New ride
 

Saturday went to LBS and picked up my new bike. Specialized Secteur Sport 54. Rode it home. Yesterday the fog cleared away and the temp started to raise so went for a spin along with my 5 year old around our neighborhood for a while.

After lunch the wind picked up but it was also warming up. I decided to go for a good ride. I really wanted to see how my new bike would perform on some hill climbs. On moderate shorter hills it was impressive, much better than my Schwinn hybrid. I found the drop bars comfortable with the many different hand positions available. I was able to present a smaller profile while riding into the wind which will be a great thing come springtime as I live in a place with wind so prevelent that I refer to it as permawind!

On my route there is a climb that although too short to be a catagorized climb is very steepfor perhaps the distance of one city block with another block before that is just steep. I wish I had a triple while climbing this but made it to the top without stopping, so with more training I should not have any issues. However after climb recovery was quicker and the brisk tailwind sure helped. I saw one other cyclist out at one point but he turned off a road that I was turning onto while I was about 100 yards away, too far to wave.

Right before I turned onto my road I glanced back to check for traffic, there was a vehicle a few blocks away but as I was going fast I knew I'd make the turn before they caught me. Got about half way through a left turn when I remembered that it was December and there was a mix of sand and gravel in the intersection and I was on skinny tires, not a favorable combination for 20+mph. Needless to say I went off the road and crashed! Thankfully I wear glasses and a helmet. I have gravel imbeded into the helmet which also has three cracks. My glasses had dirt/ mud stuck to the right lens, they bent and impacted my face just beyond the corner of my eye. Had a welt on my right forearm about the siize of a golf ball and road rash on my right knee and shin. As I was picking myself up my wife and oldest son pull up, that was the vehicle behind me. She was returning from picking my son up from his cousins house. I think they were more freaked out than I was. my right brifter was tweaked outward and the lever was all kinds of scarred up by the gravel/ rocks. Some of the plastic on it is gone but it still functions. That and the handlebars being tweaked seems to be the only substantial damage, thankfully. Probably will replace the brifter, and will surely replace the helmet. :mad:

Love the bike!

Just gotta say wear your helmet and glasses! Both probabaly saved me heaps of money in medical bills!:D

Bummer dude

Charlie

Glad you're ok.
Yep, I wear a helmet all the time;
sunglasses when it's bright and safety
glasses at night/rainy day.

Thats crappy!

I see you're in Ellensburg! I went to college at CWU for a year. I remember one day I turned a corner in my car when it was like 45 degrees out and I hit a slick of ice and spun around completely in the intersection...while going a whopping 10 mph!! Ice is crap.

Your bike has character now!

sbattey, yup I went to Central for three years and then decided to become a local........ now have lived here much longer than anywhere else.

Thanks for the kind remarks folks. The current forcast tells me I might be able to ride more this weekend.

Look where you WANT to go... Your bike is far more capable of high speed turns than you think. Look through the turn and you'll make it upright. Panic and you'll crash, which you did. Chalk it up to a learning experience.

You are all right that's what counts. I can't understand why people don't wear helmets.