I went on a nice ride this afernoon. Weather was a bit brisk, but all in all a pretty perfect day for a ride. Going up was fine (although this ride is a continuous grade), just a little winded after a few climbs. Before heading back, I was talking with my friend and a roadie who was with the group ride about strategies for getting over the railroad tracks that cut the road in half. I made it up painlessly, but we all had our own strategies. Bunny hop, lift each wheel individually, or just go for it over the better patches.

Well, the ride back was nice. And then traffic was just stopped. A line of about 10 cars were just stopped. I had a gut feeling it was a cyclist. I'm slowing down becuase I'm afraid it's one of the group riders. Well, just as get to him, I hit the tracks and jsut stack. An easy fall, but my first fixed. It turns out, the guy that fell had done exactly what I had, only he wasn't so lucky. He must've been 40 feet from the tracks, so he either flew or slid. No helmet. He was bleeding from two gouges in the back of his head. I think he hit the road reflector on one of them due to the blood. He was freezing, so I let them use my sweatshirt to keep part of him warm. When the ambulane came, they had to cut his jersey off. I must've been there 45 minutes just waiting for this guy to be okay.

So, I've learned somethig from this - please, please, PLEASE wear a helmet. I don't care how ugly it is or if it takes the cool out of fixed, just do it. I could've been that guy on the road.