Morning ride excitement - of the bad variety...

If you read my blog, you will find this boring... but seeing as Lotte
and Abby said nothing I just had to post it here too:

I refused to get up this morning. Then I felt guilty because Steven was
up working as late as me last night, and he was getting up early. So I
rode. We intended to meet Fresh on Coro Dr (Steven was dropping gear at
work) but didn't know whether we were ahead or behind them. We caught
up to the Peloton Cycles ride (recovery Wednesday) and had a chat to
Kenny. One of the guys had a really nice Merlin titanium bike, so I
chatted to him, and then Steven got jealous - but only about the bike,
of course!

They turned off to do the Chelmer loop and Steven and I continued on the
river loop, nice and cruisy. I saw a QAS Talent Search girl, riding on
her own. She was clearly working hard. I commented that perhaps they had
failed to find any...

We finally met the rest of the gang up at the intersection of Gladstone
Rd and Dornoch Tce, where the shortcut bunch were waiting for the
others. I passed a few down Dornoch Tce because I like going fast. I
followed one car that was squishing past cyclists but then the driver
actually applied the brakes so I slipped sideways just in case he
decided to try to kill me.

At the intersection with Hargrave Rd, we veer left - I'm not sure what
street it is, though. As we came down here, I got saved by one of the
guys yelling out that there was a car moving up - the driver was trying
to shove through and gave me no clearance, and if I hadn't been warned,
I would've ended up in the side of some other riders to get out of the
way. He/she/it actually chose to overtake us when there was a traffic
island, so they couldn't pull right. The same driver continued this all
the way down the hill. We avoided casualties.

At the bottom there is a left turn that's well cambered if you cut in
tight enough. I was on the inside of another rider and figured he would
attempt this, so I slowed down so I could take it right on the kerb.
Most of the bunch then rolled through the next roundabout. One of the
girls rolled through and called back that there was a car right, so two
other girls attempted to stop. We're not sure exactly what happened, but
one went down fast, and nasty, and the other went down not too bad. We
think the car had at first stopped, but then went to move through the
intersection - hence the confusion. The girl who had rolled through
looked back to see what had happened, hit the kerb and came off. Two of
the girls stood up and brushed themselves off with only minor damage
(and a bit of oncoming stiffness) while the other lay face first on the
road, not moving.

I grabbed one of the bikes out of the way and someone grabbed the other.
We hailed cyclists and motorists to slow them down. There was a shop on
the corner and one of the employees/employers asked if she could help.
At that stage we didn't know if we needed an ambulance just yet, so I
said we would knock on the glass if we needed assistance. When the girl
came to, one of the guys asked her if she could roll onto her side or
back. We helped her take off her helmet and it was clear she'd hit her
head pretty hard, though fortunately she didn't lose skin or teeth.
Eventually she sat up and we moved her to the footpath and checked her
out.

She had a hole in her jersey pocket (from her keys), a graze on her
elbow (which, being in a bony area, was bleeding quite profusely), and
minor cuts and scratches. She was a bit groggy but generally okay. She
insisted upon riding (they always do that) but fortunately her seat was
the one part of her bike that had been smashed up, so she couldn't
ride. She and one of the guys waited in the shop (where it was warm)
while we returned to Southbank to get a car for her.

As we headed along the waterfront, near the rowing sheds, Steven and I
got passed on both sides by a bunch of small-d!cked cyclists. We were
attempting to pull off the cycle path and onto the road, but with people
veering all around us and not indicating, it made it very difficult.
Losers were racing along a very busy section of road and some of the
other riders got cut off as well. Fortunately, we got back to Poppy's
Cafe with no further casualties, although in honesty we were probably
just saved because we were shaken from the accident.

The fact that she couldn't really remember what had happened, and the
grogginess, mean she's probably concussed, but she'll recover. I was
impressed that several drivers asked if we needed help, and all the
cyclists that passed, but of course there were still w@nkers who thought
we were holding them up. I was also impressed that the entire team
pulled up and split into working teams without thinking about it, and no
one crowded the girls or did anything to stress them further - everyone
did a really great job of helping out.

Needless to say, I was extra cautious the rest of the way to uni.

"Tamyka Bell" wrote in message
...
snip story of our not-so-fun Wed ride /snip

Tam I meant to say g'day but in all the confusion never got around to it.
I got there slightly after you. *very* disconcerting to see one of the girls
face down, motionless. Thanks for all your help. She was definitely
concussed. Her actions and that huge crack down the side of her helmet
were sure signs.

Just before the rowing sheds I was with the tail end of our group, we
were riding slowly past that T intersection where there are all those
traffic islands and we were passed by this bunch of fscking morons
doing their sprint finish. 4 or 5 d!ckheads, doing about 50, out of the
saddle, in traffic, came past within cm's almost forcing us into the
traffic islands. We caught up, lots of swearing ensued - one of these
d!cks responds with "yeah well I've been racing for 15 years..."
"Right - so you should know better than to compromise the safety of
other cyclists". (only more colorful). ****ed off!

Funny, I had an uneasy feeling riding in this morning, thinking about
that poor guy at the coast ... all that during the ride ... and got some
brainless git squeeze me into the gutter on the way home.

Mick wrote:

"Tamyka Bell" wrote in message
...
snip story of our not-so-fun Wed ride /snip

Tam I meant to say g'day but in all the confusion never got around to it.
I got there slightly after you. *very* disconcerting to see one of the girls
face down, motionless. Thanks for all your help. She was definitely
concussed. Her actions and that huge crack down the side of her helmet
were sure signs.

Just before the rowing sheds I was with the tail end of our group, we
were riding slowly past that T intersection where there are all those
traffic islands and we were passed by this bunch of fscking morons
doing their sprint finish. 4 or 5 d!ckheads, doing about 50, out of the
saddle, in traffic, came past within cm's almost forcing us into the
traffic islands. We caught up, lots of swearing ensued - one of these
d!cks responds with "yeah well I've been racing for 15 years..."
"Right - so you should know better than to compromise the safety of
other cyclists". (only more colorful). ****ed off!

Funny, I had an uneasy feeling riding in this morning, thinking about
that poor guy at the coast ... all that during the ride ... and got some
brainless git squeeze me into the gutter on the way home.

Leanne (sp?) said afterwards that she almost didn't get out of bed this
morning. I bet a few people are wishing that. I'm glad I was there
because the people who were there were awesome. It's really good to
know I was riding with a bunch that did such a good job of taking care
of their people - it makes me feel good about joining them on future
rides.

I think I'm going to have to do Wynnum rides or something on Wednesdays
from now on, and avoid the Wednesday Worlds.

Tam