Down I go

Not every ride can be a good ride. And yesterday was certainly not one of the good ones.

I awoke to pouring rain, but with the forecast in mind of "clearing showers" I checked the BOM radar and sure enough it was a small patch of rain looking like it would pass over in half an hour or so. With some 5am text messaging, Andy, Reid and myself arranged to meet an hour later than planned and see whether we could still fit in the 4 gorges ride.

It all started off well, but by the time we got to St Ives - torrential downpour! He hunkered under a servo overhang for a while then when it cleared decided a shorter route through Bobbin Head and then straight home might be the way to go.

The weather continued to clear and by Bobbin it was starting to get sunny, although the road was still very wet. We were all conscious of taking the descent very slowly because it does get slippery, so with me leading the way we started downhill. On one of the early corners I remembered that it had been quite slick last time we did it, so I slowed right down, took the first part of the curve and then as I got around the bend, BAM the black tyre just slid right out.

I was barely going at any speed thankfully and it all happened in super slow motion. In mid air I thought "This SUCKS! My new bike" and then I went down on my left hip and elbow and slid for a bit. Luckily the guys behind were able to avoid me, I jumped up and hopped to the side of the road cradling my arm and doing a mental inventory on my body to see if I'd broken anything. After a few seconds it became apparent that apart from tearing up the skin on my hip and elbow, I was otherwise OK. Andrew grabbed my bike from the middle of the road and by the looks of it my body had cushioned the blow. The left hood was bent inwards and the back wheel quick release was scuffed, but otherwise it was fine.

Phew, I bent the hood back with my hands and after a couple of minutes waiting to make sure I was ok, we turned around and pedalled back home.

I wasn't feeling too bad most of the way, then come Wakehurst Parkway - bam, Reid gets a flat. I rode another 3 km before I realised because I thought I heard the guys right on my wheel, when I came back they'd broken a couple of tyre levers on his incredibly tight old tyre, but eventually we got it repaired. We saddle up and Andrew says "You know that's the first flat Reid has ever had" and no sooner were the words out of his mouth when "POP! Pffffffft" Down went the tyre again.

Thankfully I had another tube, we broke a couple more levers and bent two of REid's then with all three of us manhandling the tyre we finally got it back on. So it was about a 5 hour ride all up to go around 70km.

I got home wet, bleeding, sore, with a filthy scratched bike and a swelling hip. Well it had to happen sooner or later, at least now I've been through my first crash. Here's the aftermath (don't look if you have a weak stomach):