Today we had a minor accident - but it could have been much worse. As we were heading south on St. Johns just turning onto Lambert Tree Road (road on North Side of Ravina) there was a plate covering a loosely filled trench. I was on the front with Vitaly, we were not going too fast as today was a recovery Friday. As we turned (I may have taken the turn a bit too tight/too sharp an angle) I saw the plate and yelled, making a short quick turn to get out of the way of the plate. Frank who was behind me, was not so lucky - as he turned to miss the plate, his wheel gave way in the loose dirt/gravel fill in the trench and went down. I believe his hip and shoulder took most of the impact but his helmet did hit the ground. He got up and had a few scrapes and probably will be pretty sore tomorrow.
Since I was on the front, I feel responsible for not guiding the 'ton around the obstacle. I was told that the plate was not there yesterday. So the morale of this post? Roadwork, darkness and ever changing road conditions make riding at the front a very important and a task and one that should not be taken lightly. It seems that the darker the mornings become, the harder and harder it is to see the pot holes and the rougher the rides have become ... let's just be careful out there .....
Frank - I hope you are feeling better!
Pablo
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Still sore, but feeling much better. I was lucky, my hip and shoulder took most of the impact without any broken bones. My head hit last and not very hard. Other damage included losing some skin off my left hand, some bumps to my left elbow, some road rash on my left knee and a sore ankle.
I say the moral of the story is to believe signs that say "Road Closed" are there for a reason. We should avoid these, even in daylight. The few extra moments of detour is worth it.
We are also going to have to be extra careful on the DPR trail. We take some of the underpasses too fast to adjust when a rider (or runner) is coming towards us in our lane as they sometimes do. Bridges (as we learned Saturday morning) are another special case of taking extra caution.
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