From the "what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger" files....

It has been a great relief to be able to return to riding my bike during these past two weeks.  This has been a very busy and hectic time at school, so today was the first day in over a week that I've been able to hop on my bike and head out for the Jim Martinez Sunflower Bike Trail.  Because of its close proximity to my school, Lincoln Elementary, it's generally the path I take when I want to get in a good 10-mile ride.  The afternoon temperatures were a little warm already for early May so when I set out, I made sure to carry along plenty of good water with me.  After last year's "middle of the state BAK fiasco" I have made it a habit to stay plenty hydrated along the way~live and learn.


Today, halfway into my ride, I made a stop at a place along the path that nearly "did me in" one early June day, several years back as I made one last practice run for the Bike Across Kansas in 2001.  Meet the "rail road trestle"~just don't "meet" it like I did that late Wednesday evening now more than 10 years back.

Two days before I was to leave on yet another "ill fated" attempt at crossing the state of Kansas on my bike, I was making one final pass down the path prior to leaving my bike at Harley's Bicycle Shop for some last minute repairs.  I had ridden hundreds of miles that year, very similar to my 2011 season of riding.  I felt great, strong and really ready to go.  I was such a "baby" then, only 45 years old.  I was sure I could do anything and crossing over 450 miles of the state on a bike  would be a slice of the proverbial "piece of cake".  Unfortunately, I didn't count on meeting my nemesis pictured above.


At about half an hour before sundown that evening, I was flying down one of the hills on the path.  When I say flying, well  I really do mean flying.  I knew I was going too fast and as I came off the hill and around the curve, I saw a group of 3 little kids standing on the path.  They were just 5 and 6 year old youngsters with their mothers about 30 yards ahead of them.  I remember looking at the computer on my bike to see that I was going about 17 miles an hour and coming up on them way, way too fast.  If I didn't get off the path somehow, I knew I would plow into them.


Well, in a matter of seconds it was all over.  I don't think I even had a chance to yell anything out to them to warn them I was coming on them and too fast.  I left the path about 20 feet before I would have hit them and met the railroad trestle "head on".  Let me tell you, if you thought the curb that I hit last summer was unforgiving, well...you ain't seen nothing yet!


I remember exactly how it happened and to this day I can still hear the "thud" of my old Bianchi 24-speed as it struck the sunken wooden post (actually that one front and center in the photo).  In "short order" the front tire of the bike smacked the wood and my body went flying over the handle bars, did half of a flip, and landed "belly up" on the ground.  And when I got up (and believe it or not, I actually could get up), I knew I was in big trouble.  


Everything from my head to my toes hurt like crazy yet the goofiest thing was that I got back on my bike and rode home.  I didn't have a whole lot of options....long before the time of my carrying a cell phone to call for help, I was still two miles away from home.  When I finally limped in, my family took one look at me and it was a fast trip to the ER to get help.  


To make a long story short~4 broken left ribs, both hands badly sprained, and deep bruises on both thighs that kind of put me in mind of some of the major continents of the world, I was sent home.  My bike hadn't faired much better with a bent fork and some major issues with the front wheel and tire.  No BAK for me that year and I was discouraged enough to not try to do it again until last summer.  Gotta say, I am the world's "slowest learner".  


Today as I stopped to take a look at it, I realized just how much worse things could have gone that summer evening, now so many years ago.  Luckily I was wearing a helmet and even though I considered myself an "old rider" at age 45, I still was in pretty decent shape, all things considered.  I've made hundreds of passes by it in the years that followed as I rode down the path for exercise and fun.  Yet every time I go by, I still maintain the "healthy respect", the "healthy fear" of it that comes with the kind of collision that happened to me that day.


Little did I know that 10 years into the future from that day, "old lefty" would be injured so badly, only this time it wouldn't happen by smacking the rail road trestle on the bike path.  I would have thought it "crazy" to imagine that I would get so badly hurt while trying to jump a curb in my own front yard.  Continuing to live and learn.  


Last summer's journey into the land of "broken arms" taught me some valuable lessons about being a safer biker.  No longer will I ride without a helmet on....last summer it was commonplace for me to be without one.  When riding on Main Street, I stay in the street and don't take shortcuts on the side walks.  Kind of a miracle that no one ever smacked me in the alleyways as I carelessly sped by on them.  And you'll never see me wearing an MP3 player with head phones on as I ride.  As much as I love listening to the music of my generation~the 70's~I would easily find myself paying much more attention to the words of my favorite Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young song rather than the sound of a vehicle speeding up behind me.  And one that I am sure is crucial to  my safety...I ALWAYS make eye contact with drivers who are at the stop signs/lights to be sure that they know I am there.  Bicyclists have a responsibility to do that and I can dang sure guarantee you this~in a collision between a car and a bicycle, the winner is NOT the person on a bike.  I remember that always, and as my late grandma, Bessie Scott, said to me once, "You know it's not that I mind dying...it's just that I like living so much!"  Well Grandma Scott, I can't agree with you more.


The ride was fun today and I surely hope for the chance to take many more of them before my time on this earth is through.  Sunday morning, hundreds of riders will take to the streets of Hutchinson as they make the annual "Sandhill Plum" ride from the Kansas State Fairgrounds.  I intend to be one of the hundreds of riders.  God willing, I shall be!  I'm thankful to have had the courage to return to the sport I love so very much.  May I always be mindful of the dangers that await me and ride a "safe ride".  To my dying day, I will always be glad to have been more determined to get  back on a bike than to have been too afraid to have ever returned.  Good night my friends and family.  Safe travels to all of you!

At the halfway point of the trail today, just a few hundred feet from the rail road trestle.  I surely had a lot of fun and it didn't cost me a thing!  :)