Adventures in Cycling

Cycling in an organized ride is a great experience. Most organized rides benefit a charitable organization. The most popular of these type of rides is for Multiple Sclerosis. I have ridden the 180 mile ride from Houston to Austin three times. This ride has a cutoff of 13,000 riders, which makes it the most popular MS ride in the country. Leading up to the MS150 ride in April, is smaller rides which can serve as preparation benchmarks. One such ride is the November Fest Metric Century which benefits The Center: serving persons with mental retardation. The Center is located at Willow River Farms, which is near San Felipe, Texas.

Sixty two miles is a metric century, which I had originally signed up for. However, a Katy High School Football playoff game was scheduled for 1:00 PM, so this would prevent me from cycling the sixty-two miles and making it to the game. This ride like most preparation rides had some lesser mile rides, so I decided to do the twenty-seven mile route which would give me plenty of time to get back in time for the kick-off.

Everything was going so well. There were quite a few novices on this ride, so I like to ride up to someone who is struggling and give them encouragement. After riding a mile or so I will then speed up and ride with someone else to encourage them. This gives me an opportunity to meet new people and it makes the ride more enjoyable.

Coming out of Sealy, we were riding on a busy road with wide shoulders. I rode up to the next person to encourage and started talking. Within a few seconds I heard a thump and I was on my side with my bike on top of me, skidding down the highway. I could feel the pavement ripping my skin. I got up pretty quick, a little dizzy, and bent over trying to catch my breath, and figure out what to do next. I thought my front tire had a blow out. It was fine, and then the women who I was riding next to showed me a piece of wood that I hit. I wasn't looking down, so I hit it and it sent me flying. The problem I had with this was that no one ahead had removed the board when they rode past. There were at least 100 riders ahead of me, along with marshals and motorcycle escorts.

As I was trying to regain myself, an older couple on a motorcycle stopped to help me out. They were trying to get a SAG vehicle, but couldn't make contact. As I was standing there, I decided to check out my bike to see if I could ride it. At first I thought it was too damaged, however, I was able to bend a few cables and fix the chain, and I was ready to ride. The grips were chewed up, the handle was slightly bent, and the front tire had a slight wobble. However, I was able to get it going. Those standing around me were surprised and startled that I had gotten back on my bike. They encouraged me to wait for the SAG and get medical attention. Something inside me said go. I had gone about 12 miles and had 15 more to go. In pain, I decided to finish the ride.

Next: Riding with Pain