Sunday, December 12, 2010

Railroad Crossing

I was asked to help out with the Cub Scout Construction City on Saturday and being the considerate husband and father I am, I decided to ride over to the event and leave the car home for the girls (which they did not use).  The roads were icy with a fresh layer of snow covering it and the temperatures had dipped into the low teens.  Yeah, I'm a little crazy but in my defense, it was 30 degrees the night before and I didn't notice how cold it was until I was already on the road, in just a windbreaker.  My body stayed warm but I could feel the sting of the cold where my clothes touched my skin.

Considering the road conditions, I debated my route and opted for a less traveled route to avoid the traffic.  Its a route I rarely ever ride.  I took State Street to the 6th Street underpass and worked my way up the neighborhoods to the auditorium.  On State Street there is a rail road crossing that is so infrequently used that I often forget it's even there.  As I approached, traveling around 16-18 mph, I saw the tracks in the snow.  Tracks are never a good situation on a bike, especially when they don't cross perpendicularly.  At our organized rides, they always warn us to take the tracks at a 90 degree angle, or as close to it as possible.  I've heard of the dangers but have never seen or experienced any problems with tracks before.

As I said, the tracks snuck up on me and before I knew it, they were right there in front of me and, of course, they crossed the road at an angle.  Rather than swerve on the ice I opted to roll over the tracks and hope for the best.  I don't know what happened next but as soon as my front tire hit the tracks, my bike was jumping out of control.  I dropped my feet off the pedals but they never touched the road.  The next thing I know, I'm sliding down the road laying face down on top of my bike with a sharp pain in my knee where it had whacked the pavement.  Hurt and embarrassed, I slowly stood up, brushed myself off,  inspected the bike, put the chain back on the front sprocket and climbed back onto the bike.  Although it happened so fast, I'm pretty sure my front tire got caught in the track and flipped me off the bike.  I now understand the challenges of railroad tracks and will be much more cautious of them in the future.

I did make it to the event and back without another incident but I have limped around all weekend.  The knee is tender to the touch but I'm sure it will be back to normal in a week or so.  I'd rather take a whack to the knee than another hit on the elbow any day.

2 comments:

AliJ said...

You poor thing! You're going to have so many battle scars from your bike rides, that you'll never recover. I hope your knee heals better than you elbow did.

AliJ said...

Now you can explore the open road in your new Explorer! :)