Bike Forums - Dramatic Introduction...

Hi All-

I hadn't ridden a bike really since the single speed Huffy with coaster brakes I learned on back in ’84. But I live in a quiet neighborhood now, love to get out just for bits of fresh air and only live a few miles from the beach where we have a great bike path, so I finally bought my wife and I bikes.

She was insistent on a retro look and wanted coaster brakes no matter what I said, so she wound up with a single speed Electra Cruiser- she loves it and looks darn good on it, too. I want to use mine for small errands and some fitness as well, so I shopped around more. After tons of research and riding dozens of great makes and models in my $300-400 range, I wound up with a Bianchi Cortina and I love it. 24-speed, 16” frame (I’m 5’7” and new to bikes where you can’t plant your feet flat on the ground, so small is great), and classy dark blue paint.

But I promised drama: after our first great weekend of fun and casual riding with my wife to remember what it's like to be on a bike (and LOVING it), I decided to take it for a longer ride to the beach by myself. Well, on the way down to the beach, there’s a very rough, pretty steep downward incline. I paused for a minute, but feeling like my old ’84 Huffy and its mountain bike-like tires could have made it, I went for it. Yeah, my new hybrid bike’s tires couldn’t grip it, I’m not used to hand brakes, and when I hit the sand, I bit it. Good news: I just landed on sand and had a helmet and the bike is good as new. Bad news: I broke my left collarbone and sprained my right thumb so badly it may as well be broken, too.

So alas, I’m stuck with a brand new bike I can’t wait to ride, and I’m laid up in bed and in great pain! In the meantime, I’ve been slowly adding little accessories here and there to my bike and am still learning what I can from browsing these forums. I’m sure I’ll post a question or two pretty soon in the appropriate forum areas, but I tend to be good at searching, so I’ll probably lurk more often than not. Anyway, these forums seem to have some great members, and I thought I’d say hello in case you catch me on here again.

Take care, and avoid fracturing your clavicles!