Bklyn

Did the Tour de Bronx this weekend. My first long ride ever. The ride up to the Bronx (15 miles) was excellent; I tagged along with a bunch of fixed BF riders. (My derailleur clanging wildly, I felt like a junkyard dog running among deer.) Then the tour itself, 40 miles, which was great. (Rode with JYosarrian, who has Legs of Steel.) I was wiped, so I took the subway home, but after an hour on a local that only got me as far as Times Square, I decided to ride the last 8 miles home. Getting out of Manhattan was easy. Then, after the Manhattan Bridge, I watched a mountain biker blow through the light. I actually thought to myself, I just rode 61 miles. I don't have to prove anything. And then...I don't know. Fatigue? Weird Sunday afternoon traffic patterns? I saw the lanes clear, I looked left and right and rolled through the intersection. But the light was still red. A Ford Focus that I thought was waiting to turn left decided to go straight. I saw him in my peripheral vision just as he hit me, on his right front bumper. The words that ran through my head: Oh, I'm being hit by a car now. Heard a crunch. In the end, only a bruised elbow and hip as I rolled onto the hood. It was roughly the equivalent of a parking-lot collision. My handlebars were out of whack, and maybe the seat stay was scratched. I'll see what the LBS says tomorrow. The guy was petrified. He wanted to get the hell away from me, but I made him hang around till I was sure I was OK. A cop happened to be on the scene. His name, swear to God, was Officer Friendly. Saw the badge.
Kind of a crappy way to end a great day. Then I came home and found out my Steelers lost in overtime. Hey, so did I.

timmhaan

oh, that just sucks. glad you're alright though.

you raise a good point, however, about fatigue and riding in traffic. there have been some rides where i've come home completely and utterly wasted. i wonder just how alert and capable i am in that state (hungry, tired, worn out, sore, and desperate to get off the bike) to be dealing with traffic.

DogBoy

so did you get a ticket or just a warning?

Bklyn

Neither. He happened to take down the info driver's info in case I wanted to file a report later! Weird. Of course, I may have hallucinated him. I mean, Officer Friendly?

HardyWeinberg

Friendly indeed. Glad you're OK.

Bikepacker67

That Steeler playoff berth is slip slidin' away...

Oh, glad you're only bruised, and next time, obey traffic laws

slvoid

Usually after a long ride, I'm completely zoned out and fly through traffic better than I do normally. After the last MS ride, mile 120 or so after hammering it out for 5 and a half hours of some wild hilly and windy terrain, I was flying through brooklyn, it felt great.

I think the worst ride I ever had was after the nyack to the track race when Jimbo and I flew down myrtle avenue directly into a setting sun. I couldn't see anything for about 12 miles, it was like a huge orange fog.

Sometimes its fun to race people when you're on like, mile 80 of a century. The best expression I saw was a guy pacing his buddy on a TT bike with disc wheels going up that hill coming out of piermont, I got there and I was like, "jesus, i've never seen this thing look so steep before" and he guy smirked and said "nah, it's not so bad, unless you're on mile 60 of some long trek or something" and I was like, "I'm on mile 80." That shut him up pretty good.

jyossarian

Wow, that accident really messed you up. You spelled "spaghetti" wrong.

Glad to hear you're OK, relatively speaking. Heal up and I hope your bike's ok. Sorry to hear about your accident.

Bklyn

Absolutely true. I flowed down Broadway like I was in The Matrix or something. (And weekend traffic is crazy, of course.) It was at Tillary, the home stretch, the one spot where I always, always stop and am extra careful -- that's when I spaced out.

slvoid

Maybe the problem is, everyone else ISN'T in the matrix heh. Glad you're ok, you gonna sue now?

Bklyn

We'll see if the frame is OK. But who would I sue?
The funny thing about the driver was how he was sucking up to me. I mumbled something about riding 60 miles safely, and a mile from home, look at what happens.... And he says, "Wow. Sixty miles, huh? I know a guy at work who has ridden 40 miles, but 60? That's impressive." Expecting what? Me to say, Gee, thanks, you can go now? It was weird. The strange thing is that I don't remember if I was knocked down or if I stayed up. That's a little disconcerting.

jyossarian

Yeah, it's kinda freaky when there's gaps in your memory and you can't remember no matter how hard you try. Did you go to the ER or see your Dr.?

bmclaughlin807

A few weeks ago I rode 90 miles... would have made it a century, but I forgot to eat... I made it to within about 3 miles of my house and just couldn't go any further... ended up taking the bus home from there.

But I tend to not run red lights at all (ok, I'll slide through if it's yellow and changing to red and I'm RIGHT at the intersection, but nothing worse than you'll see 2-3 cars doing at most every intersection around here)... at least not ON the bike. If I'm particularly pissed off about not getting a green light at an intersection I'll dismount and walk my bike right through the traffic. That always makes me feel a little better. And then I place a call complaining about the light.

Falkon 

why would you press charges if you ran a red light?

slvoid

Because in this country, you can.

Lucky07

Oooof. Glad you're ok. Sorry about the bike. I do think you hallucinated Officer Friendly. Anyone with that name would be hazed out of the NYPD inside of a week.

I know what you mean about going home after a long ride. I'm definitely more loopy that usual after pedalling 40+ miles. I try to go r-e-a-l slow so I don't do anything stupid.