cgallagh
04-23-07, 01:06 PM
Posted this on Northern CA and thought it should go here as the tandem board has slowed down a lot.
As Red Rider posted on 50plus, it was a great ride. We were weather challenged but we met the test. I now have 6 months and about 2100 miles of experience on a bike, 1900 on the tandem. This was the most challenging climbing I have done. We started at 7 am sharp and there were not so many bikes on the rode. Many waited for the weather to break. We figured it was a ride and what the heck. The Honey Run lived up to its' reputation. We were only passed by 5 bikes the whole way up and passed a bunch of half bikes. The descent would have been a lot faster but the skies opened up at the top and I had to ride the brakes for lack of vision and not wanting to die and all that. Table mountain was equally challenging. It is a beautiful ride and one that made us work hard. It all ended on a not so great note.
The old "watch out for car doors" thing came to life. At 93 miles, we started up from a green light (obeying all traffic rules downtown), traveled about 60 feet and some yahoo threw open his door. All time came slowed down as I heard the creek of the door, saw the door coming open, listened to the screaming voice in my head say dodge, dodge, dodge, the crunch of the break handle hitting the opening door, the whack of the tire swinging around and hitting door, the sound of two bodies and a tandem bouncing of a truck door and hitting the street.
As I assessed myself before moving I looked up to see several cyclists standing around and asking if we were okay. Red Rider was stilled clipped in the street side pedal and my leg hurt. After we figured out that there were no serious injuries we began to take stock of the situation. A local citizen also stopped and volunteered to assist us a witness. Turns out he is a local lawyer. He was very helpful, and wound up giving us a ride with our broken bike back to the finish. The guy that doored me was not apologetic and even felt it was my fault for riding my bike into his door. He did give me his information but I am not very optimistic of any redress although I will pursue it. Other than some pretty extensive bruising and road rash on Red and a pretty good lump on my left leg with minor bruising we are physically okay. The front wheel is ruined. I took the hit as I was turning away. The right front brake handle on my straight bar has red paint on it. There is no obvious stress marks on the bike and the forks are straight. I am a metallurgical inspector by profession and I did not see any thing that would indicate major structural damage although I took it to the LBS for a thorough go over this morning.
Some things that stand out about all this:
None of the cyclists that saw this happen right in front of them stayed around to give me their names or contact information as a witness to this. None of the cyclist offered any help with cell phones (we had one), offers to inform the ride coordinators at the finish line (we were only 3 miles away from the end) and ask them for SAG support, or any other assistance other than to stand around briefly and act like the Uh Oh Squad. You know the guys that stand around an accident and go "Uh Oh" then leave. The local citizen was a stand up guy.
The ride officials could not give me the number of the local police and there were no phone books available at the Fair Grounds. The ride officials did not know where their medic was and did not seem to be to greatly motivated to find him even though it was rumored he had a radio for contact. The gave us directions to the local 24hr emergency clinic and said we could drive over there.
They told me I could file a police report online, no problem. This was not true as the online service for that indicates you can only do that if you do not know the perpetrator. I called the police and made a report.
We asked them if they had some ice packs available and they got my wife a baggie with ice in it. Only one for her and both her knees were swollen. I did not get any ice for my injury.
I must have been tired or distracted because I normally look for people in parked cars and give them a wide berth. This was in downtown Chico and there was a lot of local traffic and bicycles on the road so I guess I stayed over on the right as we are supposed to be and got bit. I will never ride that close to a parked car again. I will ride in the middle of the street and cars will just have to deal with it.
Lessons learned include carrying a first aid kit on the bike, never riding that close to a parked car ever again, and not counting on the ride organizers for help if you get whacked.
As Red Rider posted on 50plus, it was a great ride. We were weather challenged but we met the test. I now have 6 months and about 2100 miles of experience on a bike, 1900 on the tandem. This was the most challenging climbing I have done. We started at 7 am sharp and there were not so many bikes on the rode. Many waited for the weather to break. We figured it was a ride and what the heck. The Honey Run lived up to its' reputation. We were only passed by 5 bikes the whole way up and passed a bunch of half bikes. The descent would have been a lot faster but the skies opened up at the top and I had to ride the brakes for lack of vision and not wanting to die and all that. Table mountain was equally challenging. It is a beautiful ride and one that made us work hard. It all ended on a not so great note.
The old "watch out for car doors" thing came to life. At 93 miles, we started up from a green light (obeying all traffic rules downtown), traveled about 60 feet and some yahoo threw open his door. All time came slowed down as I heard the creek of the door, saw the door coming open, listened to the screaming voice in my head say dodge, dodge, dodge, the crunch of the break handle hitting the opening door, the whack of the tire swinging around and hitting door, the sound of two bodies and a tandem bouncing of a truck door and hitting the street.
As I assessed myself before moving I looked up to see several cyclists standing around and asking if we were okay. Red Rider was stilled clipped in the street side pedal and my leg hurt. After we figured out that there were no serious injuries we began to take stock of the situation. A local citizen also stopped and volunteered to assist us a witness. Turns out he is a local lawyer. He was very helpful, and wound up giving us a ride with our broken bike back to the finish. The guy that doored me was not apologetic and even felt it was my fault for riding my bike into his door. He did give me his information but I am not very optimistic of any redress although I will pursue it. Other than some pretty extensive bruising and road rash on Red and a pretty good lump on my left leg with minor bruising we are physically okay. The front wheel is ruined. I took the hit as I was turning away. The right front brake handle on my straight bar has red paint on it. There is no obvious stress marks on the bike and the forks are straight. I am a metallurgical inspector by profession and I did not see any thing that would indicate major structural damage although I took it to the LBS for a thorough go over this morning.
Some things that stand out about all this:
None of the cyclists that saw this happen right in front of them stayed around to give me their names or contact information as a witness to this. None of the cyclist offered any help with cell phones (we had one), offers to inform the ride coordinators at the finish line (we were only 3 miles away from the end) and ask them for SAG support, or any other assistance other than to stand around briefly and act like the Uh Oh Squad. You know the guys that stand around an accident and go "Uh Oh" then leave. The local citizen was a stand up guy.
The ride officials could not give me the number of the local police and there were no phone books available at the Fair Grounds. The ride officials did not know where their medic was and did not seem to be to greatly motivated to find him even though it was rumored he had a radio for contact. The gave us directions to the local 24hr emergency clinic and said we could drive over there.
They told me I could file a police report online, no problem. This was not true as the online service for that indicates you can only do that if you do not know the perpetrator. I called the police and made a report.
We asked them if they had some ice packs available and they got my wife a baggie with ice in it. Only one for her and both her knees were swollen. I did not get any ice for my injury.
I must have been tired or distracted because I normally look for people in parked cars and give them a wide berth. This was in downtown Chico and there was a lot of local traffic and bicycles on the road so I guess I stayed over on the right as we are supposed to be and got bit. I will never ride that close to a parked car again. I will ride in the middle of the street and cars will just have to deal with it.
Lessons learned include carrying a first aid kit on the bike, never riding that close to a parked car ever again, and not counting on the ride organizers for help if you get whacked.