Well, it seems my recent spate of crashes has not abated. This year I have come off the MTB 3 times, two of which were spectacularly over the handlebars (once to avoid a black snake, and once during Dirtworks), and now I have added another road bike dismount to my palmares. Unusually, the road bike incident was also somewhat off-road as well, in that I collided with a piece of park furniture. "Don't underestimate the power of the dark side".
It all started a few weeks ago when my one and only trusty 10 watt globe on my spot-light went bung. A good spot light is important at this time of year as commuting in the evening is always dark. My folly in not replacing it pronto soon became apparent. It was a moonless night ("dark as a steers tuckus ..."), and I was feeling my way along the mangrove track at Homebush bay. I must have ridden this track 100s of times, on numerous occasions with a dead battery, so was perhaps over confident in my navigational abilities. Some way along the track I became mesmerised by a cyclist approaching from the opposite direction who was betrayed by his headlight. By his unwavering beam and the smooth surface I knew I was on the track. The route is basically dead-straight, apart from the occasional shimmy. All of a sudden I realised I had failed to take into account one of these shimmys, and ploughed across velvety grass and into a park bench. Fortunately I managed to swerve just before impact, so in the end the bench only caught my left knee and fork. The fact that the bench was bolted to a concrete slab didn't help. Funny, but I had never noticed a bench anywhere along that path before. I guess I now know. With pride bruised almost as much as my knee I limped home, only to discover a considerable wound in one of my carbon fork blades. So it's fork blades number 3 for the Colnago. Fortunately, the steel frame was OK. It could have been much worse for both of us.
It all started a few weeks ago when my one and only trusty 10 watt globe on my spot-light went bung. A good spot light is important at this time of year as commuting in the evening is always dark. My folly in not replacing it pronto soon became apparent. It was a moonless night ("dark as a steers tuckus ..."), and I was feeling my way along the mangrove track at Homebush bay. I must have ridden this track 100s of times, on numerous occasions with a dead battery, so was perhaps over confident in my navigational abilities. Some way along the track I became mesmerised by a cyclist approaching from the opposite direction who was betrayed by his headlight. By his unwavering beam and the smooth surface I knew I was on the track. The route is basically dead-straight, apart from the occasional shimmy. All of a sudden I realised I had failed to take into account one of these shimmys, and ploughed across velvety grass and into a park bench. Fortunately I managed to swerve just before impact, so in the end the bench only caught my left knee and fork. The fact that the bench was bolted to a concrete slab didn't help. Funny, but I had never noticed a bench anywhere along that path before. I guess I now know. With pride bruised almost as much as my knee I limped home, only to discover a considerable wound in one of my carbon fork blades. So it's fork blades number 3 for the Colnago. Fortunately, the steel frame was OK. It could have been much worse for both of us.
The scene of the crime
exhibit A
Totally unrelated: another busy morning on the Berowra ferry
You certainly have that way with words, Langas!!
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