First Fall

It finally happened... my first real fall on my bike. I expected this to happen at some time but when it does, it is pretty shocking. I am OK and more importantly my new bike is fine with a few scrapes. I did crack my helmet so I am out another $100 to pick up a new one.
So the day started with a quick ride to Boxborough to meet up with the guys. We were out on the road by 7:15 and heading to Wachusett Mountain. This is fast becoming my favorite ride. A lot of hills and great roads to ride on. The ride to the mountain was uneventful. We weren't riding that fast but just clicking off the miles. The climb to the mountain was tough but nice. I really do love climbing. On the way back we ran into a couple of rain showers. We actually missed the showers but came upon the wet roads. We were riding down Rt 62 and came up on some railroad tracks. The tracks were at a 45 degree angle to the road. I always try to cross tracks perpendicular so I tried to swing a little to the left to get the correct angle. At that time I saw someone in front of me going down. Before I knew what happened, I hit the tracks and then hit the road. My front tire must have slide across the tracks and caught in the grove between the road and tracks. I somehow flipped over landed on my hip and smashed the back of my head on the pavement. Luckily no cars were coming or we could have gotten run over. We got up and checked ourselves and our bikes for any major damage. We seemed OK so we headed home. My hip was definately banged up so it was tough going for the last twenty miles. I am glad to say that a day later it is still sore but much much better. For the day we got in 76 miles, burned 4300 calories, averaged 15.7 mph, and climbed 5400 feet. Not a bad day.
Later that day we headed to a WSC pool party. It may have been the best thing for my hip. I spent about 6 hours standing around in the pool, shooting the breeze and playing with Jordan. Thanks to the O'Neill's for a great time.
No riding on Sunday, still feeling the affects from the fall. Hope to get a little ride in during the week.

Gotta love Don Henely

So it has been a few weeks now since the B2B. I recovered nicely and have to admit only ran one day last week and no bike riding for seven days. Sunday I finally headed back out for an easy 30+ mile ride with newly engaged Tom Campbell. We rode around Acton, Stow, Harvard and Littleton. A lot of good climbs and at a conversational pace. Sunday afternoon Annie, Jordan and I went to look for an upgrade to my trusty Specialized. When I first got interested in the PMC I realized that I would need a bike (pretty obvious). I headed to the local bike shop and the choices were overwhelming. Annie and I decided to get a lower end bike and if the PMC and biking in general became a passion, I would upgrade. Our rational was that we didn't want to spend too much in the beginning, find out that I didn't really like to ride, and have a really expensive piece of carbon decorating our shed walls. Well, here we are two and a half years later and I have to admit that I love biking more than I ever imagined.
So off we headed to Wheelworks in Belmont. I had my eye on a new Specialized but once we got there I found an incredible deal on an Orbea. I will post pictures later this weekend. Looks a lot like my old bike. I also put my old bike on Craigslist and sold it for asking price in three days. I am very excited to go out tomorrow and test my new ride.
So this week so far I have gotten in 4 runs. A couple of 4 milers and a couple of 8's The eights were in Lincoln around Walden Pond. If you are into nature at all you should go check out Walden Pond. The water level is incredibly high and a lot of the trails around the pond are closed. Today I went out behind the pond in Walden Woods. Thanks to Don Henely there is a beautiful layout of trails along the Sudbury river and over to the pond. I might have to go home and listen to a little Eagles tonight in Don's honor.