DamnRock

well I completed my first century on Saturday. It really wasn't as hard as I expected it to be. We finished with a respectable (to me) 17mph average. Our group consisted of about 8 people ranging from late 20yr olds to a 50+ yr old. Everyone did well.

At about mile 35 I was riding alone trying to catch my group (my wife was doing 50miles so I rode with her for about 7 miles where the routes met and I saw her at a rest stop). As I approached a couple guys I was going to hook on to for a bit, I sat up to get a drink... as I was getting the drink a big truck with a trailer full of hey (the big round ones, two-wide, two-up) came at me... I didn't think about the wing gust till a bit too late... got left hand on the bar but right hand had the water bottle in it so I couldn't get it down there in time and the wind gust sent me too squirrelly to recover... ended up dumping to the right, bounced off the shoulder of the road and into the ditch. Bike made loud noises as it bounced behind me.

Luckily, only mechanical damage to the bike was the handlebars got turned... the two guys I was chasing heard the crash and came back to help me... we got my bars straightened out and my right brake lever was twisted, got that fixed... couldn't find anything out of line. Rear derailleur took a good hit but was workin like a champ. Bike shifted and rode just fine for the next 65 miles. My bar tape will have to be replaced, my right side pedal (new Time impact) is gouged pretty bad... otherwise, all is good.

I have a bruise on my right buttock, the middle of the left side of my back, right elbow, left knee, right shin, and right quad... the only damage I could feel during the ride was the knot forming on left quad and my buttock and my back got really tight about 20 miles later. Otherwise, I was pretty lucky. It could have been a lot worse.

So, what's the moral of the story? Keep both hands on the dang bars!

I did get a flat at about mile 87...fixed it and when we got back I noticed the tube was making the hole in the tread larger and trying to come through... got lucky there I guess, it could have flatted again if it came through enough. Now I gotta order a new rear tread.

One note... I am not sure I'll ever trust another sag wagon mechanic again. My wife had trouble with her bike on the ride... front derailleur not working... I was doing the 100 so I wasn't with her at the time... the sag wagon guy looked at it and tried to adjust it and couldn't... when I got her bike home, I fixed it in about 10 minutes... the ******** mecahnic had backed out both front derailleur limit adjusting screws completely out so the chain could come off on both directions. The original problem was simply that her derailleur was gummed up... took some degreaser and then lube to get it pivoting smoothly. I adjusted the limiting screws and it's working great now. I do think I'm gonna buy her an ultegra front derailleur though. Hers is SORA and it's just not as smooth as the 105 I have on mine... too bad she rides a triple or I could buy ME an ultegra or dura-ace front derailleur and give her mine!

All in all, good trip. Was anyone else there? It was the tour de cure in Bentonville arkansas.

Rock

va_cyclist

I know what you're talking about -- those hay trucks are a menace. They zoom around the back roads here at like a hundred miles an hour. And something about the sheer volume of the hay just creates this incredible gale-force wind after they pass.