On Sun, 4 Aug 2019 17:37:04 -0700 (PDT),
jbeattie wrote:
On Sunday, August 4, 2019 at 7:58:0javascript:;2 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2019-08-03 18:06, jbeattie wrote:
On Saturday, August 3, 2019 at 11:31:40 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:

Had a nasty crash about three months ago. Long story short
my handlebar broke without any warning. There was no cause
such as a speed bump or pothole.

http://analogconsultants.com/ng/bike/Handlebar1.jpg

I am back in the saddle.

Good job, Joerg. Glad you are recovered enough to ride!


Well, I'm glad to hear you're O.K. I broke a modern
(2006-ish) Cinelli bar in the same place after less than
three years in service, but it happened relatively slowly.

In hindsight I was lucky even with the crash.

What surprised me was how much muscle and power one can lose
in two months.

Yeah, that really sucks. I tried my hand at racing a couple of
years in my early 40s. I loved being that fit, but quit for a
couple of reasons: not enough time to train enough to maintain the
fitness (it seems to go about 10x as fast as it comes), and the
after effects of a few crashes. I began to realize (always the
hard way, for me, it seems) that the younger fellows healed up
much more quickly than I.


Joerg, I'm hijacking your thread for a moment.

I was on a ride today with my riding buddy of 19 years when I
touched his rear wheel with my front and went down. Dopey and
not something I've done in decades. I was changing bottles and
kind of bobbling around, expecting him to go straight when he
turned. It was low speed, so no "helmet saved my life" claim.
Anyway, I twisted my back as I fell, and when I hit the ground
-- every last O2 molecule was knocked out of my lungs. 30
years ago, I would have jumped up and pretended it didn't
happen. Instead, I just stayed down, wondering if I would ever
get up. As you grow old, dopey little crashes are so much more
consequential. The last 30 miles of that ride were the hardest
I've ridden in my life. My friend was on fire, and we were
really cooking before the mishap -- 62 miles and about 4000
feet of climbing, mostly rollers with a few multi-mile climbs
on the way home. Beautiful, hot day, but a struggle to get
home.

Well, that sucks too. I had a near miss in a group ride last
week--losing focus for a moment, then being well up on the wheel
ahead of me. Luckily, I was able to get my wheel steered clear in
time, but it surely got my attention. Glad you didn't come out
any worse than you did, Jay.

--
Ted Heise West Lafayette, IN, USA