Category: Solo accident
Location: Absecon, NJ, this time last year
Bike: Jamis Coda Comp

The road I live on is the "alternate" northbound route out of Atlantic City, the route used by those who know and want to avoid the police presence of the Garden State Parkway. For that reason, my homebound commute from work was always on the sidewalk. I've seen so many drunks leaving the city, unable to maintain a lane, that I dared not ride the road at 11PM. My route is decently-lit so I dispense with the front light (although I always use a rear). After three years of riding it almost every workday, I knew every crack in it.

One night, coming home at 17-18mph, I struck a rather large branch extending across the *only* poorly-lit section of the trip. Bike and I went our separate ways - it into the road, me shoulder-first into a telephone pole. I remember it distinctly. I was still vertical, hadn't even had time to begin rolling forward after leaving the bike.

Incredibly, nothing broke either on me or the bike. My habit of underinflating my tires and the apparently-unbreakable Ritchey Aero wheels saved the bike. I was so deeply bruised that I missed a week of work, though. The injury to my pride was worse, though, knowing I had nobody but myself to blame for the accident.