Vecchio's Bike Fit and my first Boulder Crash
I scheduled a bike fitting at Vecchio's by recommendation to get the most out of my existing bike, and to adapt as my health and body change. Unfortunately, as I rode into Boulder for the first time, I crashed. It was an evil thing, a puddle covering the bike lane, with a concrete expansion joint right in line and just next to the lane, but covered in water.
Jim of Jimmy and Drew's Deli in Boulder pulled over to help me after the crash. He said "your front tire went down, your rear tire went up in the air and you hit the water." That's about it. No stitches and nothing broken, but full right side road rash to deal with.
Here's the nasty intersection of Valmont and 55th, right hand lane of Valmont, Westbound (also where Valmont becomes Pearl):
It doesn't get any better a trap than this. Here's how it works (even if you meant this you could not do better):
1) Make an expansion joint about 2 tires wide, line it up with the bike lane marker.
2) Make the asphalt about 1.5 inches higher than the concrete to dam the water and keep it from draining.
3) Let the rain fill the poorly drained bog to the right and then spread to street (see dirt markers for proof).
4) Water fills and spreads at Asphalt/Concrete dam, pushing puddle to the left, covering expansion joint
5) Cyclists swerve around the puddle, then track back over the covered expansion joint, trapping tire and crashing bike
This is nearly guaranteed to work after every rain. Here is how wide that expansion joint really is:
For the happy ending (such as it is), the Vecchio's guys (thanks Joe) took care of a muddy, bloody and unhappy dude with a terrific bike fitting and a pair of "Harden The F**k Up" socks.
posted by Dixon Dick @ 2:49 PM
1 comments
