Well, as Forrest Gump likes to say, life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get. And Saturday, what I got was a bike crash. I’ve only had a couple in my life, thank god, and after this one, I’d be OK with waiting a while before another. This was the worst crash I’d ever personally been in; the bike was totaled, and although I walked away, I was extremely lucky. My shoulder took a really solid beating and my wrist as well, but I’ll be fine, which was a close thing. Several bystanders said they were surprised I walked away.
And this one was well and truly not my fault. I was riding down MacArthur street on my way to my brother’s place when - completely out of the blue - I hit a downed cable that was drooping between two poles on opposite sides of the street, hanging at about 3 feet off the ground. I only saw it at the very last minute. It threw me from the bike, the front wheel came off, the front fork hit the ground and cracked, and the top tube bent. It was a carbon fiber frame, so it’s done.
To answer your questions: Why was a cable hanging in the road? Why didn’t somebody else hit it? Are you going to sue? Answers: A) I have no idea, the infrastructure in Oakland must be crumbling, B) I must have been the first unlucky person to pass by, and C) no, it’s not worth my time.
Honestly, I feel lucky. Lucky that it wasn’t worse, lucky that it is just a bike and i can afford another one, and lucky that i hit it instead of some little kid. I can take it. The main thing that sucked was that I had a triathlon scheduled for the next day and I had to cancel, which was sad.
But I’ll be back.
