0 comment Wednesday, June 18, 2014 | admin
I was cruising home from a work holiday party last night in Park Hill (about 5 miles from my house via bike = 35 minutes on snow and ice on a mountain bike with slightly deflated tires), thinking to myself that I've got this winter biking thing pretty much wired.
I take it slow, maybe 8 mph at the fastest. I've learned not to stand up when trying to pedal. Keep the bars as straight as possible when crossing patches of ice or hard snow. I have a pretty good system of gear going -- rode in -7 temps on Monday and didn't get cold.
And last night, I was enjoying the solitude of riding on dark, snowy side streets with no traffic, a completely different pace from my regular commute, thinking how slowing down a little bit is good for me, if somewhat un-American. And I got on some dry pavement, waiting at a stop sign on Magnolia at 8th Avenue, and there's one car coming, so I slowly roll forward, not completely stopping. I start doing a kind-of track stand, waiting, and I must have turned my front wheel a little bit too far to the right, because I began to tip over.
And I can't get my right foot out of my goddamn toe clip. Maybe I'm used to unclipping my shoes from the SPDs I have on my other bike, so my brain couldn't process getting a hiking shoe out of a clip by pulling my foot out the back. In the approximately 6.5 minutes it took me to fall down, I think:
1. Boy, whoever is driving that car is going to see all of this.
2. Nick Nunns asked me last year why I had these toe clips on these pedals. I shrugged at the time. I should have taken them off.
3. This is going to look really funny.
And I hit the asphalt, just as the car drives by me. Splat. I immediately start laughing, and quickly trying to get up and start pedaling again, like I think if I get up fast enough, it won't have happened. Except my chain came off in the process, so I have to put that back on.
The street's still dark, and it's just me and the one driver who saw that incident. I hope they got a good laugh, because I know I would. Hell, I did. And I pedaled down the dark street again.
I don't think that counts as a legitimate winter fall, since it was on dry asphalt. I'm just an ass.
I take it slow, maybe 8 mph at the fastest. I've learned not to stand up when trying to pedal. Keep the bars as straight as possible when crossing patches of ice or hard snow. I have a pretty good system of gear going -- rode in -7 temps on Monday and didn't get cold.
And last night, I was enjoying the solitude of riding on dark, snowy side streets with no traffic, a completely different pace from my regular commute, thinking how slowing down a little bit is good for me, if somewhat un-American. And I got on some dry pavement, waiting at a stop sign on Magnolia at 8th Avenue, and there's one car coming, so I slowly roll forward, not completely stopping. I start doing a kind-of track stand, waiting, and I must have turned my front wheel a little bit too far to the right, because I began to tip over.
And I can't get my right foot out of my goddamn toe clip. Maybe I'm used to unclipping my shoes from the SPDs I have on my other bike, so my brain couldn't process getting a hiking shoe out of a clip by pulling my foot out the back. In the approximately 6.5 minutes it took me to fall down, I think:
1. Boy, whoever is driving that car is going to see all of this.
2. Nick Nunns asked me last year why I had these toe clips on these pedals. I shrugged at the time. I should have taken them off.
3. This is going to look really funny.
And I hit the asphalt, just as the car drives by me. Splat. I immediately start laughing, and quickly trying to get up and start pedaling again, like I think if I get up fast enough, it won't have happened. Except my chain came off in the process, so I have to put that back on.
The street's still dark, and it's just me and the one driver who saw that incident. I hope they got a good laugh, because I know I would. Hell, I did. And I pedaled down the dark street again.
I don't think that counts as a legitimate winter fall, since it was on dry asphalt. I'm just an ass.
Labels: Splat