drawing by Kane Lynch (kanelynch.com)
I signed up for the Prouty charity ride, as I try to do every year. The day of the ride I left home early, added a 20-mile loop before starting the official ride course. I wanted to turn it into a 6-hour ride, as we were peaking for Tremblant and the weekend training load was heavy these days.
Then I proceeded to crash, at high speed a few miles into the actual charity ride.
Another rider and then a police cruiser stopped to check me out. I am thankful for that… The bike looked a wreck, and all my limbs and chest was scratched up and bleeding all over. First I asked for a ride back to my parked car in the police cruiser, and earned quickly that you don’t get rides in police cruisers on request… Then I changed my mind. Instead, I walked down to the little lake next to the road. I washed up there and fixed the bike as much as I could. It all took me half an hour or so. Then I went on and rode the Prouty course. Quitting a cancer charity ride felt wrong. By the end of the ride, I had a full inventory of the scratches and bruises, and the damage to the bike.
It took a while to recuperate from the crash, and to get parts in for the bike and rebuild it. The deep quad bruises have lasted well past Tremblant, and a chunk of that muscle is permanently torn, visible just by looking at my thigh.
What is the moral of the story? Be careful out there. Tri bikes are barely road-worthy outside closed circuits, perfect surface conditions and dry weather.