just nick the mirror but took it clear off the car. His front well came off the bike as part of the fall. Luckily he didn't break anything and seemed fine. The car however is going to need some repair so information was exchanged and we moved on.

Tru has had a couple of accidents during some of his rides lately and had warned us at the start to be careful. I guess not everybody listened.

Tru had a very circuitous route planned. The rest stop was in West Windsor which is only 9 miles away but it took us 22 miles to get there. We went by most of the usual places we start rides from including Etra and MCP so the entire ride felt like we at the beginning or ending of all the rides I lead in this area. We ended up circling close to my house twice during the ride so it felt like the whole ride went nowhere.

Still it was fun and interesting ride as there was a lot of good banter and a few other minor  mishaps during the ride. Jim ended up with some glass in his tire and got a flat as well as a cut on his hand. And because I forgot to strap my pump back in after Jim's flat it fell into my front gear ring and locked up my cranks. Luckily I was coasting at the time or I would have went over my handlebars.

I did make it home safely after 46 miles. So despite the mishaps I'm always happy when I can get in over 40 miles on a cold day.