First Good Crash
Well… “Pay Attention”. Isn’t that what they alway say? I wasn’t and I paid the price.
This morning’s ride to work was as peaceful and uneventful as ever… Don’t know what I was daydreaming about… but long about halfway I’m on Malone coming up to Rosemont - a Stop Sign for me…
Am I paying attention??? No… of course not - there’s never any cross-traffic at this intersection - at this time in the morning…
--- Wrong ---
I’m almost at the intersection when I finally come to my senses and see a car coming from my left. My first thoughts - while traveling over the handlebars - way before I crashed to the pavement - was “Man… those brakes are good...” Well… my 62-year-old body crashed to the pavement on my left arm/shoulder and both palms… and my first thought at that point was “Hey… that wasn’t so bad.”
My gloves saved both palms - especially my right. An hour later - the right palm is still stinging. Thank you Craftsman Gloves…
My boot lace somehow got wrapped around the mirror coming out of my left handlebar… my arm and shoulder that took the brunt of the impact didn’t hurt at all.
The guy in the car stopped to render aid but I told him that I was OK and it was totally my fault for not paying attention. He said “Looks like you were prepared...” (Helmet/Gloves/etc). He went on his way and I untangled myself from the bicycle.
At first, it looked like the bike had no damage at all… but a bit later - back on my ride to work - I noticed the brake adjuster on the right brake handle was damaged… Looks like I’ll eventually have to replace that component of the bike. The adjuster bent and broke the threaded part it fits into. But...the brakes are working fine and other than that, neither me nor the bike have any visible damage.
Lucky me…
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The bike’s been performing well and I’m on it to/from work most days. There is some clinking, clunking going on in the bottom end that is bothering me… I’m going to schedule a look-see with Steve’s Bike Shop on 23rd Street and have them see what can be done. 5th Gear needs adjusting too. It takes some back pressure on the gear changer to keep it where it needs to be. If I put it in 5th gear and do not apply the back-pressure, it will slip and slide and all that. The bit of back pressure fixes it for 5th but I shouldn’t have to do that. All other gears are fine. Just 5th.
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