Today’s ride was a COLOSSAL FAIL. I left home at 1:52 with the temperature hovering at 99.4 at home. The sky was blue and almost no clouds except for a few small ones. Since I biked to the north on Sunday I decided today to ride south. As the ride moved along I thought I should add some mileage so I headed on my Eagle Springs – Walden – Huffman route which usually totals 34 miles or so.
I biked along at a good pace south on Timber Forest before turning left onto Eagle Springs Parkway. At Will Clayton Parkway I went right heading east toward W. Lake Houston Parkway. I thought I was early enough to get past Atascocita High School before dismissal but I didn’t. As I approached the first exit from the high school I saw cars backed up waiting to cross Will Clayton. Before I knew what happened a teenage girl in a silver Honda like car edged forward and then pull right in front of me. I grabbed my brakes but it didn’t help and I slammed into the side of her car. I went flying. I am not sure where but I ended up on the concrete. Maybe I went up on the trunk and then down. After I landed I started to pick my self up. By now the teenage girl stopped her car in the median and yelled “Are you okay?”. I yelled back “No”. She then said she thought I was turning onto the sidewalk behind me and got back in her car and drove off. In the meantime I walked over to the shade and sat on the curb. I could see my left knee swelling up and my left elbow too.
Several people stopped to ask if I was okay. I told everyone no but I called my wife to come get me. One of the people who saw part of what happened was an Atascocita EMS officer. He called for an ambulance and asked if I wanted to go to the hospital. I was able to move. Before the ambulance arrived a fire truck pulled up and not too long after that a Humble ISD police car and several Harris County Precinct 4 constables arrived. I walked over to the ambulance and went inside so they could check my vital signs and other stuff. When they were done I climbed out of the ambulance back to the shaded sidewalk to wait for my wife to arrive. The Humble ISD officer asked some questions and filled out a report. Not too much later the principle of the high school walked up and asked how I was doing. She asked if I could identify the student but I did not get a license number or anything solid. The girl wore a red top was about all I remember.
Assessing the damage to my bike:
- the left handle bar snapped off below the brake lever
- bar tape unraveled
- Garmin Edge 500 screen broke ( I thought it was beyond using but as we drove north on W. Lake Houston I heard the Garmin chirp “ride resumed”. I was able to download the ride when I got home.)
- helmet will need to be replaced
- left Shimano Ultegra brake lever scuffed up
I was surprised the damage was not more. There may be other parts once I try to ride again. My helmet did it’s job. My head hit the pavement hard. The Motobecane frame looks unmarked (probably because I was under it).
No idea when I will be back on the bike. I need to get the damaged repaired first and get over the pain.
Update on my Sunday flat problem. I checked the leaking tube and the 2 patches I put on over the wire holes leaked. The patches looked good to the eye but failed the water test. Since I patched those spots at least three times I threw the tube away and put a new on.
Links to Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com.
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